admin
Lawrence Moyo Harare Bureau
THIS was a play-off that was supposed to steer Zimbabwe from the noisy Associate members who have been fighting to get recognition as equal or (in the case of Ireland) even better cricketing nations than us. But two matches into the ICC World T20 play-offs and the two warm-up games show that the noise by the Associate members might be justified.
Zimbabwe have been pathetic. The players, who were so resolute during the strike action back home, have shown little ambition, little fight and seem ready to surrender. The worst thing is this has not been against defending T20 champions West Indies or on-fire Australia. It is against Ireland, Hong Kong, Netherlands and Afghanistan.
Zimbabwe have been largely lacklustre and sluggish. Here we have a Full Member being forced to play 159,3 overs out of a maximum possible 160 in their four matches against the minnows since arriving in Bangladesh. The matches against Hong Kong, Ireland and Netherlands were all decided on the final ball while the seven-wicket win over Afghanistan came with three balls remaining.
This alone shows that the Zimbabwe team is accepting that they belong to the same league as Ireland, Netherlands, Hong Kong and Bangladesh.
Television viewers will enjoy T20 matches that produce a full 40 overs of action but that should be a problem for the TV networks.
Zimbabwe have to show they are a league above their current opposition and the current group seems to have fluffed that opportunity.
The play-offs end today and Zimbabwe do not have destiny in their own hands, Ireland enjoy that privilege.
Chances are high that Zimbabwe will be the ONLY Full Member team to miss the second stage of the tournament.
To make matters worse for Zimbabwe, they play against Group B whipping boys United Arab Emirates (today) first, thus allowing Ireland and Netherlands to play the decider fully aware of what to achieve to finish above Brendan Taylor and company.
Ireland do not even need to worry about Zimbabwe, they simply need to win against Netherlands, even if it means going to the Super Over because they are the only team from Group B with a 100 percent record.
The Netherlands are level on points with Zimbabwe and in the event of them beating Ireland, the win has to be comprehensive to benefit from net run rate permutations.
If Ireland miss out on the tournament proper, otherwise known as the Super 10 series, they will have only themselves to blame because Zimbabwe handed them the Group B ticket in the opening game.
Taylor might have done well with the bat and scored an innings high of 59 but he will be remembered for his howler on the last ball of the day as he missed a run out that was presented to him.
How he missed all three stumps from such close range remains a mystery.
Online Reporter