Zim hope to make most of Dhaka familiarity
ZIMBABWE arrived in Bangladesh with the hope of doing well based on their familiarity with the venue of the tri-nation series, also involving Sri Lanka.
Zimbabwe’s late arrival in Bangladesh meant their warm-up game had to be cancelled, but captain Graeme Cremer hoped to take confidence from the fact that his players have played enough in Dhaka. Zimbabwe will take on the hosts Bangladesh in the series opener today.
“I think it is not ideal but we have all played in Dhaka enough, the conditions won’t be too different than what we have seen in the past,” Cremer told reporters in the post arrival press conference at Dhaka on Saturday.
“It will be new for our younger guys, but for our more experienced guys it shouldn’t be an issue. Those are the guys who will look to win us games,” Cremer said.
“I learnt a lot about the Bangladesh players (and a few Sri Lankan players) during the BPL. It will be really good for us. The input from (Sikandar) Raza and Malcolm (Waller) will also help us a lot in the triseries,” he added.
Cremer reckoned the return of Brendon Taylor and Kyle Jarvis should hold Zimbabwe in good stead, while also putting the onus of giving the side a good start on experienced batsman Hamilton Masakadza.
“It is very exciting. Taylor left a big hole in the middle-order when he left. It is great to have him back. We will let Jarvis lead the bowling attack, but also it is the extra experience we have in the team which we didn’t have before,” Cremer opined.
“We will look to him (Mazakadza) to get us off to a good start and hopefully bat through most of the innings. He has a great record; there will be a lot of pressure on him to score, but he knows it. Hopefully he can deliver,” Cremer said.
Zimbabwe head coach Heath Streak too returns with a sense of familiarity, as he was Bangladesh’s bowling coach not too long ago.
“Nice to be back,” said Streak. “Home away from home, and having spent two years here not so long ago, it was like just the other day that I was here,” he said.
Streak too felt the players who’ve had the experience of featuring in the Bangladesh Premier League will be of great help going into the series.
“Cremer, Raza, Waller and Mire definitely will help us with a bit of information about some of the newer players. They would also know what the conditions are like, which would help them in the series,” Streak said.
“I think we still have a long way to go. We are the underdogs in this series. But I still feel that we have got the quality of players we need to take Zimbabwe cricket forward. We showed against Sri Lanka last year that we can compete against other countries outside our home territory. It was very pleasing, but we have a long way to go as a team,” Streak added. — Cricbuzz