Zimpapers Logo

Mehluli Sibanda in Johannesburg, South Africa
ZIMBABWE senior national cricket team coach Lalchand Rajput has singled out leg-spinner Brandon Mavuta as the biggest positive to come out of their disastrous tour of South Africa where they lost all their played matches.

Rajput said Mavuta was the shining light in Zimbabwe’s 3-0 whitewash in the one-day international series and 2-0 loss in the Twenty20 Internationals, as the last match was washed out on Sunday saving them from another possible whitewash.

Mavuta, whose only previous international appearance had been against Australia in Harare in July, was a revelation in all the five matches in South Africa.

“One of the positives that we can take is Brandon Mavuta coming very good. It was a difficult tour for us because beating South Africa in South Africa is a really tough task, but I think the way we went about it; the first two ODIs we got caught up on a bad wicket, but the third game I think we came a bit closer,” said Rajput.

He was also impressed by the return to form of Sean Williams, Brendan Taylor and Peter Moor. Rajput also identified South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir as the biggest difference in the series, something he described as good for the Zimbabwean batsmen ahead of testing conditions in Bangladesh.

“There were some positives which we want to take into our next tour like batting wise, with Sean Williams getting the runs, Taylor getting into form and Moor coming good in the T20s. I think the only difference was Imran Tahir bowling to us. He is one of the best leg-spinners in the world and I am sure the boys have taken note of that. It was good to play Imran Tahir before going to Bangladesh where we will be getting a lot of spinners,” he said.

Before touring South Africa, Zimbabwe spent two months fine-tuning, but all that hard work failed to win them any match.

Having watched his players struggling against South African pace bowlers as well as Tahir’s spin, Rajput is eager to see them come good in Bangladesh where they play the Tigers in three ODIs and two Tests.

“The plan is to execute; hopefully the players will execute the plan better in Bangladesh, which we failed to execute here,” he said.

Zimbabwe suffer from lack of game time and after playing five limited overs matches against quality opposition, they will be hoping to compete better and win games in Bangladesh. — @Mdawini_29