The Sunday Mail
Deputy Sports Editor
The retirement of Gary Ballance, while unfortunate and sudden, could not have come at a worse time, especially as Zimbabwe prepares to host the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier next month.
In announcing his retirement, the cricketer indicated that his move to Zimbabwe did not provide him “with a new-found happiness for the game”.
But the show must go on.
The Chevrons have been busy working on their fitness during their temporary break from international cricket.
“It’s a professional environment and we are trying to give everyone the sole responsibility to work on their fitness,” said Chevrons’ skipper Craig Ervine.
“It is up to everyone to decide how hard they want to train, how many sessions they want to attend, and, at the end of the day, we are all going to be evaluated on the fitness levels at the end of the four or five weeks.
“Being a professional sportsperson, I think that should be a given, and we shouldn’t be forcing anyone to work on their strength and conditioning.”
Ervine said their break from international cricket was deserved.
“When you play a lot of cricket, you might not necessarily be all that fit, and it has been good to string four or five weeks together where we can concentrate on our fitness levels, strength and conditioning.
“I think a lot of guys have benefitted from it, especially if you look at how improved the numbers have from the last assessment we did to the present day.
“I am hoping that the guys have used this break to try to get as fit as possible.”
Zimbabwe will host the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier from June 18 to July 9.
South Africa should count themselves lucky to have sealed the eighth and final slot for India later this year.
And they have the weather, of all things, to thank for this, after having spent the most part of the Super League outside the top eight.
After the no-result during the first of three ODIs between Ireland and Bangladesh last week, Ireland were relegated to ninth spot, as they needed a five-nil series whitewash to pip the Proteas to the eighth position.
The Irish are now expected to join nine other teams — Sri Lanka, Netherlands, West Indies, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nepal, Scotland, United States of America and hosts Zimbabwe — to determine the last two qualifying spots.
The Chevrons have long been out of the running for the automatic sltos and will now hope to capitalise on home advantage.
Ervine remains optimistic that the Chevrons have enough depth to fill the gap left by Ballance’s departure.
“I do think we have the personnel and confidence to fill that spot.
“While it is not going to be easy to find the right person, I do think the next six games against the Pakistan A visiting team will give us a great idea as to who deserves that spot,” he said.
“We are really hoping that a few people put their hands up.
“It’s a very important role that has to be filled and played by the right person so we can balance off the squad.”
Pakistan A have been in the country for the past couple of weeks, during which they were expected to play Zimbabwe Select sides in two four-day games and six one-day matches.
The four-day leg of the visit ended yesterday, and the two nations are now expected to move to the white-ball format slated for May 17-27.
“I did occasionally log onto Cricinfo just to look at the numbers and stuff during the four-day matches,” Ervine added.
“I obviously did not look too deeply into them as we put all our efforts and attention into the white-ball format, especially with the qualifiers and the World Cup as our next assignments.
“There will be a few of us who will be involved in the six ODIs against Pakistan A, and those games will be a little bit more important.
“It is always nice to see some of the fringe guys making runs (during the four-day games), and we will certainly be paying close attention to the games coming up ahead.”
■ @Nashaar
