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Augustine Hwata Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket team captain Malcolm Lake yesterday challenged his troops to try and win every game at the International Cricket Council Under-19 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates next month.
At the 2012 edition in Australia, Zimbabwe finished a disappointing 15th out of 16 countries and Lake, who retains as the leader of the group, rallied the players to assert that they are among the finest players from their generation.
“Playing at a World Cup is a privilege for any young cricketer and it means a lot for me and the team.

“It’s a great honour to be captain of my country at any level and we want to do better at the World Cup than the last time.
“We have to prove that we are up there and play the best that we can. We are looking at going there and win every game if that’s possible. We just have to try our best,” said Lake.

Zimbabwe will play in Group C that includes South Africa, West Indies and Canada.
The teenage cricketers, who received their kits yesterday, are expected to leave Zimbabwe on February 7 and will play their first match against Canada on February 14 before engaging West Indies and South Africa on February 16 and 17.

Lake said they respect all their opponents at the ICC Under-19 World Cup and will take each game differently.
“We respect all our opponents very much at the World Cup and obviously teams like South Africa and West Indies are great competition and so is Canada.

“They (Canada) are not there to make up the numbers but to play as well and we take every game very seriously,” said Lake, who is looking forward to going to the university soon.

Walter Chawaguta, the Zimbabwe Under-19 coach, said the 2014 World Cup presents an opportunity for him and his players to gauge themselves against the rest of the world.

“This is an opportunity to gauge how far we have prepared ourselves and see if we can get Zimbabwe back on the map.
“Obviously in 2012 and even the preceding two World Cups were very disappointing and we now aim to do better.

“This World Cup presents us with a chance to get back at the top like in 2006 when Zimbabwe was ranked in the top eight in the world or in 2004 when we were ranked fifth,” said Chawaguta.

Zimbabwe Under-19 squad
Malcolm Lake, Luke Jongwe, Joylaord Gumbie, Shaoun Handirisi, Deven Bell, Ryan Burl, Kieran Geyle, Mkhululi Nyathi, Tarisayi Musakanda, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Dylan Hondo, Patrick Mambo, Cuthbert Musoko, Herbert Chikomba, Charles Kunje.
Technical: Walter Chawaguta (coach), Alois Tichana (assistant coach), Nick Singo (manager), Muleke Nkala (bowling).