Captain Graeme Cremer happy with Zimbabwe's fightback
Zimbabwe Test captain Graeme Cremer praised his side for their comeback in the second Test and admitted he was happy to see his players learn. Although Zimbabwe lost the Test series 2-0 to New Zealand, they performed much better in the second Test, which they eventually lost on the final day.
"When you don't play enough cricket you can come into a Test match and be shell-shocked and that's what happened," Cremer said. "I knew guys were going to fight back."
After losing the first Test by an innings and 117 runs, things looked bleak for the hosts. But on the back of an impressive second innings showing in that Test, they rallied and posted a good total in the second Test.
Craig Ervine was arguably their best performer as he scored a fifty in the first Test before going on to score his career-best score in the second. Although they were bowled out for 132 in the fifth day, the progress was evident.
"It was good to see the guys learn and willing to get stuck in. For two of the guys to get hundreds was excellent," he said. "And then Donald, with bat and ball looked like he had been playing for a couple of years now. He is one of the guys that really put up his hand. Prince also showed he can play. Our younger guys just need that little bit of confidence."
Zimbabwe's bowling was their weakest link but Cremer was quick to defend his attack as they were playing on helpless surfaces in which even the Kiwis struggled to get 20 wickets.
"The bowlers worked hard. When we prepared a wicket like that, we knew it was going to be tough to take 20 wickets and they've got a good batting line-up that a lot of teams would struggle to get wickets against so credit to our guys for working hard," he said.
While Cremer was impressed with the progression, he still feels they need to play more.
"There are a lot of people in the system now who have realised that we need to play more cricket," he said. "We are heading in the right direction, if we can keep getting a lot more cricket. We are getting some A team tours and our first-class structure is going to be a lot longer."
Unfortunately for Cremer, Zimbabwe's immediate Test future remains uncertain as they are not due to tour any country in the next year and even the series against Sri Lanka, which will take place later this year, might not include Tests.