WORLD Cup-bound Zimbabwe face the Netherlands in the Men’s T20 World Cup T20 Cup Qualifier B final at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo this afternoon.
It is a journey that many did not think would be this smooth especially considering the way both Namibia and Afghanistan pummeled the senior men’s cricket team.
Common sense eventually prevailed with the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) board demoting Lalchand Rajput by elevating him to Technical Director and former Zimbabwe Test captain Dave Houghton taking over as coach.
The Zimbabwe legend did not have time to waste with the impending T20 World Cup Qualifiers hard on the heels of the Afghanistan tour.
Houghton and his charges won all their matches and qualified for the World Cup without losing a match.
Some of the fans who did not give the team a chance to do well in this tournament are now questioning the calibre of opposition.
But in sports competition, you can only beat whoever is in front of you, and Zimbabwe did just that.
There is no denying the Houghton factor in how the team carried itself through.
Houghton is a winner and has inculcated that winning mentality within the team, and the results are already showing.
The Chevrons are a team in transition, and that transition must be managed well, which Rajput failed.
Rajput went after the senior players and even hounded Hamilton Masakadza into retirement.
Houghton, a local hero who has served Zimbabwe in the past, identified the issues that needed to be dealt with.
The hardware was great, but some work needed to be done on the software side.
Zimbabwe were playing with a handbrake because of fear of failure and chastisement by the former coach.
Houghton instilled the Zimbabwe fighting spirit again.
“I have tried to encourage them to be more positive. I have seen a lot of Zimbabwe players over the years. They have incredible skills but have been wrapped in fear and worry about getting out and making mistakes. I have tried to take that away from them,” said Houghton.
“You are seeing the results. Our batting is exciting. Now we take sides on, our bowling and fielding has been of a good standard, but we were playing that type of aggressive, interesting cricket that the crowds love.”
The Zimbabwe mentor is a shrewd tactician, good at identifying problems and finding a solution to the issues.
Tendai Chisoro was a promising left-arm seamer but never kicked on despite being sent to the Australian Academy, where he played alongside Mitchell Johnson.
What did Houghton do? He sat down with Chisoro and told him to switch to left-arm spin. He faced resistance from the player, but he eventually saw sense in what Houghton was saying.
The switch gave Chisoro a Test, ODI and T20I caps.
Thanks to Houghton, Chisoro was Zimbabwe’s best white ball spinner at one point.
All-rounder Wessley Madhevere has done reasonably well opening the batting in T20I. Still, to everyone’s surprise in this tournament, Houghton elevated captain Craig Ervine from the first drop to opening the batting with Regis Chakabva for a left-hand, right-hand combination at the top of the order.
When Chakabva was dismissed in the first match against Singapore, Sean Williams came in at three.
But in the semi-final against PNG, Madhevere came in at 3. Such has been the flexibility under Houghton.
Houghton has also sent a message to the team that indiscipline will not be tolerated.
Madhevere went out clubbing on the eve of the crunch match against the USA and was subsequently dropped.
The 65-year-old Dave was once Madhevere’s age and understood the folly of youth. He also understands that the 20-year-old is the future of Zimbabwe cricket and needs the tournament experience by playing instead of running with water.
Madhevere was back in Zimbabwe playing XI for the semi-final match against Papua New Guinea. You could tell that being dropped reminded him that he is fallible.
He top scored for the Chevrons with 42 runs on a day where all the top seven scored runs.
Those that have watched Zimbabwe long enough always urge people to remain on the side of caution.
We have had so many false dawns in the past.
Whatever happens, Zimbabwe is back at the T20 jamboree with the other top 15 cricket nations.
With king Houghton as our coach, Zimbabwe can only dream.
