Players of the team sounded this on the sidelines of a strenuous net practice at Ahmedabad in Gujarat.“Oh! It is always good fun playing the Australians. They are highly competitive and I am sure that they are the number one team in the world in One Day at the moment. So far we just have to get out there, be as confident as we can and do the usual things we do well.“We have beaten them a few times as well so we are not afraid of them but we respect them so let us see how it goes,” Raymond Price, Zimbabwean batsman said.The Zimbabwe team will face four-time World Cup winners Australia tomorrow at the Motera Stadium. Meanwhile, Stephen Mangongo, the team’s assistant coach told media persons that the playing in the World Cup has a lot of meaning for the team.“This World Cup is a showroom for Zimbabwe cricket to go out there and perform to the best of our ability so that the world can see that Zimbabwe cricket is growing. There has been a lot of bad publicity in the past but by coming here to the World Cup we have to showcase our talent and our ability to play at this highest level,” Mangongo said.The Zimbabwe team is placed in Group A in the ICC World Cup with Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Canada and Kenya.The World Cup is hosted by Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh and the opening ceremony was held among much fanfare and glamour in Dhaka on February 17.The opening match of the tournament was played in Dhaka yesterday in which India took on the hosts Bangladesh.Meanwhile Zimbabwe were yesterday playing soccer and rugby as warm-up drills in preparations for their opening match.National team fitness trainer, Lorraine Chivandire said international cricket teams have a tendency of playing other sports other than cricket during their warm-ups before practice sessions.“Soccer is fun and comes naturally to Zimbabwean players; rugby is a bit more complicated but usually comes as the second option. Different teams have different inclinations but the principles of warming the body up remain the same,” Chivandire said. — ANI
