No excuses for the Chevrons this time

THE 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup concludes in India tomorrow with the hosts tipped to complete the tournament with a 100 percent winning record when they face Australia, who are no pushovers in the gentleman’s game.

World Cup cricket has been on television screens for over a month and Zimbabwean fans were obviously hurt by the Chevrons’ absence.

Watching the Netherlands play matches there was painful as their presence at the World Cup was at the expense of Zimbabwe following qualifiers staged at Harare Sports Club and Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo in June and July.

The Chevrons had one leg in the finals and needed just win from matches against Sri Lanka and Scotland at Queens Sports Club but instead lost both and lowered their net run rate to finish fourth while the top two progressed.

Big names disappeared when it mattered most with both bat and ball much to the disappointment of fans who filled stadiums expecting better from the Chevrons.

As the 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup concludes, the senior national cricket team is travelling to Namibia for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier Africa 2023.

Just like the qualifiers at home in June and July, only the top two teams progress to next year’s final tournament being staged in the Caribbean and USA.

Apart from Zimbabwe and Namibia, the other countries taking part in Africa’s final qualifying event are Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The Chevrons are returning to Namibia after a preparatory series last month, which ended disastrously for Zimbabwe and cost Craig Ervine the team’s captaincy.

Both teams were using the series to fine-tune for the qualifiers that get underway on Monday running up to December 1.

Zimbabwe led the series 2-1 at one stage but lost the last two games to lose 3-2 in very disappointing fashion as performances suggested the Chevrons are a one-man team.

They lost all matches when Sikandar Raza, who featured in all five innings and made 177 runs, failed to score runs.

After Raza, the next best contribution for Zimbabwe came from the captain Craig Ervine who scored 81 runs in five innings.

It did not come as a surprise when the Zimbabwe Cricket board met in Victoria Falls and resolved to handover the T20 captaincy to Raza and making it clear the decision was influenced by events in Windhoek.

All-rounder Raza took over from Craig Ervine, who will now lead the senior men’s national team in Test and one-day international cricket.

And the ZC board placed emphasis on the importance of qualification for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 while retaining Dave Houghton as the head coach and also having him as a member of a three-man Selection Panel together with convener David Mutendera and former Chevrons all-rounder Elton Chigumbura.

There are those worried the extra burden of captaincy may weigh down Raza and affect his performances, which is something that has affected a number of talented cricketers across the various national teams before.

However, most teams have also benefitted from their captains leading from the front and delivering good results.

Now Raza’s first assignment is to take Zimbabwe to the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup finals and, together with respected coach Dave Houghton, knows that there cannot be any excuses this time around as this is the easiest possible route to qualify.

Zimbabwe are the second best cricketing nation on the continent after South Africa and cannot be outplayed by the other smaller teams participating in the qualifiers.

Due to challenges with resources, the non-Test nations in Africa are different from the likes of Scotland, Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates whose infrastructure enables them to attract personnel to be able to compete against full members in limited overs cricket.

It will be unacceptable for the Chevrons to lose against any of the teams at these qualifiers, Namibia included.

And given that last month’s tour of Namibia was arranged to prepare for these qualifiers, there can be no excuses as these preparations certainly took place in the five matches.

Also to make it impossible for excuses, the selectors retained the team that travelled to Windhoek with the addition of all-rounder Sean Williams, who stayed behind in the domestic Pro50 Championships despite having been included on the travelling list, a major boost.

The players that were in Windhoek last month are certainly used to the conditions in Namibia and will only have their minds on the game.

Raza leads a group of at least three players who might not be available for the national team beyond the next couple of years.

He is 37-years-old while Williams is also 37 and Ervine is 38 and they cannot expect to play on for long as ZC have an obligation to rebuild the national team given the large pool of young talent available.

So the 2024 tournament is most likely the last T20 World Cup available for Raza, Williams and Ervine who will be expected to use this as an extra motivation to get the job done in Namibia by December 1.