Zimbabwe targeting victory against weakened Sri Lanka

The Zimbabwe senior men cricket team will be looking for an unlikely clean sweep in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League three-match ODI series away to Sri Lanka beginning this Sunday at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, in Kandy.

Zimbabwe anchor the 13-team World Cup Super League with 25 points from nine matches, tied on points with minnows Netherlands who have played five games less.

Only the top eight teams directly qualify for the 2023 Cricket World Cup which will be hosted by India while the bottom five teams advance to the World Cup Qualifier for another chance to qualify.

Lalchand Rajput’s charges will be looking to improve their position in the Super League against Sri Lanka, a team they have beaten three times in their last five meetings, including a historic series in the subcontinent in 2017.

“Our target is obviously to win all the three matches. I don’t think we can set the bar any lower than that,” Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine told journalists in a press conference via Zoom on the eve of the first ODI.

Ervine said the team is not concerned about their position on the World Cup Super League.

“I don’t think we are too concerned about looking at our position at the moment. I think what we have to concentrate on is obviously winning every game and this is another opportunity for us to do so.

“We had some good success the last time we came to Sri Lanka but obviously this time we definitely would like to beat that. I know that Sri Lanka have named a very different squad to what we were expecting but I still think that we have to play our best cricket and we have to play positive cricket as well and hopefully that positiveness will get us over the line,” he said.

Coach Lalchand will miss the first ODI after he tested positive for Covid a few days ago and batting coach Stewart Matsikenyeri will stand in for him.

The second match is scheduled for January 18 while the final match of the series will be played on Friday.