Cricket in Zimbabwe has been passing through a transitional period from where they are earnestly trying to come out for so long. The Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) is attempting to bring back their golden days by injecting fresh blood in the team. Veteran batsman Hamilton Masakadza, batting all-rounder Elton Chigumbura, and pace all-rounder Solomon Mire left a big void in Zimbabwe cricket after they retired from cricket. Along with that, some senior players like all-rounder Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Craig Ervine, and wicketkeeper-batsman Brendan Taylor had also retired due to financial problems and disputes with the board.

But the ZC has settled all those problems and disputes with the senior players like Sikandar Raza and Brendan Taylor. It also brought some players back from sudden retirement so that the new players could be groomed under them. In the meantime, the International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) due to the interference of the government—this delayed their revival in the cricket arena. After coming out of suspension, they played a couple of series so far. They have come here with a team of senior as well as young players.

Zimbabwe stand-in captain Sean Williams tipped the current side as a young team, saying that they needed some more games  to form a well-balanced team. Wesley Madhevere, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Charlton Tshuma, Ainsley Ndlovu, and Donald Tiripano are young players in the team. The stand-in captain singled out Wesley Madhevere among them for praise. “It is a very young side,” said Sean Williams, who acted as captain due to ailment of Craig Williams.

“I think there are only two or three players close to a hundred ODIs. Brendan and myself have played more than a hundred and Raza is on 99. The rest are not even close to 50,” he also said. “I think it is extremely exciting to see someone like Wesley. He is an extremely good find for Zimbabwe cricket. It is unbelievable the way he batted in the middle order,” he added. Following the loss in the last-over thriller of the second match,  Sean Williams said they are focusing more on discipline in bowling and fielding departments in a bid to do well in the next match of the series. He also said they look forward to doing well in the next match instead of harping on the defeat.

“We have to be more disciplined and clinical in our bowling and fielding departments,” he noted. “We don’t really like to look at the negatives in the game, but sometimes you have to be honest and truthful towards a player,” Williams told the media yesterday at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. “Everybody is different and has his own personal feelings. I think our guys are maturing with the valuable experience from these matches,” he added.