Streak toughs it out in Chevrons trenches

A YEAR on as the Zimbabwe national cricket team coach, Heath Streak highlights that the Chevrons are still a work in progress with the big goal being qualifying for the 2019 World Cup in England.

Streak was appointed national team coach on October 11, 2016 and sounds content with the progress the team has made under his watch.

“I think we have been good, we have made some progress especially in One-day cricket. If you look at our winning ratio this year, it is about 50 percent – higher than teams like the West Indies (18,75 percent) and Bangladesh (36,36 percent). We are pretty happy with that, but we are still a work in progress,” he said.

Zimbabwe will host the World Cup qualifiers next year and will have to finish in the top two to make it to England.

“Definitely, we want to qualify and we will make sure that we are ready. Obviously playing at home gives us a strong chance to be one of the two teams that qualify, but we still have to play good cricket,” said Streak, whose reign started with a 0-2 Test series defeat to Sri Lanka at Harare Sports Club in the month of his appointment.

Zimbabwe went on to play a one-off Test away to Sri Lanka in July this year and lost by four wickets despite a promising start.

And after another encouraging start in the first Test against West Indies last week, Zimbabwe lost by 117 runs.

The second Test starts today and Streak is eager to bag his first win in the longest format of the game.

“I think the guys know where we can improve, and if we can improve by about 20 percent we will have a good chance,” he said.

Streak has Indian Premier League experience as bowling coach for the Gujarat Lions after also being Bangladesh’s bowling coach, but he says he still views himself as a student of the game.

“The day you think you know it all is the day you should retire. It’s not just about knowing cricket, but also managing people and creating the right environment,” he said.