The Sunday Mail
Don Makanyanga
Sports Reporter
DISAPPOINTED, dejected and utterly gutted!
This aptly describes the mood in the Zimbabwe women’s cricket team dressing room after Pakistan abruptly ended their visit with only one game played.
That the team fell to a 178-run drubbing to the tourists only made the disappointment worse.
“Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have mutually agreed to end Pakistan women’s national cricket team’s ongoing tour to Harare due to the latest travel policies of the visiting side’s carrier, Emirates Airlines,” read a statement released on the eve of the second ODI on Thursday.
For a side that had spent 639 days on the sidelines, this was not the news skipper Mary-Anne Musonda expected.
“It almost felt like we were on the highway, picking up momentum, and then, all of a sudden, the driver pressed on the brakes; and that said trip is cancelled and you are told that we are going back home.
“That’s the feeling most of us got,” she said.
Musonda described the wave of emotion that subsequently enveloped the dressing room.
“There was also a sense of numbness from everyone in the dressing room during the first few moments.
“It was emotionally taxing.”
The cancellation is likely to have a ripple effect on the team’s preparations for the Women’s Cricket World Cup qualifiers set for Sri-Lanka in June.
“It is a massive blow to our preparations and time is not on our side,” said the skipper.
“We had the perfect opportunity to learn against a competitive side, and ample time to rectify areas which need work.
“It will negatively impact our progress, but we hope to recover as soon as possible,” she said.
Musonda is not alone, as all-rounder Ashley Ndiraya has described the cancellation as difficult to process.
“It was an exciting time just to be back on the field playing again, but, sadly, this feeling was short-lived.
“We had goals we wanted to achieve as a team and as individuals as well, but we now have to stay positive and move forward.
“Not dwelling on the negative, but the impact of the cancellation is going to be tough to process,” said Ndiraya.
In the case of Taseem Granger, another all-rounder, there are a lot of takeaways from the match they played.
“Despite the results of the first game, it was going to be an upward journey for us.
“I think there were some takeaways from the game.
“Pakistan has been playing a lot of international cricket over the last three years and have had more competition as compared to us . . .
“The board is fully behind us; we have some camps and fixtures coming our way, so I don’t think the cancellation will affect us negatively.
“It’s exciting that the board is fully supporting us ahead of the World Cup qualifiers,” said Granger.
