The Zimbabwe national cricket team will be desperate to arrest their slide toward minnows status ahead of their second One Day International against Ireland today.
Having failed to qualify for the T-20 World Cup at the Africa Region tournament where they were the only Test playing nation, they came back home for more woes after they were beaten 2-1 in the T-20 series against Ireland.
The slide had started in the World Cup qualifiers that Zimbabwe hosted where defeats to Scotland and Sri Lanka condemned them out of the running for a ticket to the India showcase.
With everyone thinking things could only get better as they embarked on the ODI series on Wednesday at Harare Sports Club, it took heavy showers to save Zimbabwe from what was shaping up to be an embarrassing defeat.
After 25.3 overs having been sent in to bat after losing the toss, Zimbabwe had slipped to 121 for 6 having lost openers Joylord Gumbie (28) and Tinashe Kamunhukamwe (28), Innocent Kaia (5), Sikandar Raza (15) Ryan Burl (0) as well as Clive Madande who had scored 11 runs.
Even still with Brandon Mavuta in the middle as well as Luke Jongwe and Richard Ngarava, who were yet to bat, it was hard to see Zimbabwe recovering to post a competitive score.
Today they will seek improvement and will be desperate for a win with brick bats flying from all directions as they post one poor result after another.
Their cause will not be helped by the absence of batting stalwarts Craig Ervine and Sean Williams who are both out injured.
- Zimbabwe seek final flourish
- Zimbabwe seek final flourish
- ERVINE POSITIVE DESPITE POOR END TO SRI LANKA TOUR
- Zim eyeing another Sri Lanka upset
Keep Reading
Stand-in Sikandar Raza,, who carries the burden to make sure the team bats themselves to a win or a big score, acknowledged that the team need to pick themselves up.
He said the guys are working hard to improve the results and bring back smiles on the faces of their suffering fans.
“Cricket that’s why it’s such a beautiful sport, its’ such a beautiful team game as well. Yes it helps (guys contributing positively) but I can assure you the guys understand and they know that they are trying their hardest,” Raza said.
“They want to be successful; they want to make it on the international stage so I can’t fault my boys for lack of trying or effort because they are doing everything they can. Hopefully it will happen sooner I guess.”
Ireland captain, Paul Stirling is looking forward to a milestone series victory over Zimbabwe.
“I think we played a lot of 50-over cricket here particularly this year, we sort of know how the game will transform and I think it will really come down to who plays the best cricket on the day. I don’t think there’s going to be any surprises. We know it’s going to start at 9.15 in the morning. It’s going to be good to bat for periods of time and might get trickier as the day goes on. I think both teams are pretty well set in and well versed of what’s going to come,” he said.
