Zimbabwe's shock win in the first ODI was their first against Pakistan
in 15 years, but now the beleaguered team has a chance to go one better -
a win in one of the remaining two matches will give Zimbabwe their
first bilateral series win against a top side since beating New Zealand
2-1, 12 years ago. The win on Tuesday gave Zimbabwe a chance to
celebrate amid the gloom; a series win would inject some much-needed
faith.
Zimbabwe coach Andy Waller said the success was the fruit of two months
of hard work, during which the team has attempted to fine-tune its game
plan of the top order making sure they lay the platform for the
stroke-makers in the middle order. The manner in which the top three
handled the chase in the first part exemplified the team's methods and
Zimbabwe will pin their hopes on the three to do the same at least one
more time.
The batting plan has seemed to work in the last few matches and the
bowling has been steady for the conditions, but Zimbabwe need to focus
some attention on the fielding. Once one of the best fielding sides,
Zimbabwe's fielding has withered away. Had they taken all the chances
that came their way on Tuesday, they could have restricted Pakistan to
an even lower score. Waller said that one of his goals is to take
Zimbabwe's fielding to the level it used to be in the '90s and the team
is working hard towards it, but poor performances during the matches
pull the team back.
The fielding didn't hurt Zimbabwe on Tuesday as Pakistan made a few
errors of their own. Apart from losing the tempo during their batting
and the sloppy fielding towards the end of the match, Pakistan misread
the pitch and batted first on a surface that Masakadza later said "gets
better in the afternoon". They are armed with the knowledge now and
Zimbabwe expect Pakistan to come back harder at them. But Pakistan can
be the most beatable of the top sides and unbeatable on the same day.
They are the Harvey Dent of cricket: which side turns up on a day seems
to be a result of an imaginary coin toss.
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