Utseya asks batsmen to step up

3 January 2009

Zimbabwe's batsmen, such as Keith Dabengwa here, struggled with the bat against Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya is hoping his team put on a better display with the bat in their upcoming one-day series in Bangladesh than they managed against Sri Lanka last November.

The Zimbabweans suffered a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Sri Lanka last year, only managing to pass the 150-mark on one occasion.

“We had a disappointing series against Sri Lanka, especially in batting and we are hoping for a much better performance in Bangladesh,” said Utseya.

“I thought we did well with the ball in the series but we were let down in batting but we’ve been working in that area since then and I hope we will show improvement in Bangladesh.”

The Zimbabwe batsmen were all at sea against Sri Lanka’s master spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis in Harare and are likely to find it even more difficult on the subcontinent.

Batsman Malcolm Waller and wicketkeeper Forster Mutizwa are the two new players in the 15-man squad which left Harare today for Dubai, en route to Bangladesh where they will take on Sri Lanka and the hosts in one day matches.

The most notable absentee was top-order batsman Chamu Chibhabha, who was dropped following his disappointing home series against Sri Lanka.

Walter Chawaguta leads the team on a caretaker basis, with a permanent coach expected to be appointed when the team returns in February.

Zimbabwe squad: Prosper Utseya (captain), Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu (wkt), Ray Price, Sean Williams, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda, Tawanda Mupariwa, Keith Dabengwa, Ed Rainsford, Graeme Cremer, Chris Mpofu, Forster Mutizwa, Malcolm Waller.