Chevrons confident of T20 WC
ZIMBABWE national team coach Dave Houghton believes they will dominate the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier in Namibia.
As the highest ranked team, the Zimbabweans are the overwhelming favourites to win the event, which starts on Monday and ends on December 1 in Windhoek.
The Chevrons wrapped up their preparations at Harare Sports Club in high spirits after receiving a sponsorship of kit bags from Indian sports apparel company, Throttle.
Houghton was forthright in his expectations as Zimbabwe face-off with a host of cricket lightweights that include Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and hosts Namibia. The top two sides in this seven-team tournament will qualify for the next edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to be hosted by the West Indies and the United States from in June 2024.
“I think from the time I came in, I have made it very clear that we need this team to grow and to grow in strength,” said Houghton.
“Over the last 14 months we have probably had more ups than we had downs. We always bump along occasionally but when we go to tournaments like these, I expect us to dominate the tournament right from the start.
“There should be no going back, we have to dominate. If we play the cricket that we have been playing in the last 14 months, we will dominate and we will win.
“So it’s a case of us playing the cricket we want to play to grow the team and the results will take care of themselves. I genuinely believe we should go to Namibia and win all six games and come back. The qualification will take care of itself.”
As part of the preparations, the majority of the national team players were involved in lots of domestic cricket. The Chevrons also toured Namibia for the first time in history and were given a rude awakening after losing a five-match series 2-3. Houghton, however, said the tour was more to familiarise his boys with the conditions in Namibia ahead of the qualifiers.
“I think the previous tour (of Namibia) was a huge blessing to us. I’m not sure that we had anybody who had been to Namibia before.“We may have had one, but I certainly haven’t been there. So it was important that we went and have a look at the facilities, gauge the standard of the outfield of the facilities that we will play on and most importantly find out a little bit about the wicket we are likely to play on.
“Generally speaking, those wickets are a lot slower than ours. So that was a very good educational tour and should stand us in great stead going forward to the knockout stages of the qualifiers,” said Houghton.
With players like Blessing Muzarabani and Sean Williams back from injury after missing out on the recent tour to Namibia, Houghton was excited to have all his top guns fit and raring to go.
Sikandar Raza will captain the side for the first time in Namibia, after he was recently appointed skipper replacing Craig Ervine. There are also some interesting additions like Nicholas Welch and Carl Mumba.
“It’s always exciting in tournaments like these to have your full team available. But we have to grow the size of our quad. We can’t be a squad of 14 people.
“I have been trying over the last year; we did it against Pakistan A, quite a bit but I’ve been trying wherever possible to give as many people as possible an opportunity in the international arena to try and grow the depth of our squad.“So, it’s great all the squad back here but it’s also good to go to Namibia and give a couple of other guys a chance as well,” said Houghton. The Chevrons received a consignment of kit bags from their new Indian partner, Throttle Sports, ahead of their scheduled departure for Namibia tomorrow.
The kit bags were handed over to the players and members of the technical department by Zimbabwe Cricket Human Resources manager Joyce Kwashira. Team manager Lovemore Banda said the sponsorship will boost the team spirit.
“We would like to thank the sponsor for giving us the kit bags and satchels. Each member of the team should have enough bags for all their baggage.
“We just hope that this gesture by Throttle will go a long way in boosting the morale of the players and building certain team morale in terms of everyone looking the same; the uniformity which is something that we have not had in a long time,” said Banda.
Zimbabwe squad:
Sikandar Raza, (captain), Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara, Craig Ervine, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Clive Madande, Wessly Mad he vere, Ta di wan as he Ma ru mani, Wellington Masakadza, Carl Mumba, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Nicholas Welch, Sean Williams