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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Cricket Test captain, Craig Ervine has said his side is ready to face West Indies in a two-match Test series starting today at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo after over a year without red ball cricket.
Speaking to the media yesterday ahead of the much-anticipated clash, Ervine said it is a huge privilege to be able to go back to the field and play Test cricket after over a year without donning the whites.
“There has been a lot of energy around training, guys have been told what they need to do and everybody is just cracked on. A lot of guys are excited to play these two Tests after we have not had these matches in a number of years so it’s a huge privilege to have this opportunity,” said Ervine.
He added that they are looking forward to the series and has faith in the players who came in to replace the missing experienced Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Blessing Muzarabani. Williams and Muzarabani are missing out due to injury while Raza and Burl were granted permission to play international franchise cricket.
“We are running a little bit thin with the injuries we have, but the guys who have come in as replacements played a fair bit of Logan Cup leading up to this Test series and this last week of preparations has been excellent so I think everybody is looking forward to it,” he said.
Zimbabwe named seven uncapped players in a 16-member squad and the skipper believes that the new faces have been made aware of the level of cricket they can expect over the coming two weeks adding that the challenge will be more mental rather than skill.
“It’s a completely different level of cricket, the training has been intensified and kind of brought up to the level of Test cricket just to try and get guys aware of the level they are going to be playing at over the next couple of weeks.
“I think it’s more of a mental challenge than a skill challenge and the guys have been preparing exceptionally well over the last days in the nets, just changing things a bit from what they are used to at franchise level and how they prepare,” said Ervine.
The Chevrons and West Indies will be clashing for the first time in a Test match since 2017. In their last encounter, the Windies won the series 1-0 after the last match ended as a draw as the Caribbean side continued their five-day match dominance over Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe, since Dave Houghton took over has been playing good cricket in the white ball format which Ervine hopes they will carry into the red ball game as they will have to find ways of beat West Indies. Former England international Gary Ballance is set to make his Zimbabwe Test debut after switching allegiance to his birth country last year. The left-handed batter will bring vast experience having featured in 23 Tests for England, scoring 1 498 runs with four centuries and seven fifties at an average of 37.45.
“Its hugely important having him in that middle order, he brings a lot of stability and experience and a lot of the younger guys can pick his brain as to different situations, how to get the best out of their preparations leading up to these two Test matches. His presence is good for us,” said Ervine about Ballance.
The match is scheduled to start at 1000hrs and Ervine hopes the weather holds out and also get a good crowd to cheer for the Chevrons. — @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter