This is the first time Zimbabwe will not be
participating in the cricket world cup since 1979. Right from their debut World Cup
in 1983, they have played all world cup no matter what the situation was back
in the country. However this time they have failed to qualify as top 10 teams
for World Cup, Amid such gloom and despair the series win against UAE have
come as a soothing balm for the team
On Tuesday 16th
April 2019, Zimbabwe clean swept United Arab Emirates(UAE ) 4-0 in Four match
series. While this may not be a huge milestone in the country’s cricket, beating a
newbie on their own home turf is not such a big deal as Zimbabwe have seen
golden moments in cricket and on bigger stages in cricket but such have been
gloom in country’s cricket since past 12 months when it failed to qualify for
World Cup that even a win against UAE is
a welcome one.
 |
| Sean Williams was impressive |
When the series
started Zimbabwe were without their Captain Graeme Creamer who have almost
ended his 14-year-old International Career for fulfilling personal commitments
(Creamer’s wife is in UAE working as Pilot). In such a moment when Brendon
Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza were injured it became difficult for the board
even to put a quality team with a good leader. In such a situation Peter Moors
was selected as captain even though there were other senior candidates in the team like Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, and Craig Ervine. In such an unstable
Environment UAE was given a glimpse of what they could do to this Zimbabwean team
especially in recent years when Bangladesh and Afghanistan have turned the
tables on Zimbabwe by taking advantage of instability in Zimbabwean Cricket.
 |
| Peter Moors debut series as Captain lead Zimbabwe to 4-0 victory |
UAE was also
buoyed by the presence of Dougie Brown and Graeme Creamer whose knowledge of
Zimbabwe team and conditions seem to be a pivotal one. However, the first one day
showed that it would be hard for UAE batsmen to adapt to seaming conditions in
early winter of Zimbabwe. In the second ODI however, UAE gave their best
performance only to be thwarted by the cameo of stand-in captain Peter Moors and
Duckworth and Lewis method. The third match saw the most dominant performance
from Zimbabwe as riding on a brilliant hundred of Sean Williams they posted a
huge score and then ultimately bulldozed the Emirates boys under the pressure
of mountain of runs.
In the fourth
One day which was once again affected by rain, UAE’s batting stuttered and
were once again shut down for a low score. Zimbabwe was given a revised target
of 130 in 30 overs, In reply of which they started brilliantly. With 44-0 in
8.5 overs it looked that match was already sealed but as UAE have shown they
might be the team with limitations in cricket abilities but there is no limitation
in terms of fighting spirit, they reduced Zimbabwe from 44-0 to 79-5, taking
34-5 in short span of time. However, once it was due to low score that Zimbabwe
ended as the winner by 3 wickets. UAE lost the series 4-0 and was disappointed as
they expected something big after a major upset in last year’s World Cup
Qualifiers.
 |
| Kyle Jarvis was the best bowler from both sides |
On the other
hand Zimbabwe have breathed sigh of relief after a major disappointment last
year , they have got some cricket and above all some success , it doesn’t
matter that it had come against the likes of UAE, the country’s cricket circle
has been starved so badly of cricket that any success feels like a breeze of
relief. It, however, does not mean that everything is perfect in the team, no there
are chinks which must be mended before they set on a tour of Europe in June
2019. Apart from Sean Williams, Regis Chakabva and Peter Moor none of the
batsmen have a good series. While Craig Ervine did score 139 runs but an
average of 34.75 was not at all impressive. Solomon Mire and Sikandar Raza were
another major failures, Raza does not seem to be the same batsmen as he was before
he was ousted after a controversial spat with the board. The bowling though can
be said to have given a complete performance. The trio of Kyle Jarvis, Tendai
Chatara and Donald Tiripano destroyed the UAE batsmen by their seam and swing.
Jarvis ended up with 10 wickets in 4 matches at an astonishing average of 7.60
and an economy of 2.46. Tiripano with 6 wickets (11.33) and Chatara with 5
wickets ( at 17.60) were not far behind. Even part-timers Sikandar Raza and
Ryan Burl also troubled the batsmen.
 |
| Donald Tirpano returned to form |
 |
| Tendai Chatara showed he is one of the best available in country |
Overall this was
the series which might have been a low profile series but have given a
breathing space to Zimbabwe in tough circumstances.
Comments
Post a Comment