India’s cricket tour of Zimbabwe was an opportunity for the hosts to get a lift after near misses in Pakistan left Dave Whatmore’s side on its knees.
BY Kevin Mapasure
But after another series whitewash against a second string side, the hosts have been plunged further into the depths of despair and might have been left in a crisis of confidence having failed to match the tourists’ ruthless efficiency and more importantly, hunger.
To be fair to them, Zimbabwe showed the world that indeed they can play this game at this level when they pushed India to the very last ball in the opening match and many thought they had got a tantalising glimpse into a fiercely-contested series, but they flattered to deceive.
While they will be disappointed by their fragility in the final two matches where India eased to 62 and an 83 run victories, they would feel more anguished that they failed to win the first one-day international (ODI) after a massive opportunity had presented itself.
Moving into the T-20 series they will be searching hard for some confidence, hoping that they can take something from the two matches to inspire themselves for future matches coming hard and fast with New Zealand looming large.
Senior batsmen particularly Vusi Sibanda, Hamilton Masakadza, Sean Williams went to Pakistan in May searching for runs, they searched again against India and were equally unsuccessful and their hunt continues.
Elton Chigumbura and Chamu Chibhabha both played well with the bat, but it’s hard to see how Zimbabwe can chase down totals above 250 when Sibanda, Masakadza and Williams all lose form at the same time.
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When Chigumbura, who scored a maiden century in Pakistan and followed that up with another one against India in the first ODI that Zimbabwe lost by four runs, Zimbabwe had done well to plug the hole left by Brendan Taylor in that role. Yet the move also presented the number seven problems for Zimbabwe and the Richmond Mutumbami experiment is just not yielding the desired results.
The less said about the other batsmen the better, but everything points back at the trio of Masakadza, Sibanda and Williams who scored.
Williams and Sibanda each played in the first two matches, but having scored 20 and 22 runs each respectively in both innings, they will feel they could have done more.
Masakadza scored a decent 34 in the first match, but failed to hit double figures in the final two.
Chibhabha, who scored two half centuries in the last two ODIs was the highest run scorer for Zimbabwe with 157 runs, having picked himself up from the first match’s three.
Chigumbura scored a century in the first ODI then he disappeared. The bowling department’s performances were also sporadic, at times making a good start but failing to hold tight to the finish.
Neville Madziva emerged with six wickets, the highest by any Zimbabwean bowler while Brian Vitori played two matches and managed two scalps, but Zimbabwe is missing Tendai Chatara. Graham Cremer performed well with the bat scored 27 runs on two occasions, but his bowling let him down as he failed to take a single wicket and proving too expensive with economies of 6,4, 4,7 and 8,4.
