Cricket Coach Dave Houghton Urges His “Army” To ...

Cricket Coach Dave Houghton Urges His “Army” To Dream Big"

I won't take credit for Chevrons transformation' | The Herald — Dave Houghton

As Zimbabwe faces South Africa on Monday in Group 2 of the Super 12 stage of the men’s T20 World Cup ongoing in Australia, coach Dave Houghton has called on his charges to “dream big.”

The Chevrons, who are playing their first global tournament for six years, have won nine of their past 11 Twenty20 internationals.

Houghton said, "We wanted to get into the Super 12 and play against the big sides again. Now that we are here, we want to beat them. Nothing will be better for me than to start off in our next game and beat the South Africans.

After finishing top of a first-round group in Australia which also included the West Indies and Ireland, Zimbabwe - who are 11th in the T20 world rankings - will also face India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Netherlands in the Super 12.

"Our job is to knock over some of these big sides. We are playing pretty good cricket. The pressure is not so much on us but on the sides who play against us. These are big sides that we're playing against.

"I'm hoping that we can come out and take a few scalps with us. I'm also hoping they can finish in the top eight [of the tournament]."

If the Chevrons can finish in the top four in their group, it means they will go straight into the Super 12 stage at the next T20 World Cup, which will be held in the West Indies and the United States in 2024.

"What you really want to do is try and make sure you don't have to play in qualifiers as often as you can. For us to do that we need to finish in the top eight.

"These qualification things are right on the edge; win and we stay, lose and we go home. It was a very, very pressurised game against Scotland. My bags (were) packed because we'd have been straight on the plane if we lost.

"The only thing we needed in that chase was to keep our heads. The captain (Ervine) played a really sound innings and Raza contributed, as he does in just about every game for us, but I wasn't really settled until we'd got over the line."