IN what turned out to be arguably the best match so far, in the on-going 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, Scotland edged Ireland by just one wicket in a last ball thriller played at Queens Sports Club yesterday in Bulawayo.
The Chevrons have won their first two opening matches against Nepal and the Netherlands and will be in good spirits heading into the group’s headlining game. Speaking after Zimbabwe’s win against Netherlands on Tuesday, Sikandar Raza said they are thinking about the Windies game.
The 37-year old all-rounder also added that other matches that they are yet to play are also on their minds and not just the game against the Caribbean side.
“We are thinking about the West Indies but we are thinking about every other game as well to be honest. Right now we were just thinking about Holland (Netherlands) and we have played a good brand of cricket, I think a lot of focus has been put on the results but not really the process.
“We just want to play entertaining cricket whether with bat in hand or ball in hand, things will look after themselves, we have home support, we have the crowd behind us so let’s just enjoy the fact that we have had a very good game today (Tuesday) and we are going to regroup tomorrow (yesterday) and start looking at the West Indies which is a champion team,” said Raza.
Raza, who was named Player of the Match after his brilliant performance with both bat and ball added that they have respect for the Windies but on match day they will give their all to emerge victorious.
Raza scored the fastest century by a Zimbabwean in 50-over cricket and took four wickets as well.
“I have all the respect for them (West Indies) but come Saturday all we want is to be well prepared for that game and take that game head on,” he said.
Zimbabwe has been playing fearless cricket over the past months and Raza credited the surge in form to head coach, Dave Houghton who came in and brought in a culture which they were on the verge of losing.
The Chevrons are on a three-day break while their opponents, the Windies will be in action later today against Nepal in the second match of the tournament. The game will take place at Harare Sports Club.
Zimababwe and West Indies are in Group A of the qualifiers alongside Netherlands, Nepal and the United States of America (USA).
Sikandar Raza
Houghton’s men will round up their group games against USA (who will be up against Netherlands today). The second pool, Group B is made up of Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Scotland, Ireland and Oman.
The top three teams from each group will progress to the Super Six stage where each team will play three matches against the sides they did not meet in the group stage.
All points won in the group stage will be carried over to the Super Six stage, apart from those gained against the bottom two from each group.
Zimbabwe and West Indies’ match is scheduled to start at 0900hrs.
On the same day, Netherlands will be up against Nepal at Takashinga Cricket Club.
Chronicle
