ZIMBABWE senior men’s cricket team coach Walter Chawaguta expects a much-improved batting show from his charges in today’s final One Day International encounter against Sri Lanka as the Chevrons look to save the series in Colombo.
Zimbabwe's batting concern came back to haunt them in the second ODI on Monday following a combined team effort of 208 in 44.4 overs. Team captain, Craig Ervine led from the front with a spirited 82 runs, but could not get the necessary help from teammates with Ryan Burl scoring 31, while Joylord Gumbie and Milton Shumba contributed 30 and 26 runs, respectively.
“Obviously disappointed with the way we went about business in that second match. That was a match we probably should have won even with a low score of 208. Just a few things would have gone our way had we committed ourselves more to some of the chances that we got. It could have been a different game altogether right at the end,” Chawaguta told NewsDay Sport from Colombo yesterday.
“We hopefully have learned from that match moving into the next match. I thought the bowlers bowled really well to drag the game into the final last two overs of the match... We can expect a bit more bravery in the way we express ourselves with the bat. I think for the fast bowlers, we can expect them to continue as well as they have and I think spin, Raza and Mufudza have been steady.”
Pace bowler Ngarava bowled the innings of his life, taking his maiden five wicket haul for just 32 runs, spinner Sikandar Raza weighed in with two wickets, towering seamer, Blessing Muzarabani took one wicket while Tapiwa Mufudza and Faraz Akram were also both economical.
“The fielding in patches was very good. I think we lost some opportunity or two to get back in the game and really seal it off at one stage by not really committing to some of the catches that we were offered. Again, it’s not an issue of skill, it’s just an attitude of looking forward and just be committing to those opportunities. It’s something that we addressed in the dressing room,” added Chawaguta.
“We just need to get a good start with the bat into the final match. We have done quite a bit of analysis, watching the two main premier fast bowlers that they have and their pick, Dilshan Madushanka being the main one, the left arm seamer ... I think our middle order batsmen have dealt reasonably well with the spinners, could probably be a bit more aggressive in terms of playing our cross-bat shots like sweep shots.”