ZIMBABWE eye World Cup qualification with a win against Sri Lanka at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo today.
A win for the hosts takes them to eight points and a date in the final. However, should Sunday’s encounter go against their plans, then they will have a second bite on the bite in their last Super Six stage match against Scotland at the same venue on Tuesday.
Chevrons’ captain, Craig Ervine
“We are focused on every game our focus is on tomorrow. If things don’t go according to plan we focus on Tuesday,” said Ervine.
“We are just trying not to think too far ahead. What we need to control is what we are gonna do tomorrow and try to get the two points.”
All eyes will on man of the moment, Sean Williams who scored back to back centuries as well as showman, Sikandar Raza.
“Sean’s form has been phenomenal he is such a quality player and he scores at such a high strike rate which takes a lot of pressure off the guy at the other end and he can play his normal game,” he added.
“Am sure the fans add pressure especially if our bowlers pick up one or two wickets it just raises the noise in crowd.
“Sri Lanka are a very good side, they are a well drilled side they have played some good cricket so far conditions in Bulawayo suit them more than Harare.”
Ervine expects a tough duel against the Asian side.
“For tomorrow’s game I expect the wicket to be slightly better. I know the strips towards the trees can be a little bit tricky to bat on and we have had a look it does look like a descent surface and Sri Lanka have got those two quality spinners that will extract whatever there is in a surface. So I expect it to be a descent surface,” he said.
“You just don’t know what the wicket is going to be like when batting first but I think a lot of sides are considering batting first after winning the toss because getting onto a surface that has been used two or three times, it’s something teams will have a conversation around and again those first six or seven overs are gonna be tricky even if the surface is good.”
“I think tomorrow is gonna be a good contest between their spinners and our batters who have been generally good at playing spin, I think sometimes you don’t wanna pop those names too much and walk out being fearful of getting out. At the end of the day they are also human beings although they are good players. We have a few plans that we would like to put in place it’s going to be interesting how it goes.”
