. . . Williams rues soft dismissals
Fiona Ruzha
Zimbabwe Test captain Sean Williams yesterday took a swipe at the senior batsmen for failing to compliment a solid start by openers Prince Masvaure (55) and debutant Kevin Kasuza (63) as the team lost wickets in clusters in soft dismissals.
Craig Ervine, who reached a milestone getting to 1000 Test runs, was the only success story of the senior batsmen scoring 85 before he was clean bowled by Suranga Lakmal.
The rest of the experienced players got some positive stats but could not convert them into big scores. Brendan Taylor (21), Williams (18), Sikandar Raza (41) all perished before settling long enough to make an impression.
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“We are moving in the right direction and we are showing signs which is good to see but again it’s soft wicket which keeps on falling with Regis having a terrible shot and Raza.
“It is not good enough for my standard and for the nation as well and that’s not what we want as a team.
“We want big scores and big first innings totals, and Brandon and myself we need to start following through,” said Williams.
At stumps, Sri Lanka were 42-1 after 14 overs in the first innings responding to Zimbabwe’s 358.
Earlier in the day, Zimbabwe, 189-2 on day one, added 169 runs to their overnight score before being all out after 148 overs.
Williams said there was need to step up though it was a good total.
“I think it’s a good total and we are able to bowl it through though it took us a long time to get the total.
“However, the younger guys are trying very hard and I think trying too hard sometimes could be a problem.
“So they need to relax, get in the moment and enjoy it and we will be fully supporting them but we need to step up,” he said.
– HMETRO
