Dave asks for more

29 Jan, 2023 - 00:01 0 Views
Dave asks for more

The Sunday Mail

Sport Reporter

EVEN as the Chevrons have successfully adopted the fearless brand of cricket demanded by coach Dave Houghton, the 65-year-old gaffer still wants more.

He wants his charges to take that same mentality to the longer format of the game, starting with the two Test series against the West Indies.

Zimbabwe are set to play their first Test match in one-and-a-half years when they take on the Islanders in the first of two Test matches at Queens Sports Club starting on Saturday.

This will be Houghton’s first Test match in charge of Zimbabwe since his appointment as coach in June last year.

The Zimbabwe captain, who has since transformed the Chevrons into a competitive outfit in the white ball format, has challenged his charges to express themselves even more.

“What I am asking these players, going into the Test matches, is for them to break milestones.

“I want them to get career-best figures, be the person that scores Test 50 or 100, and be the person that gets the highest Test score.

“I want people that get the best partnerships or people who have five-wicket
hauls.

“I am looking for individual milestones, as well as the best team performance,” said Houghton.

He believes his charges are ready for the West Indies test.

“We have not played Test cricket in 18 months. However, after the World Cup (T20 World Cup), a lot of guys came back and played some four-day cricket in the franchise system.

“What this means is that we are going into this series with the players reasonably prepared for the format.

“We have talked a lot about the Test actually; we have prepared for it mentally and now we want to prepare for it physically.

“We will do that in Bulawayo this coming week.”

While Zimbabwe’s struggles with the bat, especially top of the order, are well-documented, Houghton has another headache he has to deal with.

“There are a couple of areas that are problematic for me at the moment, and one of those is that we have been playing a lot of cricket of late.

“Since I arrived in June, we have not had a break, and the problem with that is I have never had an opportunity to get the team to be properly fit,” he said.

“We are cricket ready, but we are not fit, and that is a problem.

“We are getting a lot of injuries and we have to replace senior players all the time.

“In the last ODI, which was rain washed out, we had to make five changes to the team, and this is a concern for us.”

The Chevrons are also wary of the Islanders’ pace attack.

“West Indies have lost a couple of series of late, but look at their opposition,” said Houghton.

“They played in Australia and will play South Africa.

“These are strong sides, and we must not underestimate them.

“West Indies came with four fast bowlers, and our guys have not faced four fast bowers relentlessly.

“These are some of the things our guys are not used to.

“We do not fear the West Indies, but we respect them. For our guys, it will be a new experience, and they have enough players to cause us problems.”

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