By Trevor Makonyonga Sports Reporter
The Zimbabwe’s senior men basketball team will today, January 21, play against Madagascar in an Afrobasket ball preliminary match to be played at the City Sports Centre in Harare.
Team coach, Adson Chiware, is oozing with confidence prior to the match but is taking a cautious approach going into the game.
Speaking to Bustop TV, Chiware said that if his charges can stick to their set plan they could get a positive result.
“This will be our first time to play Madagascar. We feel that if our scouting of Madagascar was on point and the game plan we have is employed well we can get a result. As long as we stick to our plan we have a big chance of winning,” he said.
The team selected by Adson Chiware is dominated by players from JBC, a team which he also coaches and this has caused controversy with some accusing the coach of being unfair.
Chiware however, explained the circumstances behind his team selection and why he got “disappointed” by people who accuse him of such.
“I get disappointed by such accusations. It is a result of lack of analysis that makes such people make these accusations. We had about 6-7 days to prepare before camp. We called up 21 players initially. Our process was backed by staticians who looked at such things as shooting percentage, rebounds, assists and screamage.
“We looked at all of that and of the 21 we called up only 15 came through consistently. Some did not bother to show up for some reason and some came for a day or two and stopped. So we had to work with what we had,” said Chiware.
With the league on break, player fitness could be a concern and given the short time the team had to prepare fears are this could jeopardize the teams’ performance today. However, Chiware said non of that could be an excuse.
“This is a pressure job and we have to work under pressure. We cannot have excuses. Of course the league is on a break but we worked and it looks positive,”he said.
There are two debutants in the team in the form of Wishes Kakomo and Munashe Makumbe. The game will be played today at 6pm at the City Sports Centre in Harare.
Zimbabwe team:
Nathan Warikandwa Assassins, Tawanda Chitsinde Hornets, Wishes Kakomo Foxes, Tatenda Tswatswa Foxes, Agrippa Masvisvi JBC/Matero, Munashe Makumbe Raiderz, Tatenda Maturure JBC, Benson Chinyanga JBC, Henry Chizah Brave Hearts, Everisto Pasipamire JBC, Nyasha Zamani JBC
Taurai Chitsinde JBC.
