Ahead of the Australia clash in the ICC Cricket World Cup, Zimbabwe coach has declared that they are not overawed.
By Abhideep Das in Ahmedabad
The ICC CWC 2011 Group A fixture between four-time world champions Australia and minnows Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad on Monday is being viewed by many as a ‘David vs Goliath’ clash.
However, the Zimbabwe camp is quietly confident of causing an upset ahead of their opening fixture in the mega-tournament.
“Although Australia haven’t lost an ICC CWC encounter in the last 12 years, we sincerely believe that if we play to our potential on Monday then an upset is possible,” said head coach Alan Butcher in the pre-match press conference on Sunday.
History backs the Zimbabwean outfit. In their first ever ODI match in the 1983 ICC CWC, the African nation caused a ripple in the cricketing world by beating Australia by 13 runs at Nottingham. Although they have never been able to beat the ‘Men from Down Under’ since, Monday provides Zimbabwe an opportunity to once again send shock waves in the cricketing world.
The wicket at the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera had some green patches on Sunday. However Butcher was not at all worried by that. “The grass on the wicket hasn’t really grown but rather it has been inserted to bind the pitch together. Hence the green patches won’t worry us. Also there are some bare patches on the track as well.”
Australia and Zimbabwe have played in this stadium once before. The former won that encounter in 1998 by 13 runs defending a score of 252.
Queried on who are the main Australian players that his team needs to watch out for on Monday, the Zimbabwe head coach said tongue and cheek, “All of them! If both Australia and Zimbabwe play to potential, then it is likely that the Aussies will win the game. Our strategy will be to surprise the Australians with our spin bowlers since they wouldn’t have seen much of our bowling before.”
The ‘catch your opponents by surprise’ theme is thus resonating through the Zimbabwe camp at the moment.
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