Zimbabwe to play for pride against Aussies Adelaide, Jan 25: Buoyed by their lion-hearted show against India, Zimbabwe would look to unruffle a few feathers of Australia as well, as they take on the world champions in a day-night match of the cricket tri-series here tomorrow. Zimbabwe, winless in five outings of the triangular series so far, are already out of contention for a berth in the best-of-three-finals but they would play for pride and to prove yet again that they are no pushovers. Australia with 23 points from five matches and India with as many from one match more are poised to face off in the finals, the first of which is slated to begin on February 6 at Melbourne. Zimbabwe are languishing at the bottom of the table with just two points. But the African minnows showed their potential in ample measure here yesterday as they came close to stage an upset win against India before faltering in the final over to suffer a narrow three-run defeat. However, the fact that they were pitted against a depleted Indian eleven would not be lost on the Zimbabweans who run into a ruthless Australia on their National Day. Australia have largely looked their part in the series with just one defeat but also showed a rare vulnerability, especially against India. Against Zimbabwe, however, they hope to run over and maintain the winning momentum before breaking into Australia Day celebrations. Zimbabwe started the series miserably but have gradually improved and their captain Heath Streak would look up to his boys to register the elusive win. Streak said he wanted his boys to "feel the hurt" of losing a close game and press for victory in the remaining three league matches including the tie tomorrow. "In a way, you want your guys to feel hurt and try and win more matches. We need just that one per cent extra to be a better team. We must learn to cross the line," said Streak. Australia were almost in a similar tight position against India on Thursday at Sydney but survived the pressure to win off the penultimate ball when Brett Lee hit a sixer. The champions would not like the game to stretch to the wire again tomorrow as they would like to preserve their energies for India. They have already announced that they would rest explosive opener Adam Gilchrist who would be replaced by Brad Haddin. Zimbabwe would take heart from the form of middle-order batsmen Stuart Carlisle and Sean Ervine both of whom hit centuries against India but their top order remains a big worry for the skipper. "It feels good that number four and five batsmen were able to get centuries but we are still not getting the start we want. We lost early wickets and were always playing the catch-up thereafter," admitted Streak. (Agencies) Published: Sunday, January 25, 2004 Back to Index