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Hamilton Masakadza

A player unhappy over non-selection, a public war of words, an investigation, a team’s management scrambling to save face, a clearance, and a group of men responding on the field with a thumping victory to show none of the behind-the-scenes issues are affecting them too much. Sounds a lot like Zimbabwe, doesn’t it? But it’s not.

This was how Netherlands began their World T20 outing. By comparison, Zimbabwe’s first few days at the event have been calm.
Brendan Taylor’s men shook off months of inactivity by featuring in the match of the qualifiers so far. Their opener against Ireland went down to the last ball but they ended up on the wrong end of the result.

It’s last-gasp time for Brendan Taylor and Co. Having recognised the importance of qualifying for the main draw and slipping up early, they have to win their next two matches and hope someone else (Ireland) stumbles along the way. Their fate may already be out of their hands, but Zimbabwe have a reputation to protect and, after the hurt of Monday, can be expected to be fierce in their attempts to do so.

Netherlands have already showed the fight of a wounded group. After losing their ODI status earlier this year and with the backroom drama, they turned in a clinical performance against the UAE to demonstrate the threat they could pose at this event. Victory over Zimbabwe will set up a showdown with Ireland, if they beat the UAE. Netherlands will want nothing less than to take it down to the final match of the group and to give themselves every chance of playing in the main draw.

He does not have Tinashe Panyangara’s obvious never-say-die attitude or his toe-crunching yorker but Tendai Chatara has determination of his own which serves Zimbabwe just as well. Chatara is miserly and gave away only 20 runs in the four overs he bowled against Ireland. He has also perfected the slower ball and can change his pace to suit conditions and fox batsmen.

Stephan Myburgh will feel right at home playing against Zimbabwe, because they used to be his neighbours. Myburgh was born in Pretoria and played some of his cricket for Northerns before moving to Netherlands. Myburgh has already made his presence felt in the tournament, with the only half century for his team so far, and will want to make an even bigger impact against the team South Africans think of as their little brothers.

Zimbabwe do not need to make drastic changes after a decent all-round showing against Ireland, but there are areas of their line-up they can tinker. Vusi Sibanda could be brought up to open the batting with Hamilton Masakadza, which may allow for Malcolm Waller to slot in at No.4. If Waller plays, Zimbabwe will have an extra spin option and could bring in big-hitting bowling all-rounder Shingi Masakadza to bolster the lower order.

Zimbabwe: 1 Hamilton Masakadza 2 Sikandar Raza/Vusi Sibanda, 3 Brendan Taylor (cpt, wk), 4 Vusi Sibanda/Malcolm Waller, 5 Sean Williams, 6 Elton Chigumbura, 7 Timycen Maruma/Shingi Masakadza, 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Tinashe Panyangara, 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Tafadzwa Kamungozi.

Netherlands: 1 Stephan Myburgh, 2 Michael Swart, 3 Wesley Barresi, 4 Tom Cooper, 5 Peter Borren, 6 Ben Cooper, 7 Logan van Beek, 8 Mudassar Bukhari, 9 Timm van der Gugten, 10 Pieter Seelaar, 11 Ahsan Malik. – Cricinfo.