Zimbabwe will take on Canada in their second game of the 2011 ICC World Cup at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Monday, February 28. This Group A encounter will be a day game and is an important game for both the sides.
Both Canada and Zimbabwe lost their opening games against Sri Lanka and Australia respectively. Canada lost by a huge margin of 210 runs, while Zimbabwe were a little better in their game, losing by 91 runs.
This is a great chance for Zimbabwe to open their account in this World Cup. They were brilliant while bowling in the last game. The spinners maintained a leash on the Australian middle order and their only fast bowler, Chris Mpofu was among the wickets. Their strategy to go with three specialist spinners is a sound one and they will trouble a few teams in this tournament. But the lack of a specialist fifth bowler will hurt them.
Zimbabwe’s batting, though, leaves a lot to be desired. They lack a batsman who can graft and hold the innings together. Elton Chigumbura can hit them at the end but they need a top order batsman to bat long enough. Brendon Taylor and Charles Coventry need to do that in this game against a weak bowling attack.
Canada will be hoping to cause an upset in this game but they lack someone who can produce a star act. Jon Davison is capable of doing that but he has grown too old and tries too many attacking shots early on. But the man to watch out for would be Rizwan Cheema, who was fantastic in the warm up game against England and played well in the last game against Sri Lanka.
Zimbabwe will start as the favorites but Canada could be a banana skin if they are not handled warily.