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Giants Under Spotlight

October 5, 2018, 11:03 pm
≪ Previous: Masakadza calls for ruthlessnessMehluli Sibanda in PAARL, South Africa ZIMBABWE captain Hamilton Masakadza is looking for more ruthlessness from his team in today’s third One Day International cricket match against South Africa at Boland Park in Paarl this afternoon. The Chevrons have lost the three-match ODI series against Proteas after letting off their hosts at Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Zimbabwe let South Africa off the hook when they had them at 101/7 only for pace bowler Dale Steyn to score his maiden ODI half century, top scoring with 60 to take the Proteas to 198. Steyn was ruthless with ball in hand, sending down six overs of serious pace to which laid the foundation for leg spinner Imran Tahir to claim six wickets to clean up Zimbabwe for 78, their lowest score against their neighbours to lose by 120 runs. Masakadza said if there is anything that they have learnt from this tour is that they should be more merciless when given an opportunity. “I think the biggest point to take is how we’ve stuck it out with the ball, I think the guys have bowled really well. One of the lessons we have learnt is that we have to try and be a little bit ruthless in finishing things off,’’ Masakadza said. The pitches have come under heavy scrutiny with the Kimberly and Bloemfontein tracks being condemned but Masakadza feels that the batsmen should have applied themselves better at the crease. “Definitely the wickets weren’t easy but I still felt as a side we could have had a little bit more application with the bat especially in the first game, obviously the second game I thought it was slightly harder but the wickets have been challenging, not exactly what we expected from Kimberly and Bloem but in saying that I still feel we could have batted a lot better,” he said. Zimbabwe had their only training session ahead of today’s clash at the match venue yesterday with the skipper indicating that there is not much time to work on the areas where they fell short on Wednesday. “It’s a quick turnaround so you don’t get so much time to sort too many things out, it’s all just about getting your head around it, just get the guys to put it behind them and focus on the next game, focus on the job at hand, different pitch, different conditions, so hopefully we can go a little better this time,’’ Masakadza said. Zimbabwe played a warm up match in Paarl last year ahead of the four-day Test against South Africa that took place in Port Elizabeth but Masakadza is expecting a different wicket from the one they used. “I think it’s a totally different wicket from the four-day cricket, I think it will be slightly different because its one day cricket, we expect it not to have as much grass and expect it to be a lot more batter friendly than it was when we came out here last year,’’ he said. On what they could attribute the failures with the bat to, he felt that the batsmen have not been able to execute things in the middle, something they were hoping to get right today. “I think guys have just not been able to execute their skills, a lot of technical errors were exposed in the last game, especially facing Tahir, something that we have spoken about, it’s something that we will try and at least address in the little practice session that we have,’’ Masakadza said. With not much options to turn to, coach Lalchand Rajput is expected to stick with the experienced batsmen once again and back them to deliver. Solomon Mire, Masakadza, Craig Ervine, Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams and Elton Chigumbura are the men expected to provide the runs for Zimbabwe. The bowlers have simple been magnificent in the first two ODIs with Kyle Jarvis and Tendai Chatara putting pressure upfront. On Wednesday, the two were complemented by Donald Tiripano and leg spinner Brandon Mavuta. The bowlers will certainly hope that the batsmen will play their part as well this afternoon, News from the Proteas camp is that skipper Faf du Plessis makes a return to the team after recovering from shoulder injury which saw him miss the first two ODIs with Jean-Paul Duminy leading the team.
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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
WITH the Premiership title out of their grasp, domestic football’s traditional giants Dynamos, Highlanders and CAPS Unite will once again come under the spotlight this weekend when they turn to the Chibuku Super Cup for some redemption.

Failure to win any silverware in a season is generally considered to be failure by the Big Boys’ multitude of fans and with the league championship race reduced to a battle of the platinum miners, FC Platinum and Ngezi, it is only the Chibuku Super Cup that could help appease the three clubs’ supporters.

