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THE Powerade South Africa Emerging team coach Malibongwe Maketa expects his players to carry plenty of confidence into their three-match, one-day series against Zimbabwe A starting in Harare today.

The tourists won the two-match, four-day leg of the trip 1-0. They were convincing, nine-wicket winners in the opening game before coming to within two wickets of clinching the second game as the hosts just about held on. Now they will be looking to carry that momentum into the second part of the tour and Maketa is looking forward to it.

“Winning the four-day series against a Zimbabwe A side has really been a rewarding experience for all of us,” he said. “I mean, the journey started four months ago when we met up in Pretoria working with the players, really trying to help them identify and come up with solid game plans and prepare them on how to execute their skills under pressure.

“To have come up here and really put that into practice is a great feeling. To have seen the journey the players have gone through and to finally cap it of by winning the way we did in such a commanding way has been very satisfying.”

The likes of Kyle Verrynne, Matthew Christensen, Senuran Muthusamy and Kyle Simmonds have all stood out on paper so far, but Maketa feels that every single one of his players has played their part. The coach is also expecting a vastly improved performance from the home side at the Harare Sports Club.

“Our good performance so far is certainly something we want to now take on into the one-day series,” he added. “Everybody has contributed so far, so in that sense we are all in a good space heading into what we expect to be a tougher series. I’m sure it’s going to be a much stronger Zim A, so we’ll have to be ready for them.”

Schedule

Today: Ist One-Day match Zim A v SA Emerging — Harare Sports Club

Friday August 18: 2nd One-Day match Zim A v SA Emerging — Harare Sports Club

Sunday August 20: 3rd One-Day match Zim A v SA Emerging – Harare Sports Club — Wisden India