The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE might have come out second best in the just concluded five-match One Day International cricket series against Afghanistan but one major positive to come out of the contest was Christopher Mpofu’s bowling.
Mpofu ended as the series leading wicket taker with 12 wickets, in 40 overs bowled, at an average of 15.91, economy rate of 4.67 with a best of three for 24 in the third ODI.
The lanky fast bowler won the match of the match accolade in the fourth match which saw Zimbabwe win by seven wickets to level the series 2-2. He picked three for 25 in that match from 7.5 overs bowled, two of them not going for any runs.
The veteran seamer described the contest against Afghanistan as the best he has ever had in a while.
“The series was one of the best I have had in quite a long time, coming from what I have been through, no injuries, not making it into the team and coming back and doing quite well the way I did being the leading wicket taker for the team and for the whole series, it takes courage,’’ said Mpofu.
Having been out of the team in the last few years which saw him even miss out on selection for the 2015 Cricket World Cup staged in Australia and New Zealand, Mpofu does not think that he has altered a lot in his game. He speaks more on belief and not being afraid when he is bowling.
“It’s not a lot that I have changed, the work ethic and I can talk about belief, my faith, whatever I do I have learnt to back myself up and I say I am going for this, whatever decision I have been making I haven’t been scared to follow it or go after it. A long time ago I was scared to back myself now I don’t care, there are two things in life; to lose or to win, at the moment I just decided to win, that’s the one thing I have been working on,’’ Mpofu said.
He won himself $600, $200 for the man of the match in the fourth ODI and $400 he collected for being voted as the best player for Zimbabwe in the series.
Mpofu pointed out that he had set himself a target of seven to eight wickets with anything more than that being a bonus. As he was used as first change in the bowling attack, with Tendai Chatara and Richard Ngarava sharing the new ball, Mpofu also looked to keep his economy rate at less than five runs an over, something he successfully achieved.
However, Mpofu is still in contention with the likes of retired Mpumelelo Mbangwa for the worst batsman ever in international cricket as his average in ODIs is 2.30, 3.50 for Tests and 6.50 in Twenty20 Internationals. Nonetheless, he is not perturbed by that since his biggest task is to take wickets for Zimbabwe.
“If you look at this series against Afghanistan, you can never come to me and put the blame on me and say I didn’t bat well, if the batsmen couldn’t handle it I don’t think I could have done anything better than that. I am not really worried about my batting for this series because I believe for the past one year my batting has improved tremendously,’’ Mpofu reckons.
On the series loss to Afghanistan, Mpofu believes that there is no player who heads out to the field to purposefully lose.
He urged Zimbabweans to loom on the brighter side when it comes to the series against Afghanistan since there are certain aspects of the game in which they excelled.
“I don’t think there is any player who goes in there and loses on purpose, people have to also look on the brighter side, what did we do well, what didn’t we do, I believe that sometimes people criticise on the negative side, we do understand and we are sorry that we lost the series, at the end of the day us as players we go back and say guys there is this that we did, there are a few teams that would come back from two zero and level the series and go to the final day at two all, so it’s one of those things, but there are a lot of challenges that we are facing as a team to win more games,’’ said Mpofu.
Just like coach Heath Streak and captain Graeme Cremer, Mpofu feels they have to play more matches in order to improve as a team. He gave the example of Afghanistan who have headed to their base in India to play more matches, while for Zimbabwe the only confirmed next assignment is the trip to Sri Lanka in June.
“As a team we are working hard to win more games, like now we are playing a series and we are playing in three months time so people have to look on that side if we can manage to get more games we become a better team.
“Look at Afghanistan that they are talking about, they are going to India to play more games, the more you play as much as people are criticising say its Afghanistan but Afghanistan are improving also as a team, that’s one thing you have to look at and say are we the worst or the team that we played is also improving,’’ Mpofu pointed out.
On any plans to retire from the game, the 31-year-old said he was feeling on top of his game and has no intentions to call it quits from the game.
“As long as I can, I am not even thinking of retiring, I still got a long way to go, as long as my body is willing, my spirit is willing, this is just the beginning for me, if I am getting better now why should I be thinking of whatever is going on, only God knows I am not going to be making plans, I am going on long as I can,’’ Mpofu said.
There was no rest for Mpofu as, after spending a few days in Bulawayo, he is back in the capital with his provincial side, Bulawayo Metropolitan Tuskers for a four-day Logan Cup first class encounter against Harare Metropolitan Eagles which got underway yesterday.
As he is back on top of his game, “Magwegwe Express” continues to impart some of the knowledge and skill he has acquired over the years to the next generation of Zimbabwe international cricketers.
@Mdawini_29
