Zimbabwe out to surprise

Despite a heavy 3-0 series loss to South Africa that included a 400-plus total by the opposing team, Zimbabwe coach Kevin Curran believes his team have the ability to make it through the qualifying stages and reach the main draw of this month’s ICC Champions Trophy.

A tough task looms for the young team, as they need to beat two of West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, but Curran thinks his team are capable of doing so. He believes that the squad he will be taking to India possesses a lot of talent, and with Zimbabwe’s strong history in major tournaments and the lack of consistency in recent times of their opposing sides, they have a fairly decent chance of causing a couple of upsets and reaching the main draw.

Although these are good points, it would be a substantial surprise if they were to win two of their three qualifying matches. Apart from being competitive against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe have not beaten a test team since their victory over West Indies at home three years ago.

Zimbabwe’s first qualifying match is against the West Indies on Sunday.