Despite suffering a demoralising whitewash defeat in the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe women cricket team coach Adam Chifo remains upbeat about his team’s chances of doing well in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier which gets underway on Sunday in Harare.
The Lady Chevrons’ batting frailties were brutally exposed in the series against Bangladesh which both teams were using to prepare for the qualifiers for next year’s global showpiece.
Zimbabwe suffered heavy defeats in all of the three matches against the higher-ranked and more experienced Bangladesh Tigress. The Lady Chevrons lost the first match by eight wickets, second by nine wickets and the last by seven wickets.
Chifo believes the series gave them a glimpse of what to expect in the 10-nation qualifiers.
“We are happy to have had a series with an experienced team like Bangladesh, even though the results were not what we expected,” Chifo said.
“We now know what we need to pay more attention to when we play in the tournament, but obviously, we need to be more clinical in all departments. We won’t be a pushover and every team will be doing its best in order to get a qualification.”
The ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 will run in four separate venues in the capital — Takashinga Cricket Club, Harare Sports Club, Sunrise Cricket Club and Old Hararians Sports Club.
Zimbabwe are in Pool B together with Pakistan, Bangladesh, the United States and Thailand while Pool A features Ireland, West Indies, Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
Papua New Guinea withdrew from the competition due to positive COVID-positive tests within the squad before their departure for Harare.
The top three teams from each group go to the Super 6 stage, with group stage points carrying over to the next phase.
From there, the top three after the Super 6 stage will qualify for the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 being held in New Zealand next year, along with the hosts, Australia, England, South Africa and India, who have directly qualified for the event.
As a bonus, the top five teams will also qualify for the next edition of the ICC Women’s Championship, which is expanding from eight teams to 10.
Zimbabwe will face Thailand in the first match of the qualifier at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.
