zimcricketnews.com

While most people, including Peter Chingoka and Alastair Campbell, are talking about Zimbabwe resuming Test cricket in the 18-month timeframe, coaching director and former Zim captain Dave Houghton is taking a far more optimistic approach: he wants to see his side back in the long form of the game before the end of the year. His reasoning is simple: one-day and Twenty20 cricket are no indicators of form in the Test form of the game, and for Zimbabwe to truly prove their readiness for Test cricket, they need to be playing Test cricket:

"I personally think that we should be playing Test cricket again by the end of the year. We have been playing one-day cricket, but you cannot judge a team on one-day cricket. Since I returned to Zimbabwe four-and-a-half months ago, things have improved with their cricket. They have a very good franchise system going in their domestic tournament, and it is helping the game back home."

Of course, the first roadblock will be the series against the West Indies, which begins tomorrow with a warm-up match against the UWI Vice-Chancellor's XI, before the first T20 International in Sunday. Unlike previous series against Full Members, where the mantra has been that Zimbabwe must be seen to be "competitive", the stated aim this time is to win the series, as ZC's media liason for the tour, Neil Manthorpe, reports:

The Zimbabwe team is determined to shake off a reputation for indifference and subservience acquired since its withdrawal from test cricket six years ago [...] At a team meeting before departure from Harare the squad came up with their own mission statement: ‘To win the series and convince the world that Zimbabwe Cricket must be taken seriously again.”

Tatenda Taibu confirmed the side's new attitude in an interview carried by CricInfo:

"We really want to start playing hard cricket again. We really want to stamp our authority now and start performing as expected. [...] There are a lot of times the guys have said there is a lot of talent in Zimbabwe, but we really have to put it to show now. It's not (just) about the talent, we really have to join the two (talent and maturity) and play good cricket."

All of which actually raises the stakes for Zimbabwe on this tour: an 18-month timescale for a Test return is ambitious, Houghton's 10-month target even more so, and there's little opportunity for slip-ups if either of those targets is to be met. The side currently on tour is arguably also not the strongest we could have sent (although it has to be remembered that some of the returning 'rebels', such as Andy Blignaut, are so far only available for domestic duty), which makes the task ahead that little bit harder. After years of listening with growing frustration to the "be competitive" mantra - little more than another way of saying "we don't care if we lose" - to hear some determination and optimism coming from players and coaches gives hope for the future.
CricInfo - Houghton targets Test return this year | CricInfo - Taibu: 'We want to play hard cricket again' | SuperSport - Sharing tactics behind enemy lines