National cricket teams prepare for Afghanistan visit
THE Zimbabwe national cricket team starts camp in Harare from tomorrow as they prepare for the visit to the country by Afghanistan this week.
National team coach Heath Streak said the team will spend a week with South African mental strength coach, motivational speaker and trainer Christo Spies. During the two-week fine-tuning period, Streak said the players will engage each other in a practice match on Tuesday.
“We have got a mental strength coach coming from South Africa so both the A team who are in camp for the Afghanistan A tour and the national squad are collectively in camp we will be doing some skills training, we have a practice game among each other on Tuesday then we continue our camp, then the guys play go back to ZPL and the Logan Cup before we return to camp for five days before the first ODI against Afghanistan,’’ said Streak.
He believes Afghanistan’s visit to Zimbabwe gives his players a chance to prove that they deserve to go to next year’s 2019 Cricket World Cup qualifiers to be staged in Bangladesh. Zimbabwe will play five ODIs against Afghanistan.
“There are basically 30 people in total getting into with the two squads together. Hopefully the guys can play some good consistent cricket and hopefully we can get a few wins, the last time we played against Afghanistan it wasn’t such a success the guys are hungry to build on that, it is a good opportunity for the guys to put their hands up and stake a claim in the side, we are looking for guys to take us through to the qualifiers,’’ Streak said.
Asked if he was aware of any other fixtures lined up prior to the team heading off to Sri Lanka and West Indies, Streak pointed out that they are speaking to a number of countries but can only confirm when the matches are in place. With the rains disrupting the Logan Cup resumption which saw the planned matches being abandoned without a ball being bowled, Streak is convinced that there is still time to prepare for Afghanistan.
“There is lots of talks in terms of fixtures, guaranteed is Sri Lanka in July and West Indies in September/ October, we have lots of other stuff until those are confirmed we can’t say anything until we know. Rains have been good for Zimbabwe but not for the cricketers, the guys have been training hard, we have a month until our first game, there is plenty of time to prepare,’’ said Streak.
Zimbabwe last played Afghanistan in a bilateral series in January last year at a neutral Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates. Afghanistan won the five One Day International contest 3-2 and then took the Twenty20 International series 2-0. The Asians had toured Zimbabwe in October 2015 where they humiliated the then Davenell Whatmore coached side by clinching the ODI series 3-2 and then won the T20I series 2-0. All the matches were played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Meanwhile, Afghanistan A are expected in the country on Tuesday for five limited overs matches against their Zimbabwe A counterparts with their senior team landing in the country on 13 February. All the fixtures are at
Harare Sports Club.