Zimbabwe hoping to compete with Windies in upcoming series
26/02/10
Zimbabwe arrived in the Caribbean earlier this week hoping to play good cricket when they come up against the West Indies in the Digicel Series. The two teams will face each other in the one-off Digicel T20 International on Sunday, as well as the five-match Digicel One-Day International Series.
Dave Houghton, the former Zimbabwe captain and now team consultant said: “We arrived here with a young team that is talented and we are hoping to win but more importantly we want to compete with the West Indies. We have some very talented players in the Zimbabwe team and they are ready for a good battle.”
The Digicel Series bowls off on Sunday with the Digicel T20 International at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. This will be followed by the first and second Digicel ODIs at the Guyana National Stadium (Thursday March 4; Saturday March 6). The series then moves to St Vincent for three Digicel ODIs at the Arnos Vale Playing Field (Wednesday March 10; Friday March 12; Sunday March 14).
Houghton noted that overall the aim was to use this tour as a stepping stone to return to full Test match status.
“I personally think that we should be playing Test cricket again by the end of the year. We have been playing One-Day cricket but you cannot judge a team on One-Day cricket. Since I returned to Zimbabwe four-and-a-half months ago, things have improved with their cricket. They have a very good franchise system going in their domestic tournament and it is helping the game back home,” he said.
Squad
Prosper Utseya (captain)
Hamilton Masakadza (vice captain)
Brendan Taylor
Tatenda Taibu
Ray Price
Graeme Cremer
Charles Coventry
Vusi Sibanda
Stuart Matsikenyeri
Greg Lamb
Elton Chigumbura
Shingirai Masakadza
Timycen Maruma
Chris Mpofu
Kyle Jarvis
