NELSON — Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura targeted victory over the slumping West Indies yesterday after a four-wicket triumph against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) breathed new life into their World Cup campaign.
After losing their opener to South Africa, Zimbabwe allowed the UAE to carve out the Middle East nation’s highest one-day international score of 285 before claiming victory with 12 balls to spare at Nelson’s Saxton Oval.
“We need to take this momentum into the game against the West Indies,” said Chigumbura, whose side face the men from the Caribbean in Canberra on Monday.
“Hopefully we can polish up our fielding and have a good game in all departments.”
Chigumbura also praised the depth of his batting line-up, which saw Sean Williams making an undefeated 76 batting at five and Craig Ervine, at seven, hitting 42 at almost a run-a-ball.
“I thought the guys played well with the bat. The good thing about our team is we have eight batters so there was no pressure,” the skipper said.
“Getting over the line was the most important thing to do and we did it.”
UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir admitted that despite his side making a one-day international best total on their return to the World Cup after an absence of almost two decades, they didn’t have quite enough runs on the board.
“We played some good cricket but we were expecting a different result. In the previous game on this wicket we saw that 300 was not enough (when West Indies lost to Ireland),” the 43-year-old said.
“We know our limitations and we scored 285. But they batted well, struck up some good partnerships and they won the game.” — Reuters
