ZIMBABWE women’s cricket captain Mary-Anne Musonda believes the Lady Chevrons have the capacity to go all the way to the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup if they get proper support from all stakeholders.
The Lady Chevrons cheered the nation at the weekend when they won the Africa Qualifier and edged closer to their World Cup dream.
The team’s success in Botswana secured them a berth at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifiers set for next year. The top two teams at the eight-nation global tournament will progress to the World Cup finals to be held in South Africa, in 2023. Zimbabwe underlined their pedigree, during the regional event, when they finished with a 100 percent winning record after playing seven games. They shrugged off a strong challenge from Namibia in the final to be crowned champions of Africa with a 13-run victory.
“Everyone is very excited about the win, we are still in a jovial mood,” an ecstatic Musonda said after the team’s arrival at the Robert Mugabe International Airport yesterday.
“Winning seven straight games was not easy. I think the team really worked hard towards it. With the support of the technical team, and everyone else back home backing us and Zimbabwe Cricket also rallying behind us all the way, we are quite impressed about that. But, if you are the defending champions, you always have a lot of work to do more, than everyone else, because you still want to defend your title.
“So, we just tried not to put ourselves under a lot of pressure, we took it a game at a time, we tried not to think too much about the opponents a lot, just do what we can and trust our skills and abilities.
“That’s what we did until the final.”
The domestic cricket fraternity was rallying behind the team, as they progressed with wins over Tanzania, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda and Namibia. The Zimbabwe players also scooped individual awards with Loryn Phiri, who raked up 16 wickets, being voted Bowler of the Tournament. Top order batter Modester Mupachikwa was named best Batslady of the tournament for carrying Zimbabwe with her 167 runs, at an average of 55.66.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that has been following us,” said Musonda. “I think it’s a new chapter that we have opened, especially for women spot, being able to celebrated by both men and women in the country.
“I think the girl child has a lot of potential, so keep supporting women’s sport, support the girl child in her dream and just let her fly.”
The Lady Chevrons skipper, however, is aware of the huge shift needed, ahead of the more challenging global qualifier.
The ICC are still to advise of the host nation, and the exact dates of the event, from where the top two teams will progress to the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
The global qualifier will feature eight nations, five of which will be drawn from the regional qualifiers. They will be joined by two more teams to be decided, based on the November 2021 rankings of those teams, which played at the previous Women’s T20 World Cup.
“I think we need to try and up our game a little bit more. In terms of ability, I think the girls are quite up there. So, we are just hoping that we can still work hard and improve.
“Obviously, the next stage is a little bit tougher than where we are coming from. We are hoping to work harder, throughout the training camps that are coming.”
The Lady Chevrons have had to battle an ICC suspension while their preparations were dealt a huge blow by the Covid-19 lockdowns.
“There are things you cannot control and there are things that you cannot allow to control the outcome of the game,” said Musonda.
“So, we just tried to continue playing cricket, as simple as that. We didn’t try to look for things that were beyond our control and we tried to avoid things that were avoidable.”