Zimbabwes cricketers made a sluggish start to their Cricket World Cup campaign on Indian soil when they slumped to 152 all out and lost by eight wickets to a rampant South African team at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk just outside the coastal city of Chennai on Saturday evening.Despite the apparent gravity of the defeat there were several mitigating factors to consider as well as positives to emerge from the contest.
The first is that it was a 14-a-side match and thus very much a training exercise in which both sides were more concerned with individual performances rather than the team result. The second is that no team in the world is more efficient and ruthless than the Proteas in a pressure-free environment. Add an element of match situation not to mention pressure and the Proteas can look a very different team.
The match looked very different indeed for the first 10 overs when the experiment of partnering Charles Coventry (21) with Brendan Taylor at the top of the order produced an opening stand of 49 and good reason to be optimistic. But a miscued drive to mid on ended Coventrys promising innings and wickets fell regularly thereafter.
The key wickets of Tatenda Taibu and Elton Chigumbura lasted just one and four balls respectively, the former caught at slip off the explosive Morne Morkel and latter trapped lbw by spinner Robin Peterson, neither troubling the scorers. While Taibus form is of little concern, captain Chigumburas slump has lasted too long for comfort. His team desperately need him to be at his best with bat and ball to make an impact during the tournament.
When Taylor edged a ripping leg spinner from Imran Tahir into the right glove of keeper AB de Villiers the teams innings had crashed to 82-5 and was all but unsalvageable. Sean Williams (35 from 59 balls) pushed cleverly for singles and ran hard between the wickets until he chanced his luck once too often against the arm of Faf du Plessis and was run out and Reggie Chakabva (18) kept him company during a seventh wicket stand of 46 which briefly promised a revival. Morkel (3-16) and debutant Tahir (3-35), however, were too strong for the tail-enders and quickly brought an end to proceedings.
Ray Price and Greg Lamb claimed the consolation wickets of openers Hashim Amla (45) and Graeme Smith (41) but nothing troubled Jacques Kallis (49) and AB de Villiers (41) as they completed victory with 26.5 overs to spare.
Zimbabwe play their second warm-up game against Ireland in Nagpur on Tuesday before the tournament gets under way with their first official match against Australia on February 21 in Ahmedabad.
For the latest news, pictures, player profiles and updates on the team , visit Zimbabwe crickets website http://www.zimcricket.org/
Post published in: Cricket