Staff Writer 
By Sandra Hove
BULAWAYO mayor David Coltart says the way South Africa’s cricket team, the Proteas, humbled England on home soil, with 175 balls to spare, puts the Chevron’s defeat to their Southern neighbours into perspective.
The Chevrons failed to register a single victory in their four matches, losing twice each to South Africa and New Zealand during a tri-series hosted by Zimbabwe in July, sparking outrage from cricket stakeholders.
One of the fiercest critics of the team’s dismal performance was Coltart. The former Sports minister attributed Zimbabwe’s defeats to poor and biased team selection.
“There needs to be a major rethink within Zimbabwe Cricket. If we don’t select our strongest teams we should not be surprised if we continue to perform below our potential. If the selectors won’t change then they must be changed,” said Coltart then.
But after watching South Africa bowl England out for just 131, which is their second-lowest score vs the Proteas at home, before eventually sealing victory with 175 balls to spare in what is the quickest-run chase at the venue, Coltart has changed his tune.
“The @ProteasMenCSA performance today against @englandcricket does put @ZimCricket performance recently into perspective. “Obviously, whilst this Proteas side is more powerful than the one which played #Zimbabwe it must give us some heart,” tweeted Coltart.
After the tri-series loss, ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani defended the strategy to expose the Chevrons to top-class competition. A defiant Mukuhlani insisted that the Chevrons would continue testing themselves against the best cricket playing nations.
“So we could choose to go and play Afghanistan continuously, Ireland continuously, and post wins. But given where we were coming from, it was important that we challenge ourselves. We give the boys the best opportunity to progress, and you can only do that when you play those who are better than you.
“That is why you’ve seen we’ve gone out to play Bangladesh, we’ve gone to play England, we’ve gone to play South Africa, we’ve gone to play New Zealand, and Sri Lanka is coming in a matter of weeks, two weeks, they’ll be here. So as to get our boys to play the best in the world, and compete with the best, so that they can improve,” Mukuhlani said.
