Zimbabwe eye Canada win

From Neil Manthorp
in Nagpur, INDIA
Zimbabwe resume their World Cup campaign today with their second match against minnows Canada at the Vidharba Cricket Association ground well aware that nothing less than a comprehensive victory will do if they are to keep alive their aspirations of reaching the quarter finals.
Having lost their tournament opener to defending champions Australia by 91 runs in Ahmedabad exactly a week ago, today’s game is a “must win” clash.
“There is no doubt about that. We are expected to win and we expect ourselves to win,” said captain Elton Chigumbura after morning practise yesterday.
“We were the underdogs against Australia but now we are the favourites and we have to rise to the occasion. There can be no excuses.”
Coach Alan Butcher and his technical staff have left no stone unturned in preparing for the match – so much , in fact, that one player was heard to remark that they had prepared more thoroughly for the Canadians than they did for Ricky Ponting’s Aussies.
“As much as we expect to win, Canada are also looking at this game as an opportunity to collect some points and cause an upset, so we have to be at maximum intensity,” Butcher said.
“We know that if we play to our potential then we are a better team than they are, so we have to trust in our ability and each other and the result will take care of itself.”
The Zimbabwe squad is once again at full strength now that Greg Lamb has recovered from the illness which ruled him out of the Australia game.
If he is selected in the starting XI it will most likely be in place of Reggie Chakabva who played in that game as seventh specialist batsman. The VCA ground is noted as high-scoring venue as was illustrated by the recent game between England and the Netherlands in which both teams passed totals of 280 before England squeezed home for a narrow victory.