The Hindu : Zimbabwe desperate for elusive win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Zimbabwe desperate for elusive win

MELBOURNE, JAN. 28 Having put up a brave fight in the last three matches, Zimbabwe will look to finally ``cross the line'' and score its first win in the tri-series cricket match against Australia here tomorrow.

Zimbabwe, winless in six outings and out of contention for a berth in the finals, is desperate to salvage some pride although it has ran its more fancied rival close on a couple of occasions.

The day-night match tomorrow may be inconsequential to Australia which has already booked its place in the best-of-three finals along with India, but the African minnows are not lacking in motivation. They do not want to bow out of the competition without even a single win under their belt and are determined to add some points to their dismal points tally standing at three. In contrast Australia has 28 and India 23 from six outings each.

Zimbabwe's task at hand is enormous as both its rivals are in great form, and would need extraordinary inspiration to put it across Australia in its penultimate match of the tournament.

Captain Heath Streak was mindful of the progress made by his rather inexperienced bunch of players since the start of the series but admitted it was not proving to be enough.

``We are giving a good fight to these two top teams but we must improve a lot to be able to win the matches,'' Streak said.

``We need just that one per cent extra to be a better team. We must learn to cross the line,'' Streak said.

Streak's boys came close to upsetting the world champion in the previous league match at Adelaide, but as in the match against India, ran out of steam to fall short by 13 runs.

The Zimbabweans has been trying to learn from past mistakes and has certainly denied either India or Australia a cakewalk in the last three matches but now it must think beyond.

Its top order had looked in a mess in earlier matches but that seems to have been taken care of by Grant Flower who hit a glorious 94 on Monday. With the diminutive Tatenda Taibu replacing Vusi Sibanada, who was dropped as opener after he showed poor temperament in the match against India, the opening combination looks more or less settled.

The middle-order had looked sound against India with Sean Ervine and Stuart Carlisle hitting up centuries each but both failed on Monday against the Aussies which led Streak to remark consistency was an area which they needed to address.

Zimbabwe bowlers have also failed in either making early inroads or restricting their rivals to smaller scores after getting breakthroughs.

Barring the captain himself, the rest of the bowlers have yet to impress and they would have to pull up their socks to help their team pull off a win.

Australia has meant business right through the series and tomorrow it would not like to be stretched too far, looking as it is to reserve its best for the encounters against India. The two teams will lock horns in their last league match on Sunday before the start of the finals on February 6.

With Adam Gilchrist being rested for his second match tomorrow, Damien Martyn would get another opportunity to get back his form. Martyn has had a miserable series so far and would have to come up with a decent show if he is to retain his place in the squad.

Record-breaking batsman Matthew Hayden also looked off-colour after being rested for a couple of matches and would be keen to resume doing what he is best at — smashing runs all around the park.

But skipper Ricky Ponting appeared not too worried by the form of his players as he knows they pack enough firepower to counter the Zimbabweans.

The teams (from):

Zimbabwe: Heath Streak (captain), Vusi Sibanda, Grant Flower, Stuart Carlisle, Tatenda Taibu, Andy Blignaut, Sean Ervine, Raymond Price, Douglas Hondo, Travis Friend, Dion Ebrahim and Stuart Matsikenyeri.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Brad Haddin, Damien Martyn, Matthew Hayden, Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Andy Bichel, Brett Lee, Brad Hogg, Brad Williams and Jason Gillespie. — PTI

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