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Heath Streak

Mehluli Sibanda in BULAWAYO
FOLLOWING Zimbabwe’s loss by 117 runs in the first cricket Test against West Indies, national team coach Heath Streak has pointed at his side’s poor innings as the reason for the defeat. Having done a marvellous job of bowling out the tourists for 219 on the first day, Zimbabwe went on to crumble to 159 all out in their first innings. While the bowlers also did a great job of taking all the 10 West Indies wickets in the second innings, Zimbabwe were still set what would have been a world record chase of 434 runs to win the match.

“I think it really boiled down to our first innings batting, we showed a better approach and less soft dismissals in the second innings and we were able to put on a total on a tougher wicket. Everyone knows we were bitterly disappointed after day two because I think it was a golden opportunity. Even if we had batted poorly and maybe been equal to where they were chasing down maybe a score of around what we got today would have been something very gettable,’’ Streak said.

He believes that not playing consistently at the elite level is hurting his team’s progression. The Test against West Indies was only their second for 2017 while the boys from the Caribbean had played six five-day matches prior to their tour of Zimbabwe. He is optimistic of getting more action for his lads in future.

“It is difficult and unfortunately for us, we had planned to have Pakistan A who were going to come out and play two four day games against us, that would have been strong opposition and that didn’t materialise, I think that really set us back a little bit.

‘’Obviously we had our own Logan Cup games but the level of games is not quite the same and I think for guys to change over having not played for such a long time, this is one of the things I have said consistently I think Zimbabwe play cricket well when we are playing regularly at elite level,’’ Streak said. The former Zimbabwe captain revealed they had asked West Indies to play One Day Internationals during their visit to the country but the Calypso Kings were not keen on that. Streak pointed out that they have a lot more cricket lined up next year as a number of countries are keen on playing Zimbabwe.

“Originally we had asked West Indies to play ODIs because our focus is very much on the World Cup qualifiers that we are now hosting and want to make sure we get into the 2019 World Cup, that’s very much a goal of ours.

‘’Short format cricket is a strong focus that we gonna have in the next six months but we got some series lined up with Pakistan and others as well, Afghanistan are wanting to play us so we got a good bank of cricket coming up next year which will be good for the guys to be able to play regularly,’’ Streak said. Zimbabwe got past 300 in their second innings, thanks to a 53-run partnership for the 10th wicket between Christopher Mpofu and Kyle Jarvis. Mpofu struck a career best 33 with Jarvis unbeaten on 23.

“They are both fighting to not be number 11 so it’s a bit of a rivalry, in innings we saw the commitment, when you go out there and play positively I think even defensively they looked a lot less vulnerable, it was good to get us the 300 mark chasing 400, there are not many times teams have got to 300 chasing 400,’’ said Streak.

With the second Test getting underway on Sunday at the same venue, Streak and his lads have a few more days to rectify their mistakes from the first match of the series. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe might have lost the first Test but they have something to smile about after some of their players made moves in the MRF Tyres International Cricket Council Player Rankings for Test Batsmen. Captain Graeme Cremer, who took four for 64 and four for 114, has vaulted 12 places to occupy 45th position in the latest bowlers’ rankings, while Sean Williams, who bagged three for 20 and three for 91, has rocketed 19 places to share 70th position with Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Kumara. In the batting table, opener Hamilton Masakadza, who scored 42 and 57, has risen seven places to 49th, while Brendan Taylor, who scored one and 73, has returned to the rankings in 37th position alongside West Indies batsman Roston Chase.