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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE batsmen will have to come to the party against South Africa tomorrow if they are to spring another shock victory in the triangular series.
On Sunday, Zimbabwe put up a sublime performance to record a famous victory over former world number one Australia winning the game by three wickets with 12 balls to spare.
It was a remarkable win for Zimbabwe whose last victory over the cricket powerhouse was 31 years ago.
Steve Mangongo, Zimbabwe’s coach, said his concern was his batting attack which has been losing wickets willy-nilly.

“Zimbabwe cricket is work in progress hence we continue working hard, we continue to improve with every outing and we continue to show commitment in every game. What should be noted is that success will not just come overnight.  It will take a lot of work to achieve our objectives.

“It’s very true that our bowling has become formidable and we know what we will get from our bowlers on any given day. However, the cause for concern is with our batting as it still lags behind. We will keep on searching for good batsmen and at the moment it’s all about trying combinations. We need really skilled batsmen especially from number one to four where we are losing lots of wickets. The good thing is that all the players are determined to improve on their batting and all the other aspects of the game that is fielding and bowling,” Mangongo said.

Zimbabwe’s bowlers did a remarkable job against Australia, taking nine wickets in 50 overs and in the process restrict the visitors to 209 runs the lowest total which has been chased so far in the final.

The first game had seen Zimbabwe chasing a 350 runs target set by Australia last week but the hosts were taken out after a disappointing 152.
The second match of the triangular series which South Africa won by seven wickets against Australia had seen the Proteas hitting the 327 runs target set by their opponents.

Zimbabwe went on to lose by 61 runs against the Proteas who they had bowled all out for 231 runs after 49.5 overs.
Mangongo said despite winning against Australia, his charges were keeping their feet on the ground with their focus being on tomorrow’s game against South Africa.

“Every game is important for us and like I said we look to improve with every game. When we play top ranked teams like now that they have been relegated to three (South Africa) and four (Australia) we have to play out of our skills. Hopefully we will be able to stitch it together as we are pragmatic that we are ranked 10th in the world and all our three departments (batting, bowling and fielding) just have to come together.

“As for the mood in camp it’s as good as it was. On the brighter side the players are keeping their feet on the ground after that famous win over Australia and are raring to go and improve on their last performance,” Mangongo said.