We’re still trying to find the right combinations – Cremer

1480268486912

There was a kind of symmetry to this tri-series, which started and ended with a capitulation by Zimbabwe’s batsmen. The difference, for captain Graeme Cremer, was that this time around his team made Sri Lanka work much harder for their win. Defending 160, Zimbabwe took a wicket with the first legitimate delivery bowled and Sri Lanka toiled for 38 overs for their six-wicket victory.

“When we went out there, we said even if they get our score one wicket down, we’ll make it as hard as we can for them,” Cremer said. “We weren’t going to go searching for the wickets, but we wanted to put them under pressure and make it the hardest 160 they’ve scored. That was our goal.”

Cremer had Kusal Mendis caught in the deep for 57, while left-arm quick Brian Vitori – who was not originally part of Zimbabwe’s squad for this series – nipped out three wickets at the top of the order. Vitori’s was one of three surprising changes Zimbabwe made to their XI for this match. Malcolm Waller was brought back, without making much impact, but Tarisai Musakanda, the 21-year-old Mid-West Rhinos batsman, sprinted to an eye-catching 36 on debut.

“We hadn’t really put on a big total [previously], so we felt that maybe just changing it up a little bit, and putting up something different to all the innings that Sri Lanka have had might work,” coach Heath Streak explained. “Musakanda is someone we’ve been holding back, but we just felt it was the right time. They didn’t know much about him, and he showed exactly what he’s got.

“I think he’s got a bright future. I’m very happy with him. And then Vitori, we picked him for exactly what he showed today. We felt we needed him. (Dhananjaya) De Silva and (Kusal) Perera have been really damaging up front, and we got them both early, so that paid off.”

Vitori had played for the Zimbabwe A side against Pakistan last month, before heading to Cape Town to fulfill a club contract. Because of this, he was not originally included in …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *