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Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE begin life under the captaincy of Elton Chigumbura when the national cricket team host South Africa in first of three ODIs against South Africa at Queens.
Chigumbura was a surprise choice for the leadership of the limited overs team and concerns remain if he will rise to the occasion.
The last time he led the Zimbabwe cricket team, his form suffered badly.
The all-rounder even failed to make the Test squad, for the one-off Test against South Africa, but now takes charge tomorrow.

Coming at the back of a nine-wicket defeat to South Africa in the one-off Test in Harare this week, the hosts now shift their focus to the limited overs battles.
With a lot of statistics weighing against Zimbabwe, including that the hosts have never won an ODI against South Africa at Queens, coach Steve Mangongo feels Zimbabwe should be taken seriously as he is not reading much into history.

“That we have lost to this side before has no effect on us, that we have never won at Queens against them does not put pressure on us, one thing I know for sure is that records are there to be broken.

“If all our three departments (bowling, batting and fielding) come to work as one unit then I am sure we will win.
“I do not believe in us being given this underdog tag because South Africa are just like us, they will have 11 men like us so it is just up to us to perform,” said Mangongo.

Mangongo indicated his charges will have to up their game against South Africa as he was not pleased with the way they performed against Afghanistan.
“The (specialist) batsmen should make life easy for the team, deal with the new ball, bat through the innings reach up to 40 overs so that when the other guys come in, it will just be a matter of hitting hard in the last 10 overs .

“They (top order)are responsible for setting the tone of the game and deal with the new ball but it becomes a problem if they are not able to do so because it becomes a burden for the rest of the team. We can’t rely on the tail-end for runs.

“Each player has to stick to their main roles if we are to win. That we allowed Afghanistan back into the game (before the in-bound tour of South Africa) does not have an effect on us but I was not happy with the way the batsmen conducted their business.

“As the technical department, we have accepted that that was not the best we could have done against Afghanistan because we allowed them into the game and that was poor of us.

“The players have also accepted their flaws and we have spoken about it,” said Mangongo. Having taken a 2-0 lead, Afghanistan came back to level the four-game series.

In the third ODI, Hamilton Masakadza posted 84 that included nine fours and two sixes from 93 deliveries, Brendan Taylor was run out on 53 after facing 81 and these were the only Zimbabweans who reached half centuries.

In the fourth and final ODI against Afghanistan Richmond Mutumbami, coming in at eight, was the highest scorer with 64 off 75 that included eight fours.
“The top should just have cleared the game and I wasn’t happy,” added Mangongo.

Fast bowler Brian Vitori makes a return after spending almost a year on the sidelines due to injury, 19-year-old pace-bowling all-rounder Luke Jongwe, who was part of the Zimbabwe Under-19 World Cup squad, and seamer Neville Madziva are the new players in the Zimbabwe squad for the South Africa series.
“I feel good about these guys,” said Mangongo.

“Jongwe has been one of the most disciplined and consistent bowlers in the domestic league, Nyumbu (who became only the second Zimbabwean to take a five-for on Test debut) has been on fore in the Test we played against South Africa getting a five-for, he has been doing well in franchise cricket over the years and with the support of the other guys they will push trough.”