ZIMBABWE national cricket team coach Dav Whatmore is pleased with the progress by both the team and individual players made during their recent tour of Pakistan.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Although Zimbabwe lost all matches in the two-match Twenty20 series and the two one-day internationals (ODIs) played in Lahore, Whatmore believes the team is heading in the right direction ahead of a busy home schedule this winter.
“We didn’t win a game, but we were very competitive,” Whatmore said during yesterday’s Press conference in his assessment of the tour. “The players and the team itself tried pretty hard in very difficult conditions which many of them had not witnessed or experienced before.
“We all know it was a very high- scoring T20 and ODI series and the attack from both teams suffered a lot. The Pakistan team although ranked ninth were a pretty decent and formidable side, but the players responded to the challenges,” he said.
“We should have won the second T20, but our fielding seems to be an area of concern which needs improvement. In the ODIs I thought having lost the first two matches we were very well placed to win the third one, but bad weather intervened.”
Whatmore said the team was also affected by Elton Chigumbura’s absence in the last two ODIs, after the hard-hitting all-rounder was suspended for maintaining a slow over-rate during the first one-dayer.
Batting higher up the order at number four, Chigumbura was outstanding as he led the team from the front to dispel any concerns about his ability to handle the captaincy especially after Brendan Taylor’s departure.
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He scored a half century in the T20 series before scoring his maiden ODI century in the first one dayer.
His performances certainly caught the eye of Whatmore, who believes the skipper could fill the void left by Taylor.
“We lost our skipper for a slow over-rate which meant we didn’t have him for the last two ODIs. He has already served his suspension and thankfully we will have him for the next series. His personal batting was an absolute revelation and personally I think he has taken it upon himself to fill in the big boots of our previous number four, Brendan Taylor,” Whatmore said. “He’s really showing he’s got the potential to become an absolute great in this country.”
Zimbabwe are expected to regroup next week to start preparing for a home series against India later this month which should set in motion a busy schedule for the national side.
Batsman Hamilton Masakadza, who took over the captaincy for the last two ODIs, said after an encouraging performance in Pakistan, the team could only get better because of the busy schedule the team has this year.
“It’s very encouraging what we saw there, the team played really well and very competitively and we can only move up from there given the number of games that we have lined up,” said Masakadza.
“We won’t have the usual thing that we used to have where we would have a stop-start situation every time because we have got a full schedule and most of the cricket will be at home which is exciting for both the players and the fans,” he said.
Meanwhile, ninth-ranked Pakistan have stayed in touching distance of seventh-ranked West Indies and eighth-ranked Bangladesh in the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings after completing a 2-0 series victory over Zimbabwe in Lahore.
With Sunday’s third ODI washed out, Azhar Ali’s men have stayed on 87 points with Zimbabwe two places and 43 points behind in 11th position.
West Indies and Bangladesh are on 88 points each, but the West Indies is ranked above the Asian side by a fraction of a point. With Bangladesh to host India for three ODIs later this month and Pakistan to play five ODIs in Sri Lanka in July, the battle for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 remains tight as England plus the seven next highest-ranked sides on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings as on September 30, 2015 will progress to the tournament, which will be staged in the United Kingdom from June 1 to 19.
There were some notable performances in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen with home side’s Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez rising two places to 32nd, captain Azhar Ali vaulting 24 places to a career-high 56th after scoring 227 runs and Haris Sohail moving up 17 places to 57th spot.
For Zimbabwe, Chigumbura has risen one place to 59th after scoring 117 runs in his only game of the series. Sikandar Raza has moved up 15 places to a career-high 77th after scoring 136 runs in the series, which included 100 not out in Friday’s second match. In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers, Hafeez has fallen eight places to 25th.
