Lady Chevrons eye glory

21 Nov, 2021 - 00:11 0 Views
Lady Chevrons eye glory

The Sunday Mail

Sports Reporter

HOSTS Zimbabwe hope to put behind their poor form in One-Day International cricket matches when the ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers come to life in Harare this morning.

The Lady Chevrons, who have won a single match in their last seven 50-over matches since being granted ODI status in April, are in Group B of the qualifiers together with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and USA.

They start their campaign with a date against Thailand at Harare Sports Club today before taking on USA on November 25.

Two days later, they face Pakistan and then round off their group matches with a date against Bangladesh on November 29.

Lady Chevrons coach Adam Chifo, who has seen his charges losing their last six ODI matches, believes last week’s 3-0 series loss to Bangladesh afforded them an opportunity to assess their performance.

“Bangladesh was an eye-opener for us in terms of what to expect in the tournament. It will definitely not be an easy path, but it’s very much possible. It will all come down to how much we really want it on the day,” he said.

Having played two series in as many months as part of preparations for the qualifiers, Chifo says his charges are ready to battle it out for a place at next year’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.

“We are glad we played Bangladesh and Ireland. It made us realise and notice some areas we had overlooked as a team and also how much hungry we need to be if we are to get there.

“Going into such a big tournament, there is always a lot to do and you can never be satisfied, but we are grateful that we have covered a lot of ground in our preparations.”

He hopes the team will capitalise on home advantage as they battle to qualify for next year’s global showcase.

The competition does not have knockout stages.

In fact, the preliminary league — consisting of five teams each in two groups — will be followed by a Super Six stage to decide the final positions at the end of 29 matches.

The Zimbabwe tournament is an important fixture on the calendar as it decides three qualifiers for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3.

Five teams — Australia, England, India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand — have already qualified through the ICC Women’s Championship.

The three qualifiers as well as the next two top-performing teams will book places at the next ICC Women’s Championship (IWC).

The number of teams in the third cycle of the IWC goes up from eight to 10 teams.

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds