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Elton Chigumbura

Harare Bureau
THE question that is on every Zimbabwe cricket fan’s lips today is — “Will the Chevrons batsmen come to the party today?” Having failed with the bat so far against Pakistan, the Zimbabwe cricket side faces a steep challenge against the tourists who have taken a 1-0 lead in the three game ODI series. It’s a chance for Zimbabwe to pull one back and try to stop Pakistan from wrapping the series but they will have to put Thursday’s 128, their lowest score in ODIs this year, behind them.

Today the two sides will be back again at Harare Sports Club for the second ODI and it remains to be seen if the Chevrons will be competitive or — like has become characteristic of them lately — throw away the game. Largely, Zimbabwe have struggled against the Pakistanis’ spin on a pitch that favours the tourists more and Chevrons opening batsman Brian Chari, who earned his ODI debut on Thursday, believes the hosts will have to make use of their feet if they are to survive.

“If we can use our feet a little bit better to get to the pitch and cover the spin, I think we can work him (Yasir Shah) out. We should use our feet a bit more, rather than going back and staying in the crease to the spinners. “He’s quick through his action and it’s actually a bit difficult to read his fingers when he’s bowling with that quick arm action,” said Chari.

None of the Zimbabwe batsmen managed more than 30 runs on Thursday with Sean Williams (26) and Elton Chigumbura (22) the only ones to reach the 20s while the top six contributed a 110 runs. Shah recorded his career best figures of 6 for 26, the second best by a Pakistan spinner in ODIs and the best by any spinner in Zimbabwe.

But he feels that given the current conditions, Zimbabwe are also likely to struggle against his spin. “Four years ago when I played over here, the conditions were very different. The pitches favoured the batsmen more. But now I feel that there’s much more assistance for the bowlers. “The ball is spinning and it doesn’t come onto the bat as comfortably as it did before. So conditions have definitely changed a little bit.

“If someone comes down the track at me and uses their feet, I’ve another plan to respond to them. I’m used to it as a spinner. “The Zimbabweans were under a lot of pressure, and whenever they did try to use their feet I always had something to counter that.” Hamilton Masakadza, the second most experienced player in the team with 161 ODI appearances for Zimbabwe, needs 73 runs to pass Brendan Taylor and become the leading run-scorer at the Harare Sports Club.

He currently has 1,817 runs from 60 innings.