CANBERRA: Zimbabwe believe the guile of coach Dav Whatmore can help them spring a World Cup upset by beating the West Indies, senior batsman Hamilton Masakadza said on Monday.

Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup title and has also been in charge of Bangladesh and Pakistan, was only appointed to the Zimbabwe job six weeks before the World Cup.

However, Masakadza said he had made an immediate mark upon the team.

“The coach has had a very big impact for us. He’s changed a couple of things and he’s really got the guys going in a certain direction, and that’s been working really well for us,” Masakadza said.

“I think the atmosphere within the team has been really good now. The guys are really working hard and the guys are very focused.

“The guys are really looking forward to this World Cup, and I think even beyond this World Cup, we’re expecting a lot of good things to happen, because we’ve had a few problems in the past with administration and things like that,” he added.

“I think that’s also getting better. Guys are a little bit more focused on the actual cricket and giving the cricket side a little bit more of what they need.

“I think looking forward and going ahead, I think things are looking up.”

“The coach got quite a bit of information yesterday [Sunday] when we got here, so we basically have a really good idea what it’s going to be like out there,” the batsman said.

“I think it’s going to be really important to start off well, both with our batting and our bowling, because I think their top order is very dangerous.”

Published in Dawn February 24th , 2015

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