The return of the cricket exiles
By Tinashe Kusema
MORE than just pride will be at stake when Zimbabwe and Bangladesh clash in the opening match of the Grameenphone Cup at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo today.
The tournament, running until August 19, will involve five One-Day International (ODI) series.
Grameenphone is the first Bangladeshi company to sponsor an overseas tour and has injected a whopping five million taka into the series.
The sponsorship will include full title rights, prize money and the rights to branding the stadium.
To date, the two teams have met an astounding 36 times, with the homeside having a slight edge after bettering their opponents 19-17 on a head to head count.
A string of poor showings over the last five years has seen the visitors recover lost ground and eventually leapfrog their hosts on the rankings.
Bangladesh are currently ranked ninth in the world, 23 points ahead of Zimbabwe who are ranked number 11.
After a miserable 2008, in which they lost 11 of their 12 ODIs, the hosts will, however, go into today’s match with renewed vigour as they aim for an eventual return to Test cricket.
The weeks leading to today’s opening tie have been dominated by the return of some fringe players who were immediately drafted into the 15-member squad.
Mark Vermeulen and Charles Coventry ended their exile from Zimbabwe cricket, while Sean Williams and Vusi Sibanda have recovered from long injury lay-offs.
Brendan Taylor arrived in the country on Wednesday from his Australian base and was immediately drafted into the final squad for the series, ending speculation about his fallout with Zimbabwe Cricket.
His presence signaled the dropping of Foster Mtizwa, Zimbabwe Cricket’s Rookie of the Year, who had been brought in as a likely replacement for the suspended Tatenda Taibu along with Charles Coventry.
Unlike Mutizwa, Coventry, who kept his place in the final squad, may feature in the series as a specialist batsman where his mastery over spin-bowlers will come in handy given the opposition’s arsenal.
Christopher Mpofu, débutantes Trevor Garwe and Admire Manyumwa did not make the cut.
However, focus will be on Zimbabwean skipper Prosper Utseya.
Utseya, who is in his second stint as captain after taking charge of the team during the 2006/7 season, has of late come under scrutiny.
During that short stint, out of the 32 matches that were played, he won only five games and lost the other 26. There was only one tie.
He is yet to rise to the occasion as captain and lead from the front as was the case with his predecessors who include Tatenda Taibu (2004-2005/6), Alistair Campbell (1996-2002/3), Andy Flower and Heath Steak (2001/2-2003/4).
Questions on his leadership skills and place on the team ahead of Greame Cremer have of late been a subject of debate and today’s match, and the series as a whole, will provide him the opportunity to silence his critics.
Utseya, who this past week was named the local Cricketer of the Year at a ceremony in Bulawayo has, in turn, hit back by throwing down the gauntlet and telling his team mates to rise to the challenge and put up match-winning performances in the series against Bangladesh.
The message was targeted at the senior players, some of whom have continuously let the nation down with dismal performances in the past.
“I don’t think it’s acceptable to continue losing to Bangladesh as we have been doing for some time now.
“There is hardly anything to separate the two of us but the onus is on us to improve as a collective unit, with everyone doing their part.” he said
A veteran of 88 ODIs himself, in which he has scored 2 959 runs and taken 59 wickets, pressure will be on him to lead from the front and help his side pull through.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, are currently riding high after demolishing the West Indies this past month in both the Test and ODI series and will be looking to continue their fine run in Zimbabwe.
Bangladesh’s technical team manger, Mohd Shafique UL Haque, said his team will be looking beyond the series as they seek to climb up the ODI standings.
“Confidence in our camp is at an all-time high as our rebuilding exercise has just begun to bear fruit. We are just coming from our tour of the West Indies where we won the series and we hope to continue on the same note here in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The visitors, who arrived in the country on Wednesday, come to the party missing a few key players.
Missing in the side that beat West Indies are Abdur Razzak (hamstring) and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza (knee). They received minor knocks during their tour of duty in the Caribbean.
Another spinner, Enamul Haque Junior, will replace the left-arm spinner Razzak, while all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was roped in to replace Mortaza as captain.
Shakib will certainly be the player to watch out for as the series goes on.
With only three games under his belt as captain, the all-rounder has already promised to go down as one of the best Bangladeshi captains of all time and is currently one of the best all-rounders in the world.
The young 22-year-old player finished the just-ended tour of West Indies with a batting average of 53.
After taking 13 wickets from 18 overs, he is the type of player whose performance will have a significant bearing on the outcome of the tour. He tops the list of Bangladeshi players, with 64 games under his belt, scoring 1 718 runs and taking 70 wickets in the ODIs and might prove a handful for the home side.