Mangongo told The Zimbabwean on Sunday they left the their hosts last
week disappointed of losing at the hands of a mere A' side from
Zimbabwe, which is not the country's best side.
From a cricketing point of view, they performed very well to come
through after some good preparations. Batting partnerships was the key
to our victory; at one point Tymycen Maruma scoring an unbeaten century
and (Eric) Chauluka with a half century not out to record a partnership
of 130, he said.
Zimbabwe is once again expected to prove a rising force to reckon with
in two 50 overs series against Canada on Tuesday and Ireland, two days
later.
Failure to keep a consistent side has been Zimbabwe Cricket's major
weakest link in cricket development, in recent years, but Mangongo who
has no intentions of changing his team of players in the near future,
believes the side that travelled to Namibia is special and needs to
play more international matches together to gain experience.
I believe if you pick a team, you should allow them to blossom and
they can only do that if they are given time to prove themselves, he
explained.
The Zimbabwe Cricket A' side will be expected back home on Friday.
This follows an invitation from the Africa Cricket Association (ACA) to
play the two sides as part of their warm-up programme for the 2009
International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup Qualifiers,
scheduled for South Africa from April 1- 19.
ZC communications manager, Lovemore Banda, revealed the cricket board's
intentions of exposing the talented but inexperienced players to
international matches, for the needed experience.
We are keen to keep exposing our players who are on the verge of
senior selection to such play because that is necessary for them to be
able to challenge those at the top, thus improving our standard of
play, Banda said.
Squad: Eric Chauluka (captain), Bothwell Chapungu, Tendai Chisoro,
Charles Coventry, Trevor Garwe, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Mbekezeli Mabuza,
Admire Manyumwa, Timycen Maruma, Shingirai Masakadza, Natsayi
Mushangwe, Richmond Mutumbami, Mark Vermeulen and Cephas Zhuwao. Coach:
Steven Mangongo; Assistant coach/Manager: Clement Mahachi.