By Munyaradzi Madzokere
Newly-appointed Zimbabwe Test skipper Sean Williams has challenged his charges to produce a fighting display full of passion and discipline as he seeks a positive start to his reign as captain in the first encounter of the two-match Test series against visiting Sri Lanka which begins today at Harare Sports Club. All-rounder Williams will lead Zimbabwe for the first time after recently replacing the retired Hamilton Masakadza, who has since taken up the role of director of cricket at Zimbabwe Cricket.
The match against the high-ranked Indian Ocean islanders will also be Zimbabwe’s first in the longer version of the game since November 2018 when the team toured Bangladesh.
Williams is keen to make an immediate impact by bringing a new dimension to a somewhat new-look squad, which features five uncapped players in addition to several experienced players.
“Obviously discipline is what I am after, a lot of fighters are what I am after and I’m after performance,” Williams told reporters in Harare yesterday.
“Performance is going to be key in order for Zimbabwe cricket to be moving forward in to the Test arena. Test cricket is not easy [but] it’s being played around the world, top-class players are playing and people are scoring big double hundreds and hundreds. We need to do the same stuff, it is going to take time to get there, but we need a stepping stone and there is a process to that.”
Although Zimbabwe have never won a Test match against Sri Lanka, they will be buoyed by memories of their performance in the last meeting between the two sides in July 2017.
Zimbabwe won the ODI series 3–2, their first ever series victory against Sri Lanka. It was their first away series win since 2009 and the first away series victory against a Test nation since defeating Bangladesh in 2001.
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The country came close to winning the Test match and Williams has called upon his charges to replicate the same performances in front of their fans.
“We took Sri Lanka down to the wire in Sri Lanka. We were unfortunate not to walk away with a series win in the ODI as well as the Test match. Our team played exceptionally good cricket there and we were moving forward. We need to get back to that quickly and [with] the guys who have been selected into the 15-man squad, I have no doubt that they can handle the pressure,” Williams said.
After omitting top spinners such as Tendai Chimusoro and Brandon Mavuta from the final 15-man squad for the two Tests, Zimbabwe will pin their hopes on the seam attack to deliver victory.
Thus, the Harare Sports Club wicket has been prepared to the nation’s strengths with the experienced duo of Kyle Jarvis and Donald Tiripano expected to spearhead the attack, which could also feature debutant Victor Nyauchi and the returning Carl Mumba.
“Obviously, I would like seaming conditions because our strength lies in our seamers at the moment. We have two spinners, myself and Raza, and we have got a specialist spinner in Ainsley, unfortunately, we don’t have a specialist leg spinner because Brandon [Mavuta] didn’t make the squad,” he said.
Williams added: “Obviously we have got Jarvis and young (Charlton) Tshuma, and we have Nyauchi, who is extremely skilful with the new ball and there is Carl Mumba who has got good pace… We have tried to prepare the wicket that we can play.”
Changes are also expected at the top of Zimbabwe’s batting line-up with Kevin Kasuza and Prince Masvaure likely to make up the opening pair after being rewarded for their solid batting performances in the Logan Cup.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will be looking to bounce back in style after finding the going tough during their recent tour of Pakistan last month.
“Winning is the number one [target] for us. We have not done very well in the last series in Pakistan, so we need to get some confidence for the next series,” Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne said.
“I think it’s going to be a tough game because we played Zimbabwe the last time and they were really good, they played a good game. We are looking forward to get some confidence for the next series, for batters who did not do well in Pakistan as well as the bowlers,” he said.
Zimbabwe squad: Sean Williams (c), Craig Ervine, Prince Masvaure, Sikandar Raza, Timycen Maruma, Brian Mudzinganyama, Regis Chakabva, Kevin Kasuza, Brendan Taylor, Kyle Jarvis, Carl Mumba, Ainsley Ndlovu, Victor Nyauchi, Donald Tiripano, Charlton Tshuma.
