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Senior Sports Reporter
NEIGHBOURLY love falls away in the early hours of this morning when Zimbabwe and highly rated South Africa meet at Seddon Park in Hamilton, New Zealand in a Pool B contest at the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup. Separated by just the Limpopo River yet the talent at the disposal of the two coaches is miles apart. South African coach Russel Domingo is blessed with world class prowess in the form of skipper Abraham de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Jean-Paul Duminy, Quinton de Cock, David Miller and Francois du Plessis in the batting department. Domingo has three world class fast bowlers in Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander as well a highly rated leg spinner in Pakistan born Imran Tahir.
For Dav Whatmore, handed the task of mentoring the Zimbabwe national cricket team at the end of last year following the sacking of local coach Stephen Mangongo there has been a lot of inspiring to do in the build up to the tournament.
Zimbabwe have players capable of producing results, yet they have failed to set the world alight.
Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Sean Williams and Elton Chigumbura are the Zimbabwean players with the ability to put up a good resistance against the highly fancied Proteas.
One has to go back as far as the 1999 World Cup in England for Zimbabwe’s only triumph over South Africa at a World Cup. To be precise, 29 May 1999 was the day Zimbabwe beat South Africa by 48 runs in a Group A fixture played at the County Ground in Chelmsford. Notable contributions for Zimbabwe on the day came from opener Neil Johnson who made 76 runs in Zimbabwe’s total of 223 runs for the loss of six wickets in their 50 overs and the bowling of Johnson, Heath Streak with three wickets apiece and two wickets from Andrew Whittall.
Zimbabwe have put up great displays in the warm-up matches and it is yet to be seen if they can carry that performance to the tournament. They had New Zealand on the ropes before the rains intervened for the match to end in a no result. When the rains fell, Zimbabwean bowlers had reduced New Zealand to 157 runs for seven wickets in 30.1 overs.
The biggest confidence booster for Zimbabwe was when they humiliated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their last warm-up match last Wednesday. The highlights of that win were an unbeaten century from Masakadza and a half ton by Williams who also took three wickets.
Zimbabwe’s hopes with the bat lie in the hands of Masakadza, Taylor, Williams, Craig Ervine, Regis Chakabva, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Stuart Matsikenyeri and Sikandar Raza. Skipper Chigumbura and Solomon Mire have a crucial role to play as all rounders in the team as they are expected to contribute with bat and ball.
Tinashe Panyangara, Tawanda Mupariwa, Prosper Utseya, Tendai Chatara, Tafadzwa Kamungozi are the bowlers likely to be tasked with handling the explosive De Villiers, De Cock, Miller, Duminy and run compilers Amla, Du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw as well as Farhaan Behardien.
Steyn, Philander and Morkel are capable of destroying a batting line up by themselves. With fellow seamers Kyle Abbott, Wayne Parnell, spinners Aaron Phangiso and Tahir, Zimbabwe are going to find it hard to score runs against the Proteas.
With only the best 14 teams in the world playing in the tournament, there will be no easy fixture for Zimbabwe. Still to come for Zimbabwe are matches against United Arab Emirates, West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland and India.
This is the last time that Zimbabwe have an automatic place at the Cricket World Cup as the ICC have changed the qualifying process with only the top eight guaranteed a place in England in 2019. Ranked tenth at the moment Zimbabwe is unlikely to be in the top eight by the cut off date of 30 September 2017 which will see them head into a 10-team qualifier where only two teams have a chance to book a spot in England.
As the whole nation waits, Zimbabwe have to be at their best this morning if they are to record an unlikely win over the Proteas.
Teams
Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (captain), Regis Chakabva, Tendai Chatara, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Craig Ervine, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Solomon Mire, Tawanda Mupariwa, Tinashe Panyangara, Sikandar Raza, Brendan Taylor (wicketkeeper), Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams.
South Africa: Abraham de Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Cock (wicketkeeper), Jean-Paul Duminy, Francois du Plessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn.
Online Reporter