Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket coach Walter Chawaguta is pinning hopes on spin bowlers at next month’s World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
By Munyaradzi Madzokere Zimbabwe are in Group C that also include South Africa, Canada and West Indies.
Subcontinent conditions in the UAE favour spinners and Chawaguta wants to employ specialist spin bowlers.
The spotlight is on main spinners Dylan Hondo, Herbert Chikomba and Kieran Geyle who are expected to come to the party in Dubai.
“We have studied our main rivals in the group: South Africa and West Indies. We have realised that both teams struggle against spin so we are going to use it as our main attack and if we can back it up with quality batting, then we will upset one of those two,” Chawaguta declared.
Chawaguta has set sights on making the Super Eight stage.
Having been together for quite a while preparing for the global event, the team is confident of progressing past Group C. Only the top two teams from each group will advance to the next level of competition.
“The first thing we want to do is to qualify for the quarterfinals which is the Super Eight stage of the competitions and then from there we can see how it goes. But of course we would love to progress further,” he said.
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However, Chawaguta stressed that it was not going to be an easy task, saying that they have been busy studying their opponents.
Sadly, the batting line-up which is Zimbabwe’s Achilles’ heel has suffered an injury blow after losing top batter Dylan Nel who is out for five months with an ankle injury.
“I can confirm that we have lost Nel who is out for five months through injury while Hondo and Mkhululi Nyathi should be back next week. We also expect all-rounder Ryan Burl back the following week,” Chawaguta said.
As part of final preparations, the coach said he hoped to arrange fixtures with franchise teams as well as a Zimbabwe A side once the challenges bedevilling local cricket are resolved.
Set to leave the country on February 7, the team will play their first match against Canada on February 14 before engaging West Indies and South Africa on February 16 and 17 respectively.
