AS Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) continues on the challenging journey of building a team for the future, their decision to inject young blood into the squad’s core is already yielding results.
Opening batsman Brian Bennett, aged 21, has been entrusted with the task of facing the new ball in T20I cricket and he has been despatching his duties with aplomb.
Whether pace or spin, Bennett has had to absorb everything thrown at him with the maturity of a seasoned campaigner, despite his young age.
Bennett has not had it easy, as his opening partner Tadiwanashe Marumani (22) is equally young.
The two have performed decently, stabilising the in most games and have largely been the difference between losing and winning.
Although Zimbabwe has not won many games, their performance and contributions have been largely commendable.
Another youngster, Dion Myers (22), has been impressive in the top order.
Arguably the country’s biggest cricketing brain of his generation, Myers has anchored the innings with ease.
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Perhaps the ever-demanding local fans have often forgotten that the ship is being led to safety by youngsters and may take longer to get the desired results.
The youngsters though are learning fast.
On Wednesday, they helped deliver a four-wicket victory over Afghanistan in the first of the three-match T20 series.
Another new blood, Tashinga Musekiwa (24), delivered the sucker punch with a commendable finisher role.
With youngsters taking charge, it only points to ZC moving in the right direction.
The more the younger players play, the more they learn how to win.
Man of the match Bennett, with figures of 49 off 49 balls, showed how much of a team player he is, as he singled out some of his colleagues for praise.
“It is always nice to contribute to the team winning. Credit to Musekiwa at the end as well. Obviously, not the start I wanted, but in T20 cricket, you have a lot more time than you think,” Bennett said.
“Sticking to my processes and watching the ball (was my approach). Nice to bat with Myers, he is a good mate of mine. We were thinking if we could keep up with the run-rate and keep it under tens, we have a good chance.”
Raza, who reached 100 not out on Wednesday in terms of the T20 International matches for Zimbabwe, expressed the importance of the win after the Pakistan debacle in Bulawayo.
“Zimbabwe needed that victory. We really needed it for the changing room and for the fans to start believing. A win like that basically will tell us where we went wrong. Sometimes, the result is not in our control. We have agreed to give everything we have for the nation,” said the Zimbabwe T20I skipper.
“When we come back to the dressing room, we should feel tired mentally and physically. We spent a lot of time trying to identify if he (Musekiwa) could be a finisher. It will do him a world of good and hopefully he starts believing in his ability as much as we do.
“When you have a young squad, if you get a 70-80 and then get a low score... but when you have a guy who fights for his country, to have three tough games against Pakistan and then to do that today, could not be happier and prouder (of Musekiwa).”
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said his charges came short with the bat after winning the toss and electing to bat first.
“We wanted to put up a good total on the board. We were only 15-17 runs short, it was still a good total. Nabi and Karim played really well in the middle. We gave away so many wickets early on and in T20s, it is hard to come back,” Khan said.
“We could have bowled better than that (what we did). As a professional player, you have to adjust — that is something you have to do early in the tour. You spend some time and then react.
“Whenever we come here, we talk about assessing the conditions. Later on, we have the shots. It is hard to bat if you don’t really see the wicket.”
The second T20I is set for Harare Sports Club this afternoon, with the third and final encounter set for tomorrow.
A win for Zimbabwe would see the Chevrons wrap the series as a contest with one match remaining.
