Welcome to the forum Utseyalitharan. It's good to have new members interested in Zimbabwe cricket. I think we all need to be patient while the Zimbabwe team is rebuilding. You can see how young and inexperienced this team is:
Code:
Vusimuzi Sibanda 22y - 41 ODIs
Tafadzwa Mufambisi 19y - 3 ODIs
Chamu Chibhabha 20y - 11 ODIs
Hamilton Masakadza 23y - 28 ODIs
Brendan Taylor 20y - 49 ODIs
Stuart Matsikenyeri 23y - 52 ODIs
Elton Chigumbura 20y - 40 ODIs
Piet Rinke 24y - 16 ODIs
Prosper Utseya 21y - 46 ODIs
Anthony Ireland 22y - 16 ODIs
Ed Rainsford 21y - 17 ODIs
Compare that to the Zimbabwe team that played in the last World Cup:
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Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
AM Blignaut 23 20 3 368 63* 21.64 109.19 - 4 5 -
ADR Campbell 188 184 14 5185 131* 30.50 66.19 7 30 76 -
DD Ebrahim 43 40 2 785 121 20.65 59.42 1 1 6 -
SM Ervine 16 13 3 192 61* 19.20 90.56 - 1 1 -
A Flower 213 208 16 6786 145 35.34 74.60 4 55 141 32
GW Flower 199 194 16 5986 142* 33.62 67.82 6 35 76 -
TJ Friend 40 29 5 416 91 17.33 78.63 - 2 13 -
Douglas T Hondo 21 10 5 40 15* 8.00 45.97 - - 4 -
DA Marillier 40 34 4 460 56* 15.33 72.32 - 2 10 -
S Matsikenyeri 3 3 1 2 1* 1.00 25.00 - - - -
BA Murphy 31 17 8 72 20* 8.00 55.38 - - 11 -
HK Olonga 50 27 14 95 31 7.30 58.28 - - 13 -
HH Streak 157 130 45 2132 79* 25.08 76.55 - 7 37 -
T Taibu 28 21 9 246 53 20.50 59.85 - 1 19 2
MA Vermeulen 10 10 2 258 79 32.25 68.80 - 2 3 -
GJ Whittall 147 142 22 2705 83 22.54 67.43 - 11 36 -
CB Wishart 80 72 7 1576 172* 24.24 71.70 2 4 24 -
Despite all the experience Zimbabwe had going into the last WC they only managed to beat Namibia and the Netherlands. The current team has even less experience so their prospects in the next WC aren't good. Matsikenyeri is the only player from the previous WC in the current team. I think Zimbabwe will be better prepared for the 2011 WC if the majority of the current team can improve and keep gaining experience. Zimbabwe have just 4 guaranteed ODIs left before the WC. They have one more in this series against South Africa. Then they have three guaranteed games in the ICC Champions Trophy. They would need to finish in the top two in the qualifying group to play more matches in the tournament.
It's not surprising that SA have won this series given their experience: HH Dippenaar, JH Kallis, MV Boucher, SM Pollock, RJ Peterson, AJ Hall, and M Ntini all played in the last World Cup. Zimbabwe are on a steep learning curve at the moment and I dare say many of their players will be overawed when playing against opposition like South Africa. If Zimbabwe can keep this squad together they could have a number of players with 100+ ODIs going into the 2011 WC.