"Struggling experienced opening batsman", they say. It is a bit too much. He had a woeful series against Ireland, had a couple of good knocks against SA, and a bad beginning at Bangladesh.ZIMBABWE’S cricket selectors reshuffled their pack with a bold move last night by dropping struggling experienced opening batsman Hamilton Masakadza out of the first game, of the Micromax One-Day International series against the bullish Tigers of Bangladesh, which gets underway at the Shere Bangla Stadium here this morning.
The 27-year-old right-handed batsman has been a regular feature of the Zimbabwe team since making his ODI debut for his country against South Africa at Queens in Bulawayo on September 23, 2001, and scoring 11 after coming in at number three.
But Masakadza has struggled for his touch of late and was dismissed for a duck, with the third ball of the first over, in the warm-up match against the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI on Monday, which the Zimbabweans lost by 29 runs.
It means Masakadza will have to wait a little longer for his 101st ODI match, having clocked exactly 100 matches in the past nine years, scoring 2 644 runs, three centuries and 16 half-centuries with a highest score of 178 not out.
But Masakadza averages just 19.42 runs against Bangladesh in the slow and low conditions of the Tigers’ den, which the home side have turned into a fortress.
Zimbabwe go into this series as underdogs after the high-flying Tigers destroyed New Zealand 4-0 in their last ODI series here but that hasn’t diluted optimism that they can match Bangladesh and, if they play to their strength, even win this series.
The selectors believe that could possibly be achieved by reshuffling the pack, bringing in another opener to partner the dangerous Brendon TayIor, introducing new blood in the form of the highly regarded Regis Chakabva and changing their batting line-up by giving skipper Elton Chigumbura, who can be explosive on his day, a place high up the order.
Chamu Chibhabha, who was impressive during the last tour of South Africa, will now open the batting with Taylor and Chakabva, the wicketkeeper batsman who turned 23 on September 20 this year, will now come in at number three amid confidence from the selectors that he can deliver.
"Hamilton is struggling for form right now and his last six or so games for Zimbabwe have not yielded much in terms of runs," said Alistair Campbell, the Zimbabwe Cricket Convener of Selectors, who opened the batting with Dion Ebrahim on the day Masakadza made his ODI debut in Bulawayo.
"Chibhabha will open with Taylor and we have thrown Regis Chakabva into the team because he has impressed us with his progress and he has very good technique and we are hopeful that he can deliver.
"We have also moved Elton Chigumbura up the order and given him more responsibility and I think that we have got the guys who can handle the pressure."
Campbell said while it would be tough to win here, he was hopeful that they now have a team, which was improving all the time, and which — if it plays to its full ability — had a very fair chance of not winning today’s match but also the entire series.
"We want to win the series and, of course, it will be difficult to do so here because Bangladesh have been playing well and they have just beaten New Zealand and they have always been a difficult team to beat at home," said Campbell.
"But we are confident in the progress we have made as a team and I believe we have the players who can counter their threat."
So much has been said about Zimbabwe’s fragility, especially in the face of quality slow bowling in these conditions, but Campbell backed his men to stand the heat.
"I really do think that we can win the series and we have players who can stand the pressure because we have brought a vastly improved side from the one that came here the last time," said Campbell.
"Brendon Taylor is in good form right now and Tatenda Taibu played only two games and missed the last three games, the last time, because of injury.
"We have been making progress as a team."
Campbell, working in a partnership with the other officials in the team, wants to build a side that will stand the heat when it finally returns to the Test fold next year and that will also compete favourably at the next World Cup.
There is no questioning the fact that the ZC leadership has laid the conditions necessary for an improved performance from their players and their decision to shake up the domestic league and turn it into a competitive one, through the franchise system, was well timed.
But the cruelty of sport is that you are judged by results and not the good programmes that you have on the ground and the national team will have to start winning matches, against teams like Bangladesh, for everything to be embraced as a success story.
Grant Flower, one of the key batting personnel in the Zimbabwe teams of the past, has returned into the fold and arrived here yesterday and will help national coach Alan Butcher with the batting side of the game.
Heath Streak has been here since the team arrived last week and appears to be doing a good job, as the bowling coach, and the performance of pacemen Chris Mpofu and Keegan Meth, who took seven of the BCB XI wickets to fall on Monday, was promising.
All-rounder Meth, who was unlucky to be adjudged lbw in a decisive moment of that game, has kept his place after impressing the selectors with his temperament and ability to play under pressure. His angry reaction after his questionable dismissal on Monday, smashing his heavy bat into a plastic chair and cracking it on impact, might have tainted a fine day at the office but it also shows that he is hungry for success and was unhappy that he had not taken his team across the line when the opportunity presented itself.
He will learn, and at 22 he still has time on his side, and that is the role of the old heads like Streak to guide him along as Zimbabwe finally takes its place in the fast lane of the cricket elite once again.
All-rounder Keith Dabengwa has also shaken off a bout of flu, which kept him out of the warm-up match, to take his place in the side that has quite a considerable batting strength, with useful contributions expected all the way down to the number nine.
Dabengwa trained with his teammates yesterday in a four-hour session.
Butcher believes the middle order needs to take responsibility and whether this team will react to their coach’s challenge remains to be seen.
There was no place for Shingi Masakadza while Ryan Butterworth, drafted into the team at the age of 29 after an impressive performance during the Stanbic Twenty20 tournament, will have to wait a little longer before he makes his ODI debut for his country.
Zimbabwe Team:
Brendon Taylor, Chamu Chibhabha, Regis Chakabva, Elton Chigumbura, Tatenda Taibu, Craig Ervine, Keith Dabengwa, Keegan Meth, Prosper Utseya, Ray Price, Chris Mpofu.
Twelfth Man: Graeme Cremer.
And Alistair has told the press that he is struggling, why would you say that publicly as the convener of selectors? That could have been told to HM in private. We can be rest assured that we need Hamilton with all guns blazing if we think of progressing deep in the world cup. Any game time he gets would be precious.
Regarding the highlighted news about Meth, well, we have got an angry young man there!
