Streak, Rackemann confident of better showing
Larry Moyo - 14 June 2001
The Zimbabwe cricket team stepped up their preparations for the Second
Test against India at the match venue with both the captain Heath
Streak and coach Carl Rackemann confident that the side will put up a
more polished performance than they did in the First Test.
The side had extensive practice in the nets with the ball and bat, and
also did a lot of fielding practice. Zimbabwe batted woefully in the
first innings of the Queen's Test and were dismissed for a mere 173, a
record low for the venue. The bowlers then struggled with the Indian
tail, resulting in the tourists taking a commanding 145-run lead.
India went on to win the match by eight wickets to take a 1-0 lead in
the two-match Zimbabwe Sun series.
It was India's first away win in 15 years and also their first Test
win in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe lost two frontline bowlers, Streak and Henry
Olonga, a last-minute replacement for Travis Friend, in the match and
had only three bowlers for India's second innings.
Streak and Friend are back in the squad for the Second Test. Streak
was confident that he would be in a position to play. "I am giving it
one more day of rest before I go flat out in the nets. It should be
fine. Our physiotherapist (Amato Machikicho) is quietly confident and
I also had an orthopedic surgeon have a look at it in Bulawayo and he
was pretty certain that it should be fine."
Streak added that Friend had responded well to treatment after
suffering a muscle strain, which forced him to pull out of the
Bulawayo Test on the eve of the opening day.
"Friend looks good. He was in the nets today and he is bowling with
some good pace. It looks as though he is fully fit for the game.
Hopefully he wakes up tomorrow feeling good and we won't have a
similar problem like we had in Bulawayo."
Streak said that although they have always played under pressure, this
time they were under more pressure to try and level the series. "Being
1-0 down, we are under more pressure to try and pull it back. We
realized where we had our downfall and the guys are working very hard
in the nets to try and rectify that. We batted badly in the first
innings. We hope to put it right in this Test and we are ready to go."
The Zimbabwe captain felt that they could have restricted India to a
smaller first-innings total than the 318 they made. India had slumped
to 178 for six after the dismissal of leading batsman Sachin Tendulkar
in the 53rd over. But they were allowed to bat for another 36 overs in
which spinner Harbhajan Singh, coming in at number nine, made his
highest Test score of 66. It was India's second highest contribution
after the 74 by Tendulkar.
"Obviously we always realized that their top order was the danger and
we really worked hard but I think that the loss of Henry Olonga put an
extra load of work on the bowlers. We let Harbhajan Singh get away
with a bit more than we should have, which allowed their tail to wag.
Hopefully we won't let that happen again with a better balanced side,
without any injuries."
Rackemann was impressed with his side's preparations. "Firstly these
practice wickets are the best I have seen them and that's a good start
for us. And our worries were the injuries. Henry is going to be out
but Heath (Streak) is coming back. Travis Friend has had a good
bowling session today and he looks good.
"So we look like going into the Test without any injury or fitness
worries. Skillwise today has been a very good day in batting, bowling
and fielding. On Thursday we will spent a little bit of time talking
about the game and the last match in Bulawayo. Our first innings
batting is high on the list of the things to be discussed. It won't be
as physically demanding, especially for the bowlers playing in the
match."
The Australian coach said that they had learnt a lesson from the
Bulawayo Test. "I think the batting in the first innings was filled
with poor shot selection, playing a wrong shot to the wrong ball and
lacking patience while at the crease and we were also not positive. We
are going to address that. In the second Test we have to bat like we
did in the second innings at Queen's in both innings."
Rackemann was also disappointed with the way Harbhajan Singh was
allowed to score his 66 from 125 balls, hitting 10 fours and a six.
"Principally Harbhajan Singh was the man who did most of the damage
and we have to make sure that it does not happen again. We will have
to bowl differently to him than the way we did in Bulawayo and make
sure that there is no repeat of that."
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