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Cricket defeats – It’s lack of exposure

Sport
ZIMBABWE found the going tough on their return to Test cricket in well over a year, losing the opening match against the West Indies in Barbados by a massive nine wickets on Thursday, as the team continued to struggle to make an impact in the game.

ZIMBABWE found the going tough on their return to Test cricket in well over a year, losing the opening match against the West Indies in Barbados by a massive nine wickets on Thursday, as the team continued to struggle to make an impact in the game.

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Despite some noteworthy performances from the touring Zimbabwean side in some parts of that match, it was clear that lack of international exposure in the longer format of the game was the major contributing factor in the comprehensive defeat.

Prior to the opening Test match in Barbados, Zimbabwe had gone for a year without playing a Test match, with their last coming against New Zealand in January last year. Given such a scenario, one is tempted to ask how a team could be expected to perform and improve with such limited playing exposure!

There were some instances in that match when Zimbabwe held their own against the strong West Indies side despite the obvious rustiness. For example on the opening day, Zimbabwe were at one stage well set on 100 for three before several batsmen squandered starts in the first innings to post just 211 on the first day and then collapsed in the second innings to be bowled out for 107.

Zimbabwean bowlers at one stage had the star-studded West Indies batting attack in trouble — at one stage reducing them to 151 for six before yet again failing to take advantage. The hosts recovered to post 301 runs.

A closer look at all these scenarios will show that if Zimbabwe had been consistently getting more international Test exposure, they would have taken advantage of such situations. This was, however, difficult to achieve as some of their key players, considered Test specialists, had gone for an entire year without playing at the highest level.

One player who seemed to have been affected the most by the development, is talented leg spinner Graeme Cremer. Cremer endured a whole year without playing Test cricket and was only confined to domestic first-class cricket, hardly the ideal preparation for an emerging young spinner.The same can also be said about opening batsman Tinotenda Mawoyo.

Zimbabwe cricket team captain Brendan Taylor, who has struggled for form with the bat during the tour, blamed his side’s defeat on poor batting.

“It was a tough Test. We let ourselves down in the first innings,” Taylor told Cricinfo after the match.

“Getting just 200 was disappointing. Had we got 300, it could have been a different game. Not a lot of positives in the game apart from Kyle Jarvis’ bowling.”

Five of the top six got good starts in the first innings, but only three batsmen managed to reach double figures in the second.

Struggling at 41 for 3 at stumps at the end of the second day, Zimbabwe were bowled out in the morning session on the third day.

“We’ve got to find a way to combat their spin (Shane Shillingford) and three-pronged pace attack (Tino Best, Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach).”

Jarvis picked up a five for in the first innings, this after he had just two wickets to his name in the limited-overs matches prior to the Test series. “I am pleased for him,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to see him swinging the ball again.”

Taylor admitted it did not help that one of his strike bowlers, Cremer, proved expensive in the first innings, as Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, and Denesh Ramdin took him for runs.

But he backed the bowler to fight back and hoped for a better performance from the team in the next Test in Dominica. “We hear it spins more in Dominica. It’ll be challenging.”