Shouldn’t have underestimated UAE: Williams
Zimbabwean man of the match praises UAE’s resilience.
Sean Williams was Zimbabwe’s star man in its win over the UAE. PHOTO: AFP
NELSON:
Zimbabwe admitted to underestimating the UAE after beating the cricket minnows with just 12 balls to spare in their World Cup match at the Saxton Oval in Nelson on Thursday.
It was a match the Test-playing Zimbabwe should have won easily against the least experienced and only amateur side in the tournament.
Instead, the game went down to the wire after the UAE posted their highest-ever ODI score of 285-7 after being sent into bat.
It took Zimbabwe until the end of the 48th over to pull off a four-wicket win built on the back of an 83-run stand for the sixth wicket between Sean Williams (76 not out) and Craig Ervine (42).
“A lot of people would have thought Zimbabwe should have walked over UAE but that clearly wasn’t the case,” said man-of-the-match Williams.
“We didn’t know what to expect from them and they put up a really good performance with the bat and our fielding wasn’t that great.”
Williams said Zimbabwe misread the UAE after watching videos of their previous games, which led them to believe the Middle East nation’s batting was brittle.
“We were basically waiting for them to get themselves out, but that wasn’t the case,” he conceded. “They actually hit the ball really well down the ground and they hit the ball long.”
Williams admitted the tension got to him when Zimbabwe were in the shaky position of 167-5 in the 33rd over. “I could feel it out there,” he said. “I tried not to show it. I tried to breathe, relax and hit the ball down the ground and stick to what we’d been [doing in] training and it ended up paying off.”
But the left-handed batsman, who has a deft reverse-sweep in his armoury, said the gap between Associate or junior nations such as the UAE and Test-playing countries was closing. “If any team gets all three departments [batting, bowling and fielding] right on its day, it will drag a top team right to the end,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2015.
Zimbabwe admitted to underestimating the UAE after beating the cricket minnows with just 12 balls to spare in their World Cup match at the Saxton Oval in Nelson on Thursday.
It was a match the Test-playing Zimbabwe should have won easily against the least experienced and only amateur side in the tournament.
Instead, the game went down to the wire after the UAE posted their highest-ever ODI score of 285-7 after being sent into bat.
It took Zimbabwe until the end of the 48th over to pull off a four-wicket win built on the back of an 83-run stand for the sixth wicket between Sean Williams (76 not out) and Craig Ervine (42).
“A lot of people would have thought Zimbabwe should have walked over UAE but that clearly wasn’t the case,” said man-of-the-match Williams.
“We didn’t know what to expect from them and they put up a really good performance with the bat and our fielding wasn’t that great.”
Williams said Zimbabwe misread the UAE after watching videos of their previous games, which led them to believe the Middle East nation’s batting was brittle.
“We were basically waiting for them to get themselves out, but that wasn’t the case,” he conceded. “They actually hit the ball really well down the ground and they hit the ball long.”
Williams admitted the tension got to him when Zimbabwe were in the shaky position of 167-5 in the 33rd over. “I could feel it out there,” he said. “I tried not to show it. I tried to breathe, relax and hit the ball down the ground and stick to what we’d been [doing in] training and it ended up paying off.”
But the left-handed batsman, who has a deft reverse-sweep in his armoury, said the gap between Associate or junior nations such as the UAE and Test-playing countries was closing. “If any team gets all three departments [batting, bowling and fielding] right on its day, it will drag a top team right to the end,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2015.