Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine has lamented his team’s failure to apply themselves against quality spin bowling following their loss by an innings and four runs against West Indies in the second Test at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
The result meant the Chevrons lost the two-match series 1-0 after the first Test match ended in a draw.
West Indies left-arm spinner Motie followed his seven for 37 in the first innings with six for 62 as Zimbabwe slipped to 173 all out in their second innings.
Ervine provided the only sustained resistance for the hosts, making a stubborn 72 before being the ninth wicket to fall, leg-before to Motie as the hosts capitulated on the final day.
The 36-year-old Ervine, who was standing in as captain for the injured Sean Williams, acknowledged that his charges will need to learn to play spin better.
“We are very disappointed to have lost this Test, we just felt it was always going to be a short game because of the wicket and the amount of turn,” a disappointed Ervine said after the match.
“I just felt that the first session put us back and made it difficult for us to get back in the game… The conditions of the first and second test were different. This wicket here was quite spin friendly. I think we didn’t play spin very well.”
While he was disappointed with the overall outcome in the second Test, Ervine expressed satisfaction with the manner some of the players applied themselves during the series.
Zimbabwe went into the Test series without several key players such as Williams, Blessing Muzarabani, Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl while Gray Balance was only available for the first Test due to illness.
Ervine pointed out some encouraging performances from leg spinner Brandon Mavuta, seamer Victor Nyauchi and opening batsman Innocent Kaia after they provided some positives from the home series.
“The application that Innocent Kaia showed and we also had Victor Nyauchi picking up five wickets as a seamer on that track, it was outstanding. And also Brendon Mavuta he has been out of the picture, out of the national side for a while so for him to come back and ball extremely well was good. I think the application that West Indies showed on the first Test is something we can learn from. Our conditions here at home are spin friendly so that is something that we are gonna have to get used to especially with qualifiers coming up in June and July.”
After the home series against West Indies, Zimbabwe will host Netherlands for a three match ODI series in March while Pakistan and Afghanistan are also expected to tour the country before the ICC World Cup qualifiers which will be held in the country in June and July.