Zim cricketers head home

take them home, after a marathon 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup tour which gave them a timely reminder of the hard work they still need to put in as they brace for a return to the Test arena.
Alan Butcher and his men left Kolkata last night for the Indian commercial capital Mumbai where they will connect another flight to Dubai and then Johannesburg before completing the final leg of their homeward trip tomorrow with the team expected in Harare around lunch-time.
Zimbabwe won two matches at this World Cup by comprehensively beating the two Associate nations in their pool, Canada and Kenya, but terribly coming short against the Test playing nations – Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand.
Most of the Zimbabwean batsmen struggled against the established sides and, while their attack was competitive, it wasn’t as lethal as Butcher would have wanted and, save for the first game against Australia, they were up against it against New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
New Zealand coasted to a 10-wicket win, Sri Lanka got past 300 and did not lose any wicket until the 45th over and while there was a fight in the game against Pakistan, who were chasing a relatively small total in a rain-ravaged match, Shahid Afridi and his men were never in danger of losing that game.
Butcher, a refreshingly honest coach, said the World Cup had helped his men understand their limitations and there was a lot of hard work for them in the coming months.
Zimbabwe showed that they were far too stronger than the Associate nations, easily thrashing both Kenya and Canada, but too lightweight when compared to the established Test-playing nations.
“It has helped myself and a lot of players understand where they are and what levels they are,” said Butcher in his team’s final days in Kolkata.
“As I said earlier, I did feel at the start of this competition that it was possibly too soon for this group of players and if we can keep most of these players together, I think it’s possible to believe that we would be a much more competitive side because in four years we would be more experienced, we would have played a reasonable amount of Test cricket which I think would be more helpful to the players’ one-day game.
“I think, yes, we found out things about people, about technique, their mental strength and how they can be able to cope with the pressure of international cricket.
“The only place to play Test cricket is actually by doing that, there is no other place that can prepare you for that.
No doubt you might be wondering if we are going to be up for the challenge and the answer to that, honestly, is ‘no’.
Butcher said while his team did not make the same impact that he might have wanted, he was certain that there would be good news for the future.
He said his players had learnt their lessons and, crucially, he had a number of players at this World Cup who will still be around for some time. “Brendan Taylor will be one of them, he is still a young man and Raymond Price will also be part of our future plans,” said Butcher.
“I think there are five or six players here would definitely be part of the future and we also have others who didn’t make it (World Cup team).
“We fielded well, our seam bowlers have done a fantastic job and I thought, against Pakistan, defending a very low total, with a wet ball because of the dew and rain, they showed outstanding control.
“I have to probably say that they are the standout point. Brendan Taylor played very well in Sri Lanka but I think he, too, was disappointed by his overall innings, which tended to somewhat reflect our overall performance from our batters.
“We have some young batters and, if they don’t learn, I think we have a problem for the future but I think we’ll improve.”
Butcher conceded that the World Cup had been a marathon but still felt that the tournament’s programme could be squeezed into a shorter period without reducing the number of participating teams.
The ICC have already hinted that they could reduce the number of participating teams to just 10, from 14, at the next World Cup in 2015 and Zimbabwe, who are battling Ireland for the 10th position, would have to fight hard for that place if those recommendations are upheld.
But the Englishman, who insists his team will qualify even if the number of teams were reduced to 10, said the length of the World Cup programme could be reduced while still keeping 14 teams.
“In think it (fixture programme) makes it quite long but I think there are ways of making the tournament slightly shorter and keeping 14 teams in it. We had a long time between games, sometimes between five or six days, which makes everything stretch out” said Butcher.
“We did win a series against them (Irish), a close series, one that could have gone either way and they are a good side and they play good cricket. “Our entry into Test cricket, that’s happening in August. We have Bangladesh, Pakistan and then New Zealand coming through to Zimbabwe to play probably a one-off
Test and some one day games and that probably would be a massive thing for our development.”
Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura said he was impressed by his team’s all-round performance in their 161-run win over Kenya, where the team did not only bat well but also bowled and fielded well.
“That’s what I have been asking for from the guys that we play well all-round, our bowling, our batting and how we fielded,” said the skipper. “Hopefully, when we go back home, we’ll always look back at this game and see what we did today and see where we can do better in the next coming months, especially in our batting.
“The next three months are going to be very important for us. We are all excited about Test cricket and I know we’ll like to improve ourselves and we have to put in the hard work.
“Now we know where we are and we know what we need to do before our first game.” Craig Ervine enhanced his growing status with a disciplined show were he was always in the runs for his side and he scored another half century against Kenya, his second on the trot, after another fifty against Pakistan in the team’s final match in Sri Lanka.
“I looked at it in a very positive way, it was nice to get some runs against Pakistan and, as you know, the Cricket World Cup is a new experience for me,” said Ervine.
“I think it also shows me how much work you need to do when we do get a break when we go back home to make sure that we get up to as high a level as possibly we can.”