The Sunday News
Senior Sports Reporter
MATABELELAND Tuskers coach is looking for a better display from his team when they take on Mountaineers in a four-day Logan Cup cricket fixture which gets under way at Mutare Sports Club this morning. The year 2015 has not been a great one so far for the Bulawayo-based franchise in the longer version of the game with two heavy losses in a row, at home against MidWest Rhinos and away to Mashonaland Eagles. With three of their star players, Sean Williams, Craig Ervine and Tawanda Mupariwa away with the national team for the Cricket World Cup, things have been tough for Tuskers this year.
Having occupied top spot for most of the season, their latest defeats have seen them drop to second on the log with 17 points while Rhinos now lead the four-team log standings with 20 points.
With four fixtures remaining for Tuskers in the Logan Cup, James is optimistic things will come right for his side. He has challenged his batsmen to come to the party and produce the much needed runs.
“We have lost three players who are at the World Cup, our remaining batsmen are not producing the goods. We are working hard on that, we can only take it game by game, we are going to Mutare with high hopes, we are not too far ahead of ourselves,’’ said James.
Tuskers were hit by indiscipline ahead of their trip when opening batsman Bonaparte Mujuru failed to travel to Harare because he allegedly had too much to drink the previous night and could not wake up on time to catch the team bus. As a result, youngster Tafara Mupariwa was called up as Mujuru’s replacement in the squad for the game against Eagles.
