Nigeria Content Online

Zimbabwe’s biggest
challenge in their next World Cup game against Sri Lanka is simply
batting the first 15 overs without giving away too many wickets,
according to their captain on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe will play
against co-hosts Sri Lanka on Thursday in Kandy looking for a surprise
victory after losing to New Zealand and Australia.

They beat fellow non-test playing Canada despite falling to 2-7 halfway through the third over.

“The biggest challenge is the first 15 overs,” Elton Chigumbura told a news conference.

“We haven’t done
well so far. So obviously it is to go through the first 15 overs. The
first 15 (overs) have been the most disappointing part for all our
games we have played so far.” In their tournament matches against
test-playing nations, Kenya were 4-44 inside 13 overs taking on
Australia and 5-46 inside 15 against New Zealand.

Chigumbura’s team
will face Sri Lanka’s in-form fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who captured
six wickets including a hat-trick in the match against Kenya, and the
game’s most successful wicket-taker, spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

“It is a big
challenge. Most of their bowlers are match winners. So we have been
working on our plan to see if we can keep our wickets in the first 15
overs,” said Chigumbura.

Zimbabwe’s chances
of qualifying for the quarter-finals rely on them beating Sri Lanka and
Pakistan (March 14) before taking on Kenya on March 20.

“If we correct our batting, my bowlers have a chance of defending a score of over 260.”