Zimbabwe Squad in T20 World Cup 2010

Zimbabwe cricket selectors announced their final squad of the forthcoming ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2010. The squad consists of 15 members. However, only one uncapped player has been included in this squad. Here are the names:

Zimbabwe Squad for T20 World Cup 2010: Prosper Utseya, Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Charles Coventry, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Gregory Lamb, Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Raymond Price, Christopher Mpofu, Tymcen Maruma, Craig Ervine, Andy Blignaut, Chamunorwa Chibhabha.

Zimbabwe has been put in Group B with Sri Lanka and New Zealand. They will start their campaign against New Zealand on May 2, 2010.

No doubt, Zimbabwe will go to the competition as an underdog team. They are one of the weakest contestants in this tournament and have no possibility to win any match. You should know that this team withdrew from the 2009 competition. That is why, they have failed to get a seed or rank for the 2010 competition.

Zimbabwe can be a weak team but any big team can be upset by them. In their inaugural Twenty20 World Cup tournament, they defeated Australia. It is expected that they will repeat the history this year. I hope that they will perform well in this upcoming shortest version of cricket game. Zimbabwean cricket team has developed a lot within a short time. I hope that they will be a big threat for big teams.

It is impossible to forget the name Charles Coventry. He toppled Saeed Anwar’s record of 194 runs in ODI cricket. Charles Coventry scored same runs but he was unbeaten till the end. He may break record in T20 cricket also.

Craig Ervine is likely to make his debut in the international cricket in this upcoming third edition of Twenty20 World Cup. His impressive performance in his club, Southern Rocks, gave him a place in the main squad. He averaged 35 in the first-class game and over 53 in ODI format of cricket. This 24-year-old player is the younger brother of Sean Ervine. However, elder brother Sean Ervine cannot find a place for himself as he is still tied to a contract in English county cricket.

Former international player, Andy Blignaut, has been recalled. The 31-year-old all-rounder was perhaps a shock recall in this squad. It took him five years to be included in the national team. Blignaut was one of the players who fell out with Zimbabwe after joining a strike by players dissatisfied with their contracts. However, his good performance in the local 20-over competition for Matabeleland Tuskers helped him to return to the squad. He averaged 37 this season.

All-rounder Greg Lamb is another new face who has been included in the squad. He played his only T20 match against West Indies on 28^th February 2010. His all rounder performance satisfied the selectors.

In the squad, we can see that there is no place for Shingi Masakadza and Stuart Matsikenyeri. They have been excluded from the player’s final list. Their bad performance in the recently concluded ODI series in West Indies was the only reason for not selecting them. Zimbabwe lost to West Indies by 1-4.

Because of the injury fast bowler, Kyle Jarvis, cannot tour the Caribbean with Zimbabwe team.

The return of top-order batsman, Chamu Chibhabha, will inspire the team to make upset against the strong teams. He had good performance in Zimbabwe’s domestic Twenty20 competition last month. He was the second highest run scorer.

So far I have talked about the batsmen and the all rounder. I think that Zimbabwe will have to face problem for their weak bowling line up. Their bowlers are not much experienced. Let us see how they intend to overcome this problem.

Prosper Utseya was named as captain. He will lead his team in this competition.