In a bid to avoid a tour sweep, Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams wants the players to put up a disciplined performance in the first T20I match today (Monday) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
According to Williams, his players made some small mistakes that turned out to be bigger to haunt them in the one-off Test and three-match ODI series. He, therefore, wants the players to curb the mistakes as he is not willing to taste another whitewash.
“Our all-round basics have been poor. Backing up, walking in, too upright, letting singles and boundary balls through the last balls of the over. Small things have made a big difference for us. They have let us down badly. I am extremely hard on them now. I want discipline back,” Williams said here on Sunday after Zimbabwe’s practice session for the opening T20I match.
“For me it was a matter of skill. Our skill levels were down. Our basics were poor. Two new balls in either ends but no wicket in the first ten overs meant that it was extremely hard on our spinners. And then the spinners not taking wickets in the middle period made it hard for the pace bowlers in the death overs. We only got two run outs with the new ball, so we have to improve fast,” he added.
Williams believes the power-plays will be crucial to determine the course of the game since the dew would come to play at latter stages of the game and hence he wanted an improved performance “Brendan Taylor, myself and Sikandar Raza have played here for many years. We have to give them respect. There are certain areas where we can attack. The power-plays will be crucial. Dew could come into play, and trouble the spinners,” he said.
He however savoured the performance of Wesley Madhevere who made his debut in ODI series and put up a consistent performance to show that he can be a good prospect for Zimbabwe.
“I think he is a remarkable player. I don’t want to say anything to him. I just want to let him play. I think he has an extremely bright future in Zimbabwe cricket. He did exactly what he asked him to do batting at No 5. I don’t want to put anything in his mind. I want him to stay humble and carry on playing cricket,” Williams said.
“As it stands right now, we will back Raza, Brendan, Craig, Wesley and myself. We can also play. The guys up the order have earned the rights to bat up the order. They have proved themselves over and over again. Having Donald down the order is a good thing for us. If he carries on playing like this, we can start thinking about him moving him up the order. He is a very busy man. He is proving to be an extremely good allrounder for us,” he remarked.
