via ALISTAIR CAMPBELL: Future of Zimbabwe cricketers lie in their hands | News | ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 15 March 2015
Before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 began, it would have been hard to imagine a scenario in which anyone involved with Zimbabwe Cricket could have found anything to be pleased about with winning just one out of six games in the Group stage. And it is very, very disappointing.
When coach Dav Whatmore spoke about his goal of reaching the quarterfinals, we believed it was a reality. It was not the bluster of a desperate team, we could see it happening.
I played too much cricket in my life to fall back now on ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ so, like the players, I will accept that we were not good enough. One win in six matches. Immense disappointment.
As Zimbabweans we can be excused for wondering what we did to upset the cricketing gods. As much as we all know that a 50-over ODI is rarely decided by a single moment, ‘the’ boundary catch may have been just such an occasion. As a Test nation playing Ireland, we must admit it should never have been that close. But it was, and the decision went against us. Sean Williams looked like winning the game, but so be it.
I must add my apologies to those of Brendan Taylor and the rest of the squad for the deeply unpleasant article written in the ‘Herald’ newspaper questioning John Mooney’s character in claiming the catch. You do the best you can as a player and leave the officiating to the officials. It was, in no way, representative of the feelings of the players or Zimbabwe Cricket.The final game against India gave us reason to smile and feel proud, even though it ended with another defeat. There was an enormous amount of emotion generated by Brendan’s decision to spend the next three years of his career playing county cricket for Nottinghamshire and, of course, he will be greatly missed.
COMMENTS
I for one thoroughly enjoyed watching Zimbabwe come so close, all the while playing some attractive cricket. The Pakistan game could easily have gone the other way too, the Pakistan seamers showing just how good they were in beating South Africa in similar fashion shortly afterwards.
Good on ya Zim boys and continue to make us proud, you have done well despite the very difficult circumstances under which you live and play!