ZIMBABWE players for the first time saw the angry side of coach Dav Whatmore after they surrendered to a 20-run loss to Pakistan in their Group B clash of the current ICC Cricket World Cup in Brisbane on Sunday. BY KEVIN MAPASURE IN HOBART, AUSTRALIA
Whatmore told NewsDay Sport in an interview here yesterday that he was so disappointed he gave the players an earful.
Zimbabwe had built up expectation ahead of the match at the Gabba after their exploits against South Africa and West Indies where despite losing they were lauded for their spirited chases at targets beyond 300.
Against Pakistan they had set themselves well for a win with a fine display with the ball especially in the first 40 overs before leaking 73 runs in the final 10 overs and compounding that with a woeful batting display.
“For spectators it was an overally good game to watch, it was very competitive,” said Whatmore. “But for us it was disappointing to see it unfold because in the first half the team had done enough to suggest they could end as winners by night. We had discussed the importance of winning this match to ensure we improved our chances of going through to the next stage, but now while it’s still achievable it’s a bit tougher.”
Yesterday, Whatmore prepared reports for individual players and met each of them to demonstrate their shortcomings and his recommendations ahead of another must win encounter against Ireland this weekend.
Zimbabwe gave away 20 extras while Pakistan had 19 but the former bowled 17 wides.
“17 wides? That’s just giving the opposition to bat an extra three overs, and that will do a lot of damage and we could have chased a lesser target we been more accurate.”
While Zimbabwe had more boundaries, (19), compared to Pakistan’s 16, it is the singles that contributed in making the difference between the two sides.
Pakistan scored 96 singles while Zimbabwe in their chase managed just 65, yet singles could have taken them home safely chasing 236.
“The difference of 31 runs in singles is too much, had we got those runs we would have won the match. We had a bad start to the innings and couldn’t quite recover. (Mohammed) Irfan is a good bowler and he extracted a lot of bounce on that wicket. We knew that Pakistan would come out fighting, but we just did not bat well enough to win the match. We kept losing wickets, which didn’t help our cause. Hamilton Masakadza’s departure was key to the defeat because he was forming a nice partnership with Brendan Taylor.”
Zimbabwe lost two wickets in the first ten overs, managed to negotiate the second ten without any loss, but lost two between over 21 and 30, losing four between the 31st and 40th over with two falling in the last ten.
Worryingly for Zimbabwe they only managed 11 runs in the Power Plays and lost three wickets in those periods.
“We have to motivate the players now, we are desperate to put up a good performance and win the match against Ireland. But for us to win we need to get the processes right. So far we have played good cricket, just that against South Africa and West Indies we leaked too many runs. Pakistan gave us a good experience and we will use that going into the next match.”
Meanwhile, captain and all-rounder Elton Chigumbura is out of Zimbabwe’s fifth group match of the 2015 International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup, following the injury he sustained on Sunday.
While fielding during the Group B match against Pakistan at the Brisbane Cricket ground in Australia, Chigumbura tripped in the 24th over and fell heavily, landing on his knee when he was attempting to retrieve the ball.
