Back to business for Chevrons

THREE months after their heartbreaking defeat to Scotland, which dented their qualification for the 2023 ICC World Cup, the Zimbabwe men’s national senior cricket team — the Chevrons — has now shifted its attention to the T20 version of the game.

The Chevrons have a chance to atone for missing out on the World Cup, when they feature in the ICC Men’s World T20 Africa Region Qualifier to be hosted by Namibia next month.

They will join Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania in the battle for two T20 World Cup slots.

West Indies and the United States will co-host the T20 global showpiece.

As part of preparations for the regional qualifier, Zimbabwe will tour Namibia later this month for six T20 practice matches.

They will return to the same country a few weeks later for the qualifier.

Coach Dave Houghton and his team have put behind the disappointment of failing to qualify for the World Cup. “We have to put that behind us. “But you do not forget about it; we learn from the mistakes and move on and focus on what is ahead of us,” he said.

“In this instance, our focus is on qualifying for the T20 World Cup next year.”

He believes the tour of Namibia is good for a number of reasons.

“The T20 qualifier is going to be held in Namibia and some of us have never been there, so it is good that we go there and look at the facilities, play on the wickets and get to understand the environment better before the qualifier itself.

“It is important that we get playing again quite quickly, even though the players have been playing domestic club cricket, the T10, NPL and the NPL T20, but we have not been actually together as a team since that game we lost against Scotland.”

Despite being the only Test-playing nation in the regional qualifiers, Houghton is wary of being complacent.

“Firstly, I am glad that we are playing a regional qualifier because even at the last T20 World Cup, along with a number of other coaches, I said it is now time that we have an Africa Cup. There is a European Cup, Asian Cup but we do not have an African Cup.

“So, in a way, this is our African Cup.” The Africa Cup, he also says, would play a pivotal role in the development of the game on the continent.