Zim, Kenya clash

both teams wanting to prove a point.
Zimbabwe will want to show their fans back home who at this point are seething with anger and frustration that they are still capable of winning while Kenya would want to leave with one win under their belts.
Looking back at Zimbabwe’s woeful performance against Pakistan, the first blunder once again was the decision of the toss.
It simply seems that poor Elton Chigumbura simply can’t get it right when it comes to deciding what to do.
The sky was heavy with low cloud cover which would obviously encourage the ball to swing and there for you should be wanting to bowl first instead of bat.
Not only has the top order being letting Zimbabwe down through out the world cup, say for the acceptation against Sri Lanka, but another and worrying question is when will they find to new ball bowlers who will be able to run in with purpose and maintain pressure?
You might see one or two probing overs from Shingi Masakadza or Chris Mpofu before the inevitable happens and they lose focus and direction and serve up long hops and full tosses on a platter which are dealt with the contempt they deserve to be dealt with.
Even though Raymond Price, Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer can and indeed should be commended for bowling good lines and lengths, they haven’t been taking wickets which allows the opposition’s batsman to milk the singles or at worst see the spinners off before once again launching in to the seamers.
It is also sad to note that Raymond Price has become very predictable with field settings and his line of attack which now concentrates on not having runs scored off him instead of taking wickets.
Surely the four spinners should work as a team with Price and Cremer being the attacking bowlers while Utseya and Lamb do the containing job.
Another issue that has to be dealt with and dealt with quickly is the captaincy issue.
The question is who takes over as captain?
The truth of the matter is who ever takes over as captain will be under the pump from the start because nobody in the entire country is scoring runs or taking wickets consistently enough to be an obvious first choice candidate.
The only two names that do stand out for captaincy would be Tatenda Taibu and Hamilton Masakadza who as we know was encouraging his teammates from the comfort of his couch.
So who ever takes over as captain has a monumental job of helping to rebuild confidence in the side as well as performing at an personal level.
So much for the legend Brian Charles Lara who was going to do so much but delivered so little.
So what is the problem that has become so visible in the squad? Are there internal problems we don’t know of?
Are we once again going to blame the coaching staff?
Before we start blaming coaches, we must remember that they do not take the field to play for their country.
Jeff Marsh, who led Australia to glory in the 1999 addition of the World Cup, had a stint with Zimbabwe which ran from 2001 to 2004 and though there were a few outstanding performances from players, the team itself had a pretty average run of form with only the odd spell of wins.
It would be nice to see players such as Terry Duffen and Charles Coventry be given an opportunity against Kenya on Sunday while Elton Chigumbura who showed glimpses of his old self in his 32 not out against Pakistan will be hoping to convert the start he had in to something special.
In truth, it is becoming harder and harder to think of reasons why the national team keep failing and continuously disappoint their faithful.
It was also puzzling to hear Alan Butcher say that the reason why the top order have been below standard is because of the lack of four day cricket they play.
If that were the case, why have we seen a certain amount of consistency from the Ireland batsman in particular?
The Irish do not have a first class system like we do and further more they play way less international cricket Zimbabwe do and when they do play it isn’t against quality opposition like Zimbabwe do.
Nevertheless, tomorrow is the last day for the team to show that they still have pride when they represent their country and the only way they can show that pride is by going for the kill against a side who have every right to feel confident of beating Zimbabwe after their plucky performance against Australia.