Cricinfo - Streak, Rackemann confident of better showing

The Zimbabwe cricket team stepped up their preparations for the Second Test against India at the match venue with both the captain Heath Streak and coach Carl Rackemann confident that the side will put up a more polished performance than they did in the First Test.

The side had extensive practice in the nets with the ball and bat, and also did a lot of fielding practice. Zimbabwe batted woefully in the first innings of the Queen's Test and were dismissed for a mere 173, a record low for the venue. The bowlers then struggled with the Indian tail, resulting in the tourists taking a commanding 145-run lead. India went on to win the match by eight wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match Zimbabwe Sun series.

It was India's first away win in 15 years and also their first Test win in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe lost two frontline bowlers, Streak and Henry Olonga, a last-minute replacement for Travis Friend, in the match and had only three bowlers for India's second innings.

Streak and Friend are back in the squad for the Second Test. Streak was confident that he would be in a position to play. "I am giving it one more day of rest before I go flat out in the nets. It should be fine. Our physiotherapist (Amato Machikicho) is quietly confident and I also had an orthopedic surgeon have a look at it in Bulawayo and he was pretty certain that it should be fine."

Streak added that Friend had responded well to treatment after suffering a muscle strain, which forced him to pull out of the Bulawayo Test on the eve of the opening day.

"Friend looks good. He was in the nets today and he is bowling with some good pace. It looks as though he is fully fit for the game. Hopefully he wakes up tomorrow feeling good and we won't have a similar problem like we had in Bulawayo."

Streak said that although they have always played under pressure, this time they were under more pressure to try and level the series. "Being 1-0 down, we are under more pressure to try and pull it back. We realized where we had our downfall and the guys are working very hard in the nets to try and rectify that. We batted badly in the first innings. We hope to put it right in this Test and we are ready to go."

The Zimbabwe captain felt that they could have restricted India to a smaller first-innings total than the 318 they made. India had slumped to 178 for six after the dismissal of leading batsman Sachin Tendulkar in the 53rd over. But they were allowed to bat for another 36 overs in which spinner Harbhajan Singh, coming in at number nine, made his highest Test score of 66. It was India's second highest contribution after the 74 by Tendulkar.

"Obviously we always realized that their top order was the danger and we really worked hard but I think that the loss of Henry Olonga put an extra load of work on the bowlers. We let Harbhajan Singh get away with a bit more than we should have, which allowed their tail to wag. Hopefully we won't let that happen again with a better balanced side, without any injuries."

Rackemann was impressed with his side's preparations. "Firstly these practice wickets are the best I have seen them and that's a good start for us. And our worries were the injuries. Henry is going to be out but Heath (Streak) is coming back. Travis Friend has had a good bowling session today and he looks good.

"So we look like going into the Test without any injury or fitness worries. Skillwise today has been a very good day in batting, bowling and fielding. On Thursday we will spent a little bit of time talking about the game and the last match in Bulawayo. Our first innings batting is high on the list of the things to be discussed. It won't be as physically demanding, especially for the bowlers playing in the match."

The Australian coach said that they had learnt a lesson from the Bulawayo Test. "I think the batting in the first innings was filled with poor shot selection, playing a wrong shot to the wrong ball and lacking patience while at the crease and we were also not positive. We are going to address that. In the second Test we have to bat like we did in the second innings at Queen's in both innings."

Rackemann was also disappointed with the way Harbhajan Singh was allowed to score his 66 from 125 balls, hitting 10 fours and a six. "Principally Harbhajan Singh was the man who did most of the damage and we have to make sure that it does not happen again. We will have to bowl differently to him than the way we did in Bulawayo and make sure that there is no repeat of that."

Streak, Rackemann confident of better showing