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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

LADY Chevrons captain, Mary-Anne Musonda, says they need to fix their top order batting woes in order to turn around their fortunes when they meet Bangladesh in the second One Day International at Queens Sports Club tomorrow.

Zimbabwe suffered a batting collapse in the first ODI, when they were bundled out for 48 runs, in the first ODI.

The match ended in a heavy loss as Bangladesh claimed an easy eight-wicket victory.

The visitors lead the series 1-0.

Musonda, who has been the mainstay of the Zimbabwe women’s cricket team, said they took full responsibility, for the batting failure.

The hosts are hoping to make amends in the last two matches, which precede the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021, to be hosted in Harare, later this month.

“I thought we just did not start well. Probably, we rushed ourselves, we didn’t give ourselves a chance to go through the processes properly, especially with the bat,’’ she said.

“So, that put the team under pressure and I still feel that as the top four we are still letting our team down.

“We are just trying to be honest with ourselves, bat past the 10th-over first and then take it over from there.

“I think that is where we are failing so that is what we are going to be working on in the second game.

“We are hoping that everything will come together. We don’t want to ever perform like this again.’’

Zimbabwe’s batting was their biggest undoing.

The Lady Chevrons found themselves five wickets down, after 15 overs, with the top five having contributed a measly 27 runs.

The collapse continued and the team were bowled out in 23.2 overs.

Precious Marange (17) was the only one with a double digit score.

The bowlers did not have much to defend although they showed some positives by taking two early wickets.

Musonda said the tour will give them a good platform to prepare for the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021.

“Obviously, no one wants to lose, especially this way, but we are glad that it’s happening now.

“We can’t imagine if it had happened in the qualifiers.

“We know that it should not happen going forward.

“So, we are looking at it from that angle and we need to learn quicker and not let this happen again and make sure that as soon as the Qualifier starts, we are all on song,” said Musonda.

The home team were yesterday still keeping fingers crossed over the availability of all-rounder Josephine Nkomo, who was injured during warm-up, ahead of the first ODI.

Zimbabwe, who were recently handed ODI status, are playing only their second official series, following last month’s 1-3 defeat to Ireland.