Zimbabwe coach confirms Sean Williams will return for second ODI, but Blessing Muzarabani remains unlikely to feature in the series
Andrew McGlashan30-Aug-2022Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton is seeing encouraging signs that his players are learning how not to “freeze” against the strongest opposition, and hopes that the batters can put together a complete performance during the remainder of the ODI series against Australia.Having been put into bat, the top order – led by a career-best 72 from Wessly Madhevere after the openers had negotiated the first ten overs – built a solid if an unspectacular platform during the opening game on Sunday, as Zimbabwe reached 185 for 4 in the 43rd over before losing their last six wickets for 15.However, Houghton was buoyed by the performance after their recent displays at home had relied on runs from the middle and lower order, led by the prolific Sikandar Raza.Related
Williams: 'Definitely a big skill gap' between Zimbabwe and Australia
Houghton interview: 'Real test will be to play fearless cricket against India, Australia'
'I like the challenge' – Madhevere hopes for a run at No. 3
“I’ve been quoted about fearless cricket,” Houghton said, Yes, we want to play fearless cricket; we want to see guys expressing themselves. I’ve seen these guys play franchise cricket, and I’ve seen what they can do; and [then] see them play international cricket, especially against these strong sides, and freeze a little bit. Somehow, I’m trying to take away that freezing.”For me, to see our two youngsters go out there against [Mitchell] Starc and [Josh] Hazlewood and get us 40 off the first ten without losing a wicket – that was a big plus for us. Now you can sit down in a team meeting and say, ‘Yes, it was a little different and a little scary going out first against these guys but look what you achieved. What can you do the next game and the game after?’.”It’s building blocks all the time. Tours like this don’t happen very often for us, so when you get the opportunity it’s a real learning for us.”Houghton was open in admitting that the skill gap between Zimbabwe and teams such as India and Australia is “huge”, but is focusing on ensuring the team move back up the rankings and compete with sides around them.He hoped that some of what the players learn in Townsville can be put to use in the T20 World Cup next month when they will return to Australia for the Group B qualifiers in Hobart with the aim of reaching the main draw.”The skill gap is huge between us, India, Australia and England – there’s no hiding from that,” Dave Houghton•AFP/Getty Images
In the more immediate term, Houghton wanted to see an improvement in the team’s fielding for the second ODI on Wednesday, recalling previous landmark victories and how it is an area Zimbabwe can compete in regardless of batting and bowling skill.”The skill gap is huge between us, India, Australia, [and] England – there’s no hiding from that,” he said. “Your batters are better than us, they’re more experienced, your bowlers are taller and faster than us. What we can do is field competitively, which I wasn’t happy about the other day; [I] thought we were lethargic and looked very jetlagged.”For us to compete with these sides and try to get a win against them – which we’ve done over the years with our giant-killing sides – every part of your game has to be right on song from the beginning. If we put a score on the board, [and] then bowl and field incredibly well, we can put enough pressure on sides [so] that if they aren’t quite on their game we can beat them.”Houghton suggested the batters may take a different approach to trying to finish the innings, having had trouble combatting the short deliveries in the first match, where Cameron Green bagged a maiden five-wicket haul.”What we talked about at the end of the game is how we get that last bit of our innings organised a bit better,” he said. “They were all trying to take it on but weren’t quite good enough at it, so is there another way? Can we ramp it a bit? Maybe, if we don’t hook, can we back away and cut?”These are all things for them to solve themselves, but we need to play the backend better which, for us, [is] a new situation. The games we won against Bangladesh – and when we did compete well with India – we got all the runs at the middle and back, and nothing at the front. So hopefully we’ll put both ends together at one stage on this tour.”Houghton confirmed that experienced allrounder Sean Williams would return after an elbow injury ruled him out of the opening match, and would likely replace a fast bowler. However, Blessing Muzarabani is unlikely to feature on this tour as he continues his recovery from a thigh injury with the focus on getting him ready for the T20 World Cup.
