Propser Utseya and Mark Vermeulen have been speaking to the Zimbabwe Independent ahead of the visit by Bangladesh. For Utseya, it's time for the side to put past defeats by the Tiger behind them and play to their full potential:
"We’ve reached a stage where we’ve lost too many times to Bangladesh. I think how we play their spinners will be key. We will put them (the spinners) under pressure from the very onset. [...] We had a meeting in which we said we want to play cricket the Zim way. We know we will be facing three quality spinners and we have to be prepared to face up to it. We said we need to have a killer punch. That cannot be taught or practised. Guys have to be hungry."
"Far too often the bowlers got us in good positions but we ended up throwing that away, and it goes back to the Sri Lanka series when I thought we should have picked a win or two. (But) there is good competition among the players now. We now have the likes of Mark (Vermeulen) back in the fold and Vusi (Sibanda) is also here. There is pressure on everyone to perform."
Vermeulen is heavily tipped to appear in the final squad for the series, and has been training hard in anticipation of his return to top-flight cricket:
"I’m much fitter, I’m hitting the ball alright. I didn’t have a long off-season, busy in the nests hitting the ball. It’s been five years; so obviously it’s going be great. I hope to get another chance again and hopefully get big runs for Zim."
The first ODI in the 4-match series is on 9th August.
Zimbabwe Independent - We’ve lost too many times — Utseya
Comments
Among other things
Its good to see Zimbabwe set to play some more cricket in the short term and generally i expect to mop up against bangladesh at home. nevertheless i wonder whay the ICC has yet to release Zimbabwe A's intercontinental cup (or anybody else's fro that matter) since they released the first batch in such short notice.
its totally unlike them not to have these scheduled produces for at least 6-9 months into the future and its not really helping the participants plan for the future.
Intercontinental Cup fixtures
Intercontinental Cup fixtures aren't arranged centrally by the ICC - I believe it's up to the boards concerned to work out the details between themselves, as long as the tournament is completed within a set window. The matches already played had been arranged before the changes to the tourney structure had been announced, but there was no need to change them.
Looks like Zim A's first matches will be against Afghanistan and Kenya later this year.