Bowlers did really well to pull things back: Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine after win over Nepal
Jun 18, 2023
Harare [Zimbabwe], June 18 : Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine, who played a match-winning knock of 121 runs, praised his bowlers and believed that the Nepal batter would have posted a score of 340 but the bowlers did really well to pull things back in their favour.
Brilliant unbeaten centuries from Ervine and Sean Williams help Zimbabwe begin their ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2023 campaign on a winning note as the duo powered hosts to 8 wicket win over Nepal here at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.
The veteran duo of Ervine and Williams put on a 164 partnership in just 125 balls to take Zimbabwe to a remarkable victory in the World Cup Qualifiers. Ervine scored 121 off 128, while Williams hit 102 off 70.
"Feel pretty ecstatic, we knew it was a decent wicket to bat on so it was about giving ourselves a chance. It's been really good, leading up to this and scoring some runs, hopefully, I can continue like this. As a team we always like to dominate batting second," Craig Ervine said in a post-match presentation.
"You look all around the wicket, from the 10 over mark to the 40 over the mark, there are 5 fielders in the ring so there are always boundary options. I thought we were staring down the barrel of 340 but I thought our bowlers did really well to pull things back. I thought 290 was below par," he added.
Even though they registered a dominating 8-wicket victory over Nepal, Ervine said that they did not start well and believed that the score of 280-290 would be chaseable because the wicket looked very nice.
"We didn't start really well, dropping a couple of catches cost us but credit to the guys for pulling it back. We thought that 280-290 would be chaseable because the wicket looked very nice. We thought there would be a little bit more movement early on but the wicket played really well today. The conditions were very good, their openers batted really well but we didn't take our early chances," Ervine said.
Praising the opposition Credit to them, Ervine said, "They put us under pressure in the early part of their innings. We were just trying to break down into small chunks during the chase, just trying to concentrate on where the gaps are and what the bowlers are trying to do. I think it's well played today, rest day tomorrow and a quick turnaround when we play the Netherlands next on Tuesday."
