Ervine plots Sri Lanka upset
ZIMBABWE senior men’s cricket team captain Craig Ervine believes the slow wicket in Sri Lanka will work in their favour as they look to upset the Asians in a One Day International series that begins today at the R Premadasa International Stadium.
The Chevrons arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday and trained two days, under recently appointed interim coach Walter Chawaguta, before plunging into the first of the three scheduled ODIs.
The two teams will also engage in three T20Is next week.
Ervine told a pre-match press conference that the Zimbabwean batsmen were relishing the prospects of playing on the slow wickets in the subcontinent.
“We are confident, and we look to impressing on Sri Lankan wickets which are slower in comparison to the fast wickets in our region. It will enable us not to rush into shots and be selective which is a positive factor; we would be looking to take our batting forward.
“It is in the bowling department that we will have to summon our best against Sri Lanka,” said Ervine.
The left-handed batter is expected to lead the Zimbabwe team from the front, through experience gained in over a decade of international cricket.
The Chevrons will be looking to start the year on a positive note. They endured some difficult moments in the second half of 2023 as they failed to qualify for two global events while losing bilateral series to Namibia and Ireland.
Ervine said that the side’s batting would mainly revolve around the top three while he would be the old soldier lending that much of experience he has acquired over the years.
This will be Zimbabwe’s first bilateral visit to the island nation since January 2022. In their last visit to Sri Lanka, they played three ODIs and lost the series 2-1.
Apart from bilateral cricket, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka last played together in white ball cricket in July in the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers where the Lankans prevailed after a dominant performance.
They convincingly won the match by nine wickets in front of a sold out Queens Sports Club.
For the record, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka have played each other 61 times in ODIs and the Lions have won 47 games, with Zimbabwe victorious on 12 occasions. Two matches have had no results.
Although Sri Lanka have dominated the duels between the two nations, the Chevrons still draw inspiration from the stunning 3-2 ODI series win during their tour of Sri Lanka in 2017.
Off-spinner Tapiwa Mufudza is set to get his first ODI cap at 33 years after he was finally rewarded with a national call up for his consistent performances on the domestic scene.
Pace bowler Faraz Akram, who has only featured for Zimbabwe in the T20I format, is also in line to make his ODI bow.
Zimbabwe will be counting on the experience of all-rounders Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl as well as the pace duo of Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani as they seek to upset the hosts.
Ervine and Sri Lanka’s newly-appointed ODI captain, Kusal Mendis, faced yesterday’s media conference on an optimistic note, fielding questions ahead of the three-match ODI series.
Mendis, an attacking batsman aged 28 years, fronted an unfazed outlook to taking over the leadership from his predecessor Dasun Shanaka following Sri Lanka’s world cup debacle.
He was optimistic of the fairly new look selection and was quite satisfied with the top order batting.
“We performed fairly well during the World Cup and I believe that we should gel against Zimbabwe going into tomorrow’s (today) day/night.”
He said that there would be no big changes in the batting.
“Upfront, there should be a change in the opening combination with me moving down to my favourite number three position.”
He revealed that former captain Dasun Shanaka was likely to make the starting 11 batting at number seven.
“Although Dasun was not among the runs in the World Cup, back home he has been scoring in the domestic top bracket games and I believe therefore he will be back in the reckoning,” said Mendis.
Zimbabwe ODI squad:
Craig Ervine (captain), Faraz Akram, Ryan Burl, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Clive Madande, Wellington Masakadza, Tapiwa Mufudza, Tony Munyonga, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba
Sri Lanka ODI squad:
Kusal Mendis (captain), Charith Asalanka (VC), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sahan Arachchige, Nuwanidu Fernando, Dasun Shanaka, Janith Liyanage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay, Akila Dananjaya, Wanindu Hasaranga