Zimpapers Logo

Mehluli Sibanda Bulawayo Bureau
WITH Zimbabwe and the West Indies having been involved in close encounters on the Test cricket arena in the past, national team coach Heath Streak wants his boys to finally cross the line when the two teams meet in the first five-day contest at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo today. In the last Test match between the two teams in Bulawayo in November 2003, a Streak-led Zimbabwe, having drawn the Harare match, set themselves up nicely to get the better of the Brian Lara-captained led Calypso Kings.

Requiring 233 runs to win, Zimbabwe were bundled out for 104 with fans only returning for eight overs on the final day. With that in mind, Streak is convinced that now is the time to finally get the better of visitors.

“We have had quite a few close encounters with the West Indies in the past, I think it’s about time that we end up on the right end of it. I feel definitely the abilities of the people in this change room genuinely can go out and win. Whilst we respect West Indies, they are a good unit and we saw their capabilities against England but despite all that we have got the resources and personnel to be able to win,’’ Streak said. On what would it take to finally get the better of the boys from the Caribbean, Streak believes playing consistently good cricket would be key to registering victory.

“Just playing consistently good cricket over the period of the Test match, Test cricket you can have one bad session and it can decide how the Test match goes. We are focusing on playing our own brand of cricket rather than focusing on the reputations of the opposition,’’ Streak said. He could not be drawn to disclosing his starting 11, save for the fact that the returning Brendan Taylor will slot into the batting line up, with a lot expected from the former skipper.

‘‘It’s difficult for us to give away our playing 11, I think it’s common knowledge with Brendan Taylor coming back he will slot into that, probably number four position for us, he brings a lot in terms of his experience, we know what his capabilities are and hopefully he can just balance it out. We not going to see massive changes from Sri Lanka,’’ he said. West Indies captain, Jason Holder said they anticipate a great challenge from Zimbabwe, a team which gave them a hard time during last year’s One Day International tri-series which also involved Sri Lanka.

‘‘We expect really good competition from these guys, they have boosted their side with Brendan Taylor and Kyle Jarvis coming back and these are key guys for them I believe,’’ Holder said. Zimbabwe and West Indies have met in eight Tests since March 2003, with six wins for West Indies while the two other matches have been drawn.