Although there has been talk of a rebuilding exercise at Bosso, club legend and coach Madinda Ndlovu knows deep down that in line with the Bulawayo giants’ rich tradition a trophy-less season is regarded as failure.

Ndlovu will lead his youthful outfit at Rufaro today, on a mission to end the stranglehold that Harare City seem to have on the Chibuku Super Cup and take a giant step towards claiming the silverware.

It is a similar tale with Dynamos, who also even face the ignominy of being demoted from the Premiership if they cannot garner enough points from their remaining six league games to survive.

DeMbare will briefly put their Premiership woes aside tomorrow when they date new boys Herentals at Rufaro and seek to march to only their second Chibuku Super Cup final.

On the only occasion they reached the final in 2015, Dynamos fell to Harare City at the National Sports Stadium.

Former Cup Kings CAPS United have not been spared the gaze of the radar too and it is in light of their failure to mount a strong challenge for the league championship that their fans will be hoping Lloyd Chitembwe’s men could deliver the Chibuku Cup for them.

One man who has experienced it all at the Green Machine is skipper Hardlife Zvirekwi, who could complete his remarkable comeback story by lifting the trophy at the end of this Chibuku campaign.

After squeezing through from the first round after a penalty shoot-out, Zvirekwi does not wish his team to go through the emotional tie-break again when they face Chapungu at Ascot this afternoon.

Makepekepe are looking to get past the quarter-final stage for the first time since the tournament returned in 2014. Their opponents Chapungu twice made it via the penalty lottery when they edged Mutare City and FC Platinum.

Chapungu dumped league champions FC Platinum 5-4 on penalties after the match had ended 2-2 in regulation time at Mandava.

They had also elbowed out Mutare City in the preliminary round via another penalty shootout and Rodwell Dhlakama’s airmen seem to have perfected the art of winning through via the lottery of shootouts.

Zvirekwi yesterday said Makepekepe will not leave anything to chance.

“Every game has got its importance. This is a cup game where the winner takes all. I don’t mean to underrate Chapungu, but we need to progress to the next round of the tournament and we are hoping that we will prevail.

“I think everyone is looking forward to this game. We don’t wish for penalties. The idea is to finish off the game in regulation time if we get that opportunity, but if things do not go according to plan then we have no choice because there has to be a winner at the end of the day,” said Zvirekwi.

The Green Machine will be without their top marksman John Zhuwawu, who is missing through injury.

They edged ZPC Kariba 5-4 in a penalty shootout in the first round following a goalless draw.

Chitembwe’s men were left disappointed last season, when their quarter-final clash against Shabanie Mine was abandoned after 65 minutes following crowd trouble at Maglas.

The match was later decided in the boardroom and awarded to Shabanie Mine on a 3-0 scoreline and Makepekepe were fined $2 000 for the chaos.

Just like their bitter rivals and fellow giants Dynamos and Highlanders, CAPS United need the Chibuku Super Cup to revitalise their season.

Their form has apparently stalled in the second half of the season although a top four finish in the league race is still a possibility.

Makepekepe also welcome back defender Steven Makatuka, who was unavailable for selection for their last league match.

Chitembwe has kept his players on their toes this week and as they wound up their preparations they beat lower division side Simba Stars in a practice match at Old Hararians courtesy of goals from Michelle Katsvairo and Kelvin Ndebele.

Katsvairo grabbed a brace.

“Chapungu are not easy opponents. They knocked out one of the big teams Ngezi Platinum so we need to take them seriously and give this game the respect it deserves.

“We all know what is at the stake and we will need to carry the right mental attitude into the game. As a team we need to be at our best. It’s not going to be easy against Chapungu,” said Zvirekwi.

Chibuku Quarter-final Fixtures:

Today: Harare City v Highlanders (Rufaro), Chapungu v CAPS United (Ascot)

Tomorrow: Dynamos v Herentals (Rufaro), Triangle v Nichrut (Gibbo)

The post Giants Under Spotlight appeared first on Zimbabwe Today.

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