Utseya proud of Under-19 players form
ZIMBABWE Under-19 cricket coach Prosper Utseya has backed the bulk of his players to break into the senior national team in the not too distant future.
Despite finishing 11th out of 16 teams at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa, Utseya believes some improvement has been made by the lads in South Africa and they’re ready to step into the international arena.
There have been growing calls for the likes of Wesley Madhevere and Milton Shumba to be called up to the Chevrons’ team for this month’s tour of Bangladesh, especially for the shorter formats of the game.
The two all-rounders, who bat high up the order and also bowl spin, went for their third Under-19 World Cup, having made their debuts at the age of 15.
“I believe we are making progress. If you look at the number of players we brought here, I am quite positive most of them will go on to play for the senior national team. I don’t think they will play for more than four years without us seeing them breaking through into the national team,” Utseya said.
Having beaten South Africa and New Zealand in the build up to the Under-19 World Cup, Utseya feels what then transpired in the actual tournament was not a true reflection of where Zimbabwe are at Under-19 level. New Zealand have gone as far as the Super League semi-finals.
“If you look at the build up to this tournament, us beating New Zealand and South Africa, I don’t think in terms of the gradings they are accurate. We don’t get to play everyone, it also depends if you are lucky to get a decent group, as you can see New Zealand are in the semi-finals. The way we played against New Zealand, I thought we dominated them, but they find themselves in the semi-finals. Same with South Africa, they find themselves playing for sixth position,” he said.
Utseya feels they were unfortunate to be drawn in the same group with Bangladesh and Pakistan, who proved to be tough opponents. The two Asian countries, who beat Zimbabwe in the pool stage of the tournament, are in the last four of the tournament and still in with a chance of being crowned champions.
“Pakistan and Bangladesh were different opposition altogether, as you can see they are also in the semi-finals. I think they played 30 games leading up to the World Cup, so they were better in terms of international exposure. It’s something we need also; we have to ensure that we give them as much international exposure before the actual World Cup,” he said.
For the next Under-19 World Cup in West Indies, Zimbabwe will be starting all over again, with only Emmanuel Bawa the only one eligible from the 15 who were in this year’s edition. Utseya starts to build his team from the April school holidays when 30 players are selected, from where the final 15 will be chosen.
“From this group, there is only Bawa who qualifiers for the next World Cup. We had Samuel Ruwisi, who pulled out, but is another one who qualifies. The selection process starts during the April holidays when we have our Under-19 trials where we’ll pick a 30-man squad. It’s a two-year process to trim that into the final 15,” Utseya said. — @Mdawini_29.