After losing the first of the three match series in Bulawayo in agonising circumstances, Zimbabwe will be hoping that conditions at Harare Sports Club will allow them to exploit the tourists after success against Bangladesh in another series last month where they won all three ODIs and a Test.
Brendan Taylor’s men have not done particularly well at Queens Sports Club, and they will be hoping to reinvent themselves in Harare and square the series. Chances are that they will bring in more pace into this match having had two seamers in Elton Chigumbura and Chris Mpofu, who both did well in the first match and can do away with some of the spin on a pitch that normally offers lift and movement.
Left arm quickie Brian Vitori could earn a recall after making good use of this ground’s conditions in previous matches as is the possibility too of a Kyle Jarvis return to the 11.
Butcher has already hinted on Vitori’s return. “Different conditions in Harare may make us think of a different attack. Vitori’s omission (on Thursday) was tactical but I’m sure he will play a role in Harare,” said Butcher. “We hope he plays a similar role to the one he played against Bangladesh, taking wickets up front. Pakistan has a more solid batting line-up, so it is hard to expect him to have the same impact. Against better opposition, he may have to work harder.”
“If you look back six months at the World Cup, we were struggling to get past 180 against Full Member nations. To get 240 is progress and we are learning how to do it against the big teams
“We need to tweak a couple of things but we had two good innings today (Thursday) — a 70 (Vusi Sibanda) and an 80 (Brendan Taylor). Vusi was a bit unlucky with the way he got out. If he had carried on it would have made a difference. He played a responsible knock.”
In the batting top order, the selectors may want to go with the same top five even though Chamu Chibhabha fell cheaply, he may get another opportunity to open with Sibanda, who himself continues to fall short of a century despite top form in this and other previous series.
Zimbabwe proved to be worthy opponents when they went all the way to the last over with a good chance of winning the match against the World Cup semi finalists, having set 248 as the winning target.
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Having missed an opportunity of a credible win over the more celebrated opponents, Zimbabwe will be galvanised to try and keep this series alive with a leveller which would retain value for Wednesday’s last match.
With the return of captain Taylor to form, Zimbabwe should pose a threat with a strong batting line-up and will be hoping that another key batter Hamilton Masakadza plays a big part, having been eluded by runs of late.
