Tatenda Taibu: Zim U19s at the World Cup

Tatenda Taibu, the Under-19 captain was disappointed that Zimbabwe failed to make it to the Super League stage of the World Cup in New Zealand. He talks about the tournament.

It was a very good experience for most of the guys since we had a fairly young side. For me it was my second World Cup, having made the team for the 2000 tournament in Sri Lanka where we lost to South Africa in the semi-final of the Plate Championship.

The problem we had in New Zealand was that when faced with sides from Test-playing nations like Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the young guys never picked themselves up. We had just four or five guys who were experienced, with the rest of the team having only played schools cricket and maybe one or two matches for club cricket. But then I would like to say we are improving and from the first match to the last our graph was always going up.

We were in a group that contained New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Namibia. New Zealand were quite strong and they played some good cricket. We had a chance against Sri Lanka but we failed to take it. I thought we were favoured to beat Sri Lanka after their defeat to Namibia but then we were not strong enough to pin them down. As a result we failed to make the Super League stage.

Winning the Plate Championship was definitely not the best we could do in the tournament. I think we had the team to go far in the World Cup and it was all about us believing that we could do it but, unfortunately, a number of our guys didn't have that self-belief. I thought we were even better than a couple of teams who made the Super League, but it was up to the senior players in our team to pick the juniors up and that didn't happen.

I was able to play four roles in the tournament (captaincy, wicketkeeper, bowler and top-order batsman) and I would really want to thank my team for their support in this. They really backed me to do it. I never had any trouble with the guys in the field and they believed I could do it. I wasn't under pressure at all because of the support I had.

It's always an option for me to bowl in the middle period where, as a team, you don't need to lose any wicket. I was bowling tight, given that it's the period when batsmen try to score around five or six an over. In most matches I was able to keep it at two or three an over and that put them under pressure and it gave us wickets.

I am really happy to have been named the player of the tournament. I am happy it came to Zimbabwe ahead of the likes of Australia, South Africa and the West Indies and I hope it will inspire other youngsters. In the beginning I wasn't aware that I was in the running for the award. A couple of guys from the team told me that I was leading the race for the award just before our Plate Championship semi-final. I just tried to play to my best ability.

I know I can play and I just went there believing that I could play, believing that I could lift the World Cup. That was the main aim. At the same time I had a goal to score two centuries. It didn't happen but I was quite close and I had a number of not outs which was good. Actually I was aiming for the man-of-the-match award in every game that we played. I wanted to lead by example, lead from the front and I was the man-of-the-match twice and I also came second on three occasions.

Throughout the tournament we were like a family and everyone enjoyed each other's company. I am really thankful to our two coaches, Steve Rhodes and Steve Mangongo. They really helped us through. They taught us a lot of things on and off the field. Their practice sessions were very short and up to scratch. I was really impressed with everything they did.

I was also very happy to have been named in the team for India. I am really looking forward to it. It's always great experience being part of the national team and I hope to play better this time.

I played some matches in Sri Lanka before the World Cup and it was very difficult. The Sri Lankans play very well at home. I played a couple of games and I didn't do well with the bat and that's why I am saying that I have to pick myself up in India, try to forget about Sri Lanka and continue from where I left off in New Zealand.