Zimbabwe stand-in skipper Craig Ervine has insisted that his side would not leave no stone unturned to win the series against Bangladesh as they want to carry the momentum that they got after giving Sri Lanka a good run for the money in home Test series recently.
The South African nation put a huge fight against Sri Lanka before conceding the two-match Test series by 1-0. Their performance didn’t indicate that they were playing that Test series after a long hiatus from Test cricket.
The performance gave them so confidence that they are not thinking anything apart from winning the series against Bangladesh.
In their month-long tour here, Zimbabwe would play a one-off Test, three ODIs and two T20s against the host.
“We’ve come here to win. We had a good series against Sri Lanka. It gave us good momentum after a long break previously. We’re familiar with these conditions, as we have traveled here quite often. We are looking to hit the ground running,” Ervine said after their first practice session at the National Academy Ground in Mirpur on Sunday.
“Our mission is to win. We haven’t played too many Tests, and also don’t have too many for the rest of the year. Every Test is vitally important as any other game,” he said.
As they played against the Tigers quite regularly, Ervine knows Bangladesh would try to dismantle them with extreme spin. Therefore he urged his players to stick to the process and avoid anything embarrassing situation on the first day of the Test match.
“Putting their results aside, we just have to concentrate on our processes and make sure we are not caught on the back foot on the first day of the Test match. We have a few new guys in the team. We are trying to get them as comfortable as possible,” he added.
“A lot of teams that touring here to struggle with conditions. Having said, we have come here more often than any other team. We are familiar with these conditions. Spin will play a big part. We have to take care of it in our preparations leading up to the Test,” he remarked.
Zimbabwe, however, without the service of regular captain Sean Williams who is with the family due to their first child and fast bowlers- Kyle Jarvis and Tendai Chatara- both of them are injured.
“I am missing Williams, Jarvis and Chatara, big players for us. But, it opens doors for other guys. There’s an opportunity for them to step up. Prince Masvaure and Kevin Kasuza opened against Sri Lanka and we are calling upon them to do the same job in Bangladesh. It’s a challenge for them to accept and take it on,” he said.
