zimcricketnews.com

Zimbabwe's circkets leave for India today, ahead of the Champions Trophy qualifying round. Speaking to The Herald, coach Kevin Curran has stated that Zim need to be batting consistently in the 250-270 region if they're to have any chance of progressing to the main stage of the tournament:

"It’s obviously a tough challenge given that we are going to play West Indies and Sri Lanka who have both been performing well and are also ranked above us. We should average at least 250 to 270 runs and that also needs good fielding and batting from some individuals but we are likely to face difficulties from both West Indies and Sri Lanka. West Indies have been playing good cricket of late and they have just come from beating Australia and a team coming from such a position would be hoping to maintain the good grade.

There is always a possibility that we could progress to the next round and we can definitely beat Bangladesh — we just won a series against them recently. If we get one or two individual performances on both the fielding and batting sides then we should be okay."

It's the bowling and fielding that worry me at the moment, frankly, which is a bit of a turnaround from the usual position when Zimbabwe play. Fast bowler Tawanda Mupariwa still has injury issues, which is also a worry.

Zim's first game is against the West Indies, a match that Zim need to win if they're to have a chance of progressing.
The Herald - Curran sets average runs for Zim