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NewsDay

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Zimbabwe seek winning Streak

Sport
ZIMBABWE national cricket team coach, Heath Streak has promised an aggressive brand of cricket under his reign, which begins this morning with the first of two Tests against touring Sri Lanka at Harare Sports Club.

ZIMBABWE national cricket team coach, Heath Streak has promised an aggressive brand of cricket under his reign, which begins this morning with the first of two Tests against touring Sri Lanka at Harare Sports Club.

BY KEVIN MAPASURE

The former Zimbabwe captain, who took over the coaching reins from Dave Whatmore, who was sacked in May, yesterday told a Press conference that he would seek a positive attitude from his players.

Streak wants the team to approach every game with the mindset of winning it rather than just going out there to try and compete.

“What I can promise is you will see a change in attitude. We no longer want to just be competitive, we want to win,” he said. “We risk losing when we play with that intent, but that is what we want. We want more energy, we want to be a little bit more aggressive in terms of the approach.”

Streak is happy with the squad they have put together and believes the mixture of youth and experience will work in Zimbabwe’s favour in this Test match.

“The guys are excited, the guys are hungry to get back on the park. We don’t play enough Test cricket, we have enjoyed having some longer version of cricket of late and some guys want to pick up from where they left against New Zealand. We have a good squad with players who can take wickets and get us the runs to win the match.”

Streak appreciates beating Sri Lanka will be a tough challenge, but is confident that Zimbabwe can make use of its home conditions to good effect.

“We are under no illusion that we are playing a good side even without the guys that didn’t make it here. They have the experience and they are on a high after beating Australia, but like what they did, we want to use our own conditions to make sure we win. We respect them, but we believe we can challenge them in our own conditions and we can win.”

Captain Graeme Cremer is particularly pleased with the squad that was put together by the selectors.

“For the first time, we have the team we want, we are a solid 15 together. We have some experience and we have some new guys eager to do well. I think the first innings will be crucial for us because we have to get a good total on the board. Whatever we do first, we have to do well.”

Peter Moor is likely to get the keeping duties in the first Test with Regis Chakabva sitting it out. There might be no place for Sikandar Raza either.

Young bowler, Carl Mumba could earn a first cap.

Propable team

Tino Mawoyo, Brian Chari, Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Malcolm Waller, Peter Moor, Graeme Cremer, Donald Tiripano, Carl Mumba and Chris Mpofu.