Bulawayo [Zimbabwe]: Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine admitted that his players are gutted after they failed to clinch the World Cup 2023 spot following their defeat against Scotland in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
Zimbabwe’s back-to-back defeats against Scotland and Sri Lanka. Ervine admitted that they did well with the ball but Chris Sole’s first two overs played a major role in unsettling the entire Zimbabwe batting line-up. “I thought we did well to restrict them to 230. But that first spell from Sole put us in a difficult position and we could not recover. We have played some good cricket through the tournament but fell short today. We had done really well and had we finished better (with the ball) then we would have been chasing 210.
Everybody is gutted, it is always nice to put the demons from 2018 behind us and had we won today, nobody would have been asking about that but unfortunately, we didn’t,” Ervine said in the post-match presentation.
Even after their failure to seal a spot for the World Cup 2023, Ervine was still proud of his team for the performances they pulled off throughout the tournament. He specifically pointed out Sean Williams for his exceptional efforts with the bat as well as the ball.
“I am extremely proud of the way boys have played right through the tournament, Williams has been fantastic and we can take a lot of positives away. We are really thankful for the crowd that has come and supported us, cricket has changed in the last year or so and that is because of the way we are playing. We are playing an exciting brand of cricket and that is the reason the crowd are coming out to support us,” Ervine signed off.
While Zimbabwe’s hope ended, Scotland received a major boost as they continue their hunt for the final spot. The Netherlands-Scotland match on Thursday becomes a virtual eliminator with the winner booking their spot alongside Sri Lanka for Cricket World Cup 2023.
