THE Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket team’s preparations for the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup suffered a dent yesterday after four players tested positive for Covid-19 during their training camp in the West Indies.
The four unidentified players remained in quarantine in Barbados, where the team had been camped for the past one week, while the rest proceeded to St. Kitts and Nevis yesterday for the second leg of the World Cup training camp.
Zimbabwe Cricket spokesperson, Darlington Majonga, confirmed the setback yesterday and said the players were in good condition.
“Zimbabwe Cricket can confirm four players who are part of the Zimbabwe Under-19 squad for the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in the West Indies have tested positive for Covid-19 following PCR tests administered this Monday morning.
“All four players, who took part in a four-match youth one-day series against the Ireland Under-19 side in Barbados that ended on Sunday, are well and asymptomatic.
“They are now self-isolating and will be re-tested before they can join the rest of the squad in St Kitts and Nevis where the team will face Canada and Bangladesh in official warm-up matches scheduled for January 9 and 11 at Basseterre before the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 proper gets underway” said.
The situation has left the technical team in need of reinforcements. Zimbabwe have a squad of 15 players in the West Indies and five have been drafted on the non-travelling reserves list.
The team’s coach Prosper Utseya said the team was still focused on the tournament despite the Covid-19 cases.
“The only challenge that we have faced so far is the Covid-19 infections. Otherwise, our training camp was flowing well.
We are going to meet as technical team to chart the way forward.
“We missed some of the players during Sunday’s game, which we lost.
It’s good to have a larger pool of players during the tournament because we could experience a similar situation during the World Cup games.”
Zimbabwe had a seven-day training camp in Barbados where they engaged Ireland in a four-match series as part of their preparations.
Despite winning the series 3-1, Utseya still demanded improvement from his side, especially the top order batters, who appeared to struggle for runs.
The youth side ended the series with a 117-run defeat on Sunday.
They were bowled out for 79 runs after being set 197 runs to win.
The match had been reduced to 46 overs apiece.
The dent in the last game was a timely reminder of the need to improve on their approach to the game after they had recorded straight wins in the first three matches.
“The series win was very good.
We need that to build our confidence going into the tournament,” said Utseya.
“But we need not be blinded by the overall result.
There were a lot of take-aways from this series, both positive and negative.
“A lot of areas still need improvement, especially the batting.
Our top order has not come to the party.
I think the guys should adapt to the conditions as quickly as possible because we don’t have much time left,” said Utseya.
Zimbabwe needed the middle order to rescue them in most of the situations.
Connor Mitchell was the highest scorer in the series with 141 runs, followed by Brian Bennett (130) who did well in the lower middle order.
There were also some important knocks from David Bennet and Tanunurwa Makoni.
But the top order batters Saul Welch, Matthew Welch, Rogan Wolhuter and skipper Emmanuel Bawa still need to pull up their socks.
Zimbabwe’s bowlers proved the side’s biggest strength.
They bowled out their opponents in all the four games and there were two players who managed five wicket hauls in these games.
Victor Chirwa finished among the top wicket takers in the series with 10 scalps under the belt.
Chirwa’s best figures came in the last match when he recorded 5-26.
The former Watershed student took 4-36 in the first game.
Spinner Tendekai Mataranyika was also among the top performers with the ball after claiming seven wickets in three games.
The Peterhouse Boys High bowler also shone with a five-wicket haul during the series.
His spell of 5-15 in the second game was the best bowling figures of the series.
“I have to give credit to the bowlers.
They have been very good throughout the series.
I hope we will be able to maintain that form and my wish is to go a step further,” said Utseya.
