Chevrons seek consolation
WITH the series gone, Zimbabwe will be looking to end the limited overs matches against Bangladesh on a high in today’s third and final One Day International cricket match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
Bangladesh have already claimed the series, leading 2-0 after winning by 28 runs and seven wickets respectively.
In each game, Zimbabwe got into match changing — if not match winning — situations but didn’t realise their full potential to take the game away.
Execution at the death appears to have been Zimbabwe’s Achilles Heel in both games so far. In the first ODI, the Chevrons’ death bowling leaked 85 runs in the last 10 overs while the batting didn’t fire as expected falling short of the set target of 271.
And in the second ODI, batting ticked but drastically slowed down at the death squeezing 55 runs in the last 10 overs to make 246. The Chevrons faced 27 dot balls in the final powerplay.
These scenarios are the major differences that have put Bangladesh ahead of Zimbabwe in this series.
Chevrons batting coach Stuart Matsikenyeri admitted that batting has been a let-down so far in the series but noted the improvements that came through on Wednesday night.
“The tour has been on the tough side in as far as batting is concerned. In the first game in Dhaka we were well off our capabilities. The top six batters didn’t come to the party save for Sean Williams.
“We were looking to improve from that performance as it were and in the game yesterday (Wednesday) that was the case. Even in that, we had quite a number of guys getting starts and in the end not converting.”
The top six in Brendan Taylor (75), Sikandar Raza Butt (49), Sean Williams (47), Cephas Zhuwao (20), Peter Moor (17) and Hamilton Masakadza (14) all got in but couldn’t make it count.
Matsikenyeri reckons had either of Taylor, Raza Butt or Williams played through the innings Zimbabwe would have set a more demanding and defendable total.
“If we had had one of those three converting to a hundred it would have put us in a much better place than we ended up yesterday (Wednesday).”
Zimbabwe, however, is looking to stitch up good performances, being competitive and getting a consolation victory today.
Not only will it be the best way to wrap up the limited overs series but it will be a pump up for the coming two-match Test series.
Out of the two ODIs, Zimbabwe can draw some positive lessons to build on in spite of results not coming their way.
“It’s about looking to improve because we haven’t won a game in a long time now and the batting has had a lot to do with that. “It’s definitely a department where we are putting most of our efforts and time to make sure we improve.”
He added: “If we can get one guy to get into three figures and another one to bat deep from our top six it will definitely give ourselves an opportunity to post a winning score.”