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Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE women’s cricket team captain Mary-Anne Musonda says the Lady Chevrons are hoping to pick up the pieces and get their campaign back on track after suffering a huge setback in their opening match of the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021.

The Lady Chevrons fell to Thailand by eight runs in their opening qualifying match in Group B at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

Zimbabwe fell short after being restricted to 239/5 in pursuit of Thailand’s 247 in their allotted 50 overs. Musonda, who led Zimbabwe with an unbeaten half ton, said they have to correct their mistakes ahead of the tougher matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh in Group B.

But first they face the USA at Takashinga Sports Club on Thursday.

“We just wanted to get two wins (to make the Super Six stage). It’s unfortunate that it wasn’t the day. But we still have three more games to play. We are not losing hope. We are just hoping that the mistakes we made are not going to be repeated going forward,” said Musonda.

Openers Modester Mupachikwa and Sharne Mayers had an opening partnership stand of 49 runs before the former was caught at slip on 27 runs.

Mayers (47) looked on course to score her maiden ODI half-century after being dropped twice on six and on 43, but she came three runs short of reaching the milestone.

The arrival of Musonda gave the hosts hope as she combined for a 77 run partnership with Josephine Nkomo (56), who overcame an injury scare to score her second ODI half-century.

Musonda had an unbeaten knock of 69 off 65 deliveries.

“I am just trying to motivate the guys and being realistic with individuals and where they lacked. It’s difficult for you to hurt when you know you let the team down.

“Everyone has to look at their individual performance, be realistic with where we went wrong and make sure that they come back fighting in the next couple of games,” said Musonda.

Zimbabwe are in Group B along with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and the USA.

Group A has Sri Lanka, Netherlands, West Indies and Ireland, with three sides from each group making it to the Super Six stage from which the final placings will be decided.

The tournament decides three qualifiers for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3, joining five teams that have already qualified through the ICC Women’s Championship, Australia, England, India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand.

The three qualifiers as well as the next two teams will also ensure places in the next ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) along with the top five from last time, as the number of teams in the third cycle of the IWC goes up from eight to 10 teams.