Leading Cricket Team a Big Challenge – Zimbabwe Captain

Captain of the Zimbabwe cricket team, Prosper Ulseya, says leading his team has been a “big challenge” during the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 but, he has received much support from the team.
“As a youngster, I am still learning and I am trying to get as much help as I can from the senior players, the coach and the other captains as well,” he said at a press conference, following his defeat by the West Indies yesterday (March 19) at Sabina Park.
Mr. Ulseya, who celebrates his 22nd birthday on March 26, also sought to dismiss concern that the political turmoil in his home country was affecting the performance of the team. “The guys are just trying to concentrate on the game,” he said.
“It would have been nice to get a win to put us in a better position, but I thought the guys played well, which is good. We just need to get that in our next game,” he said, contemplating the chances of the team still qualifying for the next stage of the tournament.
“We just have to work on our game to make sure we get our game together when we play Pakistan. We just have to give it our best shot,” he added. This match will be played on March 21.
Meanwhile, Coach of the West Indies, Bennett King commended Zimbabwe for the resilience shown during the match. “We knew that Zimbabwe would be tough, because when they came over here [a few years ago], we had some struggles against them when we beat them five nil,” he said.
“I think Kevin Curran [coach of the team], has done a wonderful job with that side in adverse conditions and the players stuck to their game, so credit is due. They fought really hard and we have to give ourselves a pat on the back for how our Captain stood up today,” Mr. Bennett said.
Commenting on the game, Man of the Match, Sean Williams, who made 70 runs not out, said that the West Indies bowling attack was formidable.
“I think that we should have scored a few more runs. We lost too many early wickets, so it was kind of tough on the batsmen coming in lower down the order to actually have a go and try to get a good total, because if we lost anymore wickets, we would probably never reached 200,” he pointed out.