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Brandon Moyo, [email protected]

AFTER missing out on action for a couple of months due to injury, Zimbabwe senior women’s national cricket team batter, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano was in the form of her life when she made a return to the game in the just-ended white ball series against Papua New Guinea.

On her return to the Lady Chevrons setup, the experienced campaigner helped the team to win both the One Day International (ODI) and T20I series.

Mugeri-Tiripano had suffered a hamstring injury in the first ODI match against Ireland in Harare in January.

Her return to international cricket and the form that she was in, at the Papua New Guinea series, was a timely boost for the Lady Chevrons team that is set to compete at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier in the next few weeks.

In two ODI innings, the 32-year-old left-hander was the leading run scorer with 123 runs. She was the only player who managed to reach triple figures (in the series), with the bat while becoming the first Zimbabwean woman to score back-to-back ODI half-centuries.

In the opening game of the series, Mugeri-Tiripano scored a brilliant unbeaten 71 runs off 105 balls before retiring hurt. She would go on to hit yet another half-ton in the third encounter, top-scoring for the Lady Chevrons with 52 runs off 60 deliveries.

Having played well at number three, she was named the batter of the tournament. She has been an asset to the team.

Her form was to continue into the T20Is, where she scored 70 runs in 66 balls at an average of 35. She was named Player of the Match in the third T20I, which helped Zimbabwe seal the series 2-1 on Tuesday evening.

Lady Chevrons head coach, Walter Chawaguta said Mugeri-Tiripano was a crucial member of his team and they were lucky to have a player with her capabilities back into the fold.

He said she was one of the finest top-order batters Zimbabwe has had in a long time.

“I believe she is one of the best top-order batters we have had for a long time. Her maturity batting at number three is something that we need, she can read the game too well and has the ability to combine caution and aggression, depending on what the game needs,” said Chawaguta.

Mugeri-Tiripano added a lot of dimension to the team, the coach said. “She has balance and makes a huge difference to the team. She runs well between the wickets and adds a lot of dimension to the team. She is able to create partnerships, offers options and bats well with her partners. All that ability is just what we need at the top and coming in at three, she knows how to handle that loss of wicket,” he said.

Coming from the Papua New Guinea series and starting their preparations for the Global World Cup Qualifiers, Chawaguta said there are a number of areas that they look to improve on.

He said they are looking at doing range hitting, to improve their boundary scoring in the middle to lower order. Judging from the recent series, Chawaguta said they have been accurate with the ball in hand but will also work on their fielding.

Zimbabwe were placed in Group B of the World Cup Qualifiers set for April 25 to May 7 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They are in the same group as Ireland, Netherlands, Vanuatu and the hosts.

Group A has Scotland, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uganda and the United States of America (USA). The top two teams from each group will feature in the semifinal with the winners booking their tickets to Bangladesh, joining the hosts, alongside New Zealand, Australia, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa and the West Indies in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. — @brandon_malvin.