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NAGPUR.
Zimbabwe take on Ireland in their final 2011 World Cup cricket match here today hoping for a better performance than when they crashed to their eight-wicket defeat at the hands of neighbours South Africa on Saturday.
The Zimbabweans open their World Cup campaign with a date against defending champions Australia on Monday.
Zimbabwe know they are coming to this World Cup with not much expectation, but sneaking in under the radar may be good for what they hope to achieve in the subcontinent.
After many false starts to a better Zimbabwean cricket landscape, things finally seem to be changing for the better, with the introduction of the franchise system leading to the professionalisation of players on the domestic circuit.
Now, that needs to translate into success on the international stage.
“To justify what’s been happening, we need to do things on the field,” former captain Prosper Utseya said.
That has started to happen in the last couple of years, with Zimbabwe winning seven out of 20 matches since January 2010, and people’s interest in the national cricket side is reigniting, something Graeme Cremer, the Zimbabwe leg-spinner, has noticed.
“I think about 70 percent more people have become interested in us over the last year or so,” Cremer said.
“Before we left for the World Cup, people were very excited and wanted us to do well.”
Prior to coming to the subcontinent, Zimbabwe spent some time training in Dubai, where they played two warm-up matches, against the Netherlands and Kenya, and won both.
Those victories were important for the team, because as left-arm spinner Ray Price explained, it gives them a platform on which to build.
“In the past, we’ve won a few games on the trot and then we’ve lost some, so there was never a period where we won consistently,” Price said.
“We will use these warm-up games to be more consistent.”
Zimbabwe, like other teams, want to use the warm-up games to “find the right combinations,” according to Utseya.
“We are trying different things in terms of our opening batting and bowling partnerships.”
Zimbabwe’s batting conundrum, in particular, is going to be tricky because they lost experienced batsman Sean Ervine, who decided to retain his British citizenship rather than represent Zimbabwe, as well as his replacement Tino Mawoyo through injury.
Wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu cites Zimbabwe’s spinners as their biggest asset, calling Price and Utseya”world-class.” — CricInfo.