Sunday 4th January 2009
Utseya hoping for better perfomance
Prosper Utseya is hoping his team put on a better display with the bat in their upcoming ODI series in Bangladesh.
The Zimbabweans suffered a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Sri Lanka last year, only managing to pass the 150-mark on one occasion.
"We had a disappointing series against Sri Lanka, especially in batting and we are hoping for a much better performance in Bangladesh," said Utseya.
"I thought we did well with the ball in the series but we were let down in batting but we've been working in that area since then and I hope we will show improvement in Bangladesh."
The Zimbabwe batsmen were all at sea against the Sri Lanka spinners in Harare and are likely to find it even more difficult on the sub-continent.
Caretaker basis
Batsman Malcolm Waller and wicketkeeper Forster Mutizwa are the two new players in the 15-man squad which left Harare today for Dubai, en route to Bangladesh where they will take on Sri Lanka and the hosts in one day matches.
The most notable absentee was top-order batsman Chamu Chibhabha, who was dropped following his disappointing home series against Sri Lanka.
Walter Chawaguta leads the team on a caretaker basis, with a permanent coach expected to be appointed when the team returns in February.
Squad: Prosper Utseya (captain), Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Ray Price, Sean Williams, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda, Tawanda Mupariwa, Keith Dabengwa, Ed Rainsford, Graeme Cremer, Chris Mpofu, Forster Mutizwa, Malcolm Waller.
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