Something special brewing with the Chevrons
TWO months ago, the Zimbabwe senior men’s cricket team was a hopeless lot in international cricket.
Not only did they suffer humiliation at the hands of Namibia when they lost a five-match Twenty20 International series 3-2 in Bulawayo, the first ever success for the Namibians over an International Cricket Council Full Member in this format of the game. That embarrassment was followed by more disgrace at the hands of Afghanistan when the Asians won all the six international white ball matches against Zimbabwe in Harare. Afghanistan first clinched the three One Day Internationals prior to achieving a 3-0 triumph in the T2OI series.
On the day the team lost the third T20I against Bangladesh, the Zimbabwe Cricket board finally acted and removed Lalchand Rajput as head coach, replaced him with a Zimbabwean legend, Dave Houghton. In a short space of time, Houghton has transformed the Chevrons. First, Zimbabwe won all the five matches they played at the International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B played in Bulawayo where they were crowned champions after victory by 37 runs over Netherlands at Queens Sports Club.
Zimbabwe, by being champions of the qualifier will play the first round of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia in Group B where their opponents will be Ireland, West Indies and Scotland.
The Chevrons carried their dazzling form from the qualifier, made history when by securing their maiden T20I series triumph over a higher-ranked side when they beat Bangladesh by 10 runs in the third game in Harare. The home side, backed by a full-house crowd lifted themselves from 67 for 6 to finish on a competitive 156 for 8, before restricting Bangladesh to 146 for 8 in 20 overs.
Prior to that success over Bangladesh, Zimbabwe had beaten West Indies in a one-off match in 2010, toppled Scotland 2-1 in 2021 and won a tri-nation tournament in Singapore also featuring Nepal in 2019. The success over the Bangladesh Tigers marks their first ever series win over a Full Member in bilateral T20I cricket.
Left handed batsman Ryan Burl was key in Zimbabwe’s recovery as he took 34 runs off Nasum Ahmed in the 15th over, equaling the second-most runs taken in a T20I over. Burl is no stranger to big overs against Bangladesh, having struck 30 runs off a Shakib Al Hasan in an over, three years ago.
Burl and Luke Jongwe’s 79 runs in 5.1 overs even found a place in the record books. No team in the history of T20Is has had their seventh wicket pair come in at such a low score (67 for 6) and made at least 50 runs at such a high strike-rate.
As if the success in the T20Is was not enough,
Zimbabwe went on to beat Bangladesh 2-1 in the ODIs. Unbelievable as it was, the five wicket triumph over Bangladesh in the opening match of the series was actually the first success for Zimbabwe in ODIs over the Asians since May 2013 when they won by seven wickets at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. It was also the last time that Zimbabwe won a series against Bangladesh.
A lot milestones were achieved in the just ended series against Bangladesh. Zimbabwe managed to bring an end to a 19 match losing streak against Bangladesh. It was a pity they failed to achieve a clean sweep over a Full Member, something they last accomplished in November 2001 when a team led by Stuart Carlisle hammered Bangladesh 3-0 in the Asian nation. Under Houghton, Zimbabwe are playing cricket with a lot of belief, something that was not there when Rajput was in charge. When he took over, Houghton made it clear that he wanted the players to play without fear and to execute their duties in a positive manner. That is showing as the team was able to recover from the horrible start to post a competitive total in the third T20I against Bangladesh. In the first ODI against Bangladesh, the in-form Sikandar Raza was unbelievable with bat in hand as he struck an unbeaten 135 off 109 deliveries and finished things off with a six to hand Zimbabwe victory. Innocent Kaia notched up his maiden ton, 110 from 122 balls to lay a perfect foundation for Zimbabwe to chase over 300.
Regis Chakabva, the stand-in captain struck the fastest hundred by a Zimbabwean batsmen, racing to the century in 73 balls, to beat surpass the 77 deliveries Sean Williams got his ton against the United Arab Emirates in 2019.
After the white ball fixtures against Bangladesh, Houghton’s record reads, played 11, won none, lost two.
Houghton however refuses to take credit for the turnaround in the team’s fortunes and feels that it is what he actually what he is not doing that is making the players perform the way they are doing.
“It’s probably more of what I don’t do than what I do that gives these guys the confidence to go and play the game the way they are playing it,’’ said Houghton at the end of the T20I series against Bangladesh.
Houghton believes that the Zimbabwean players are extremely blessed with good skills having seen them play franchise cricket. At the same time, he does not want to get carried away as he wants the team to build on consistency and see where the progress is going forward.
The 65-year old Houghton made it clear that he is not promising that the team will win all the matches they play but what he can guarantee is that their approach every time they take to the field will be positive, something that is already visible in the 11 matches he has presided over.
One thing for sure is that since Houghton took over, there has been a change in the way the Chevrons approach the game, with the players clearly enjoying playing cricket.
As the national slogan goes, “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/ Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo”( A nation is built by its owners), it has taken going back to one of the country’s most patriotic sons Houghton to inculcate a winning mentality in the cricket team.
Next up for Houghton is steep challenge in India who are coming for three ODIs and it will come as no surprise if Zimbabwe did bring one or two upsets against the cricket powerhouse.
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