Zimbabwe's biggest challenge in their next World Cup game against Sri Lanka is simply batting the first 15 overs without giving away too many wickets, according to their captain on Wednesday. Zimbabwe will play against co-hosts Sri Lanka on Thursday in Kandy looking for a surprise victory after losing to New Zealand and Australia.
They beat fellow non-test playing Canada despite falling to 2-7 halfway through the third over. "The biggest challenge is the first 15 overs," Elton Chigumbura told a news conference. "We haven't done well so far. So obviously it is to go through the first 15 overs. The first 15 (overs) have been the most disappointing part for all our games we have played so far."
In their tournament matches against test-playing nations, Kenya were 4-44 inside 13 overs taking on Australia and 5-46 inside 15 against New Zealand. Chigumbura's team will face Sri Lanka's in-form fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who captured six wickets including a hat-trick in the match against Kenya, and the game's most successful wicket-taker, spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
"It is a big challenge. Most of their bowlers are match winners. So we have been working on our plan to see if we can keep our wickets in the first 15 overs," said Chigumbura. Zimbabwe's chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals rely on them beating Sri Lanka and Pakistan (March 14) before taking on Kenya on March 20. "If we correct our batting, my bowlers have a chance of defending a score of over 260.
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