THE national cricket team technical department seems to have finally lost patience with under-performing senior players, whom they have shown they are ready to drop and look elsewhere.

BY DANIEL NHAKANISO

Batting coach Andy Waller criticised the team’s lack of hunger after they disappointingly lost to Pakistan in the final of their three match series which the tourists won 2-1.

Zimbabwe lost the Twenty20 series 2-0, failing to chase down a measly 137 runs to win on both occasions, before succumbing to the ODI series defeat after a lifeless performance in the decider on Monday.

“My one real feeling is that I don’t see that we want it enough,” Waller said.

“We’re not hungry enough. We’ve just got to be hungrier than the opposition. When you’re playing against a side like Pakistan or New Zealand, who we know are stronger than us, to me, there are two ways you can beat them. One: You can try and out-think them. Two: You have to want it more than the opposition,” he added.

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“And at the moment, to be honest, I don’t see that hunger. So we talk about it, and I’m hoping that with the help of [coach] Dav (Whatmore) and everyone that we can get that back. But at times, we don’t look like we want it as badly as we should want it. It’s a worry.”

Waller, who briefly took charge of the national team in 2013, also had no kind words for the batsmen after another abject surrender against the Pakistan spin bowlers on Monday.

The hosts lost all 10 wickets to spin in the first ODI, with legspinner Yasir Shah taking a career best six for 26, and nine in the third including Bilal Asif’s five for 25 in only his second ODI.

Pakistan left-arm spinner Imad Wasim was also the highest wicket taker in the two T20s finishing with a combined haul of five for 25.

“We’ve lost 19 wickets to spin in two games, but up until this series spin hasn’t really been a worry for us,” Waller said.

“We played spin well at the World Cup, we played well in Pakistan. Admittedly, the wickets weren’t great in the T20s and the first one-dayer, but that’s not an excuse. If you look at how the guys got out, it was just really poor shot selection.

“Whether it’s pressure or what it is, it’s hard for me to pinpoint. After playing spin really well this year, we’ve practised hard in the last two weeks and we’ve got a lot of spin bowlers bowling to us in the nets and it hasn’t looked like we have a problem. And then all of a sudden we do it in the middle,” he said.

Waller’s comments came at a time the technical team and selectors all seem to have adopted a tougher stance towards underperforming players unlike in the past when they would shield the players from criticism in the wake of poor results.

Out-of-form senior player Hamilton Masakadza was perhaps the biggest casualty during the ongoing series after being dropped for the ODI series decider after a string of unconvincing performances.

Vusi Sibanda had already been left out of the squad before the start of the series while veteran offspinner Prosper Utseya, who had struggled to take wickets during the T20, was omitted from the ODI squad.

Waller said they expected a tough ODI series against Ireland but backed the team to quickly recover from the disappointment of Monday’s defeat. “Look, we know how good Ireland are and how they play. They’ve got five or six guys who play county cricket and we know they are not going to be a walkover.

“The way we lost today is not what we wanted, we were hoping to be on a high when we play Ireland but I believe we’ve got a bunch of guys who will sit back in the next couple of days and put a lot of thought into it and come back hard,” Waller said.

Ireland arrived in the country on Sunday and will play Zimbabwe in the first ODI on Friday at Harare Sports Club with further contests set for October 11 and 13 at the same venue.

The Irish will also play a four-day game against Zimbabwe A starting on October 17.

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