Shah owes his livelihood to driving a taxi in Hamilton, but he owes his loyalty to Afghanistan. And he reckons the World Cup could have had a thing coming.
“Scotland have been playing good cricket, so I don’t know if we will beat them,” he said yesterday, as his cab sped along the road that weaves through farmland to connect Hamilton’s airport to the sleepy city in the Waikato region of New Zealand’s north island.
“But Zimbabwe! If we were in the same group we could have beaten Zimbabwe – just like we did before.”
Yes. And no. Afghanistan won two one-day internationals against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo last July. But only after the home side had won the first two.
Shift the paradigm and it is clear why South Africa will have an unusually confident Zimbabwean team on their hands in their World Cup clash at Seddon Park on Sunday.
The sides have met in 36 completed ODIs, of which South Africa have won 34 – a truth that will be far removed from the Zimbabweans’ minds. Instead, the Zimbabweans will be focused on those two lonely victories. That the most recent of them was achieved 15 years ago and by a far stronger team will matter far less to them than the fact that their first win over South Africa was earned at a World Cup, in 1999.
“We’ve done it before,” they will tell themselves. “We can do it again.”
It’s a decent enough theory if the idea is to put a spring in the step of a team heading over the boundary and onto the field, but putting it into practice will take a leap of faith. The complication for South Africa is that their opponents on Sunday, no doubt infected by new coach Dav Whatmore’s enthusiasm, may have done exactly that.
Zimbabwe have not lost any of the five games they have played in New Zealand since February 2. They reeled off three victories against Northern Districts and when their World Cup warm-up against New Zealand on Monday was washed out the home side had been reduced to 157/7.
In another warm-up on Wednesday, Zimbabwe chased down a target of 280 to beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets.
South Africa, by contrast, had to find a way past the eight-ball to beat Sri Lanka by five wickets on Monday. Two days later, they crashed to New Zealand by 134 runs.
AB de Villiers missed the first of those games with a hip injury while Dale Steyn was rested for the second, in which Hashim Amla did not bat. But South Africa’s excuses run out right there.
Meanwhile, the same New Zealand top four who took 217 runs off South Africa’s attack could score only 125 against Zimbabwe – 100 of them by Martin Guptill.
Results of warm-up games are, as SA have protested, irrelevant. But that does not hide the fact that they have played shoddy cricket for much of their two games. Not so Zimbabwe. South Africa should beat them, but there’s a taxi driver somewhere who thinks otherwise.
SA to face confident Zimbabwe
“Scotland have been playing good cricket, so I don’t know if we will beat them,” he said yesterday, as his cab sped along the road that weaves through farmland to connect Hamilton’s airport to the sleepy city in the Waikato region of New Zealand’s north island.
“But Zimbabwe! If we were in the same group we could have beaten Zimbabwe – just like we did before.”
Yes. And no. Afghanistan won two one-day internationals against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo last July. But only after the home side had won the first two.
Shift the paradigm and it is clear why South Africa will have an unusually confident Zimbabwean team on their hands in their World Cup clash at Seddon Park on Sunday.
The sides have met in 36 completed ODIs, of which South Africa have won 34 – a truth that will be far removed from the Zimbabweans’ minds. Instead, the Zimbabweans will be focused on those two lonely victories. That the most recent of them was achieved 15 years ago and by a far stronger team will matter far less to them than the fact that their first win over South Africa was earned at a World Cup, in 1999.
“We’ve done it before,” they will tell themselves. “We can do it again.”
It’s a decent enough theory if the idea is to put a spring in the step of a team heading over the boundary and onto the field, but putting it into practice will take a leap of faith. The complication for South Africa is that their opponents on Sunday, no doubt infected by new coach Dav Whatmore’s enthusiasm, may have done exactly that.
Zimbabwe have not lost any of the five games they have played in New Zealand since February 2. They reeled off three victories against Northern Districts and when their World Cup warm-up against New Zealand on Monday was washed out the home side had been reduced to 157/7.
In another warm-up on Wednesday, Zimbabwe chased down a target of 280 to beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets.
South Africa, by contrast, had to find a way past the eight-ball to beat Sri Lanka by five wickets on Monday. Two days later, they crashed to New Zealand by 134 runs.
AB de Villiers missed the first of those games with a hip injury while Dale Steyn was rested for the second, in which Hashim Amla did not bat. But South Africa’s excuses run out right there.
Meanwhile, the same New Zealand top four who took 217 runs off South Africa’s attack could score only 125 against Zimbabwe – 100 of them by Martin Guptill.
Results of warm-up games are, as SA have protested, irrelevant. But that does not hide the fact that they have played shoddy cricket for much of their two games. Not so Zimbabwe. South Africa should beat them, but there’s a taxi driver somewhere who thinks otherwise.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos