NEWS
GALLERY
STATISTICS

Zimbabwe failed Super Six test: Houghton

Zimbabwe coach David Houghton isn't making any excuses for his team's elimination from the World Cup. He just says they didn't deserve to reach the final four.

A former Zimbabwe captain, Houghton watched his team's best ever chance of making the semi-finals evaporate over the weekend as New Zealand and Australia grabbed the last two semi-final berths with last-gasp victories.

"To be honest, we didn't deserve to make the semi-finals after failing to win a single Super Six match,'' Houghton said.

"Yes, we had an anxious time waiting for the last two matches over the weekend, but we shouldn't have left things to that,'' said Houghton.

"Things were in our hands...We went into the Super Six with the maximum four points, but only managed one points from the rain-forced abandonment against New Zealand. How could one aspire to make the semi-finals without winning even one Super Six match?''

Zimbabwe went into the weekend in third place in the Super Six standings on five points but its chance of advancing into the semi-finals slipped away by a sequence of adverse results.

New Zealand beat India on Saturday to move to five points, but edged ahead of Zimbabwe on run-rate. Australia defeated South Africa by five wickets on Sunday to finish in No. 2 spot on six points.

Zimbabwe would have qualified for the semi-finals if either New Zealand or Australia had lost.

Houghton said he did not watch either of the weekend's games.

"Some of the boys might have watched the games, but I decided not to,'' he said. "Of course, I kept myself abreast of the situation.''

The Zimbabwe coach said all his players were disappointed but that could not change the course of events.

"We sure are disappointed, but the dejection hasn't been that big because we knew that we had to win at least one Super Six match,'' Houghton said. "That one Super Six victory just did not materialise...And we're out.''

Houghton defended the World Cup format, saying it rewarded consistency and good performances throughout the tournament.

"The format's fine, certainly no grudge against that,'' he said.

Houghton said Zimbabwe could take positive experiences away from the World Cup campaign, its best result since debuting as an associate member nation in 1983.

Since then, Zimbabwe cricket has made giant strides and became the ninth country to be granted the Test-match status by the International Cricket Council.

Good performances by the Alistair Campbell-led team has given Zimbabwe cricket a big boost, bringing the media focus on the country's unsung sporting stars.

Houghton said a semi-final berth would have taken cricket to greater heights but he was happy even to have made the Super Six grade.

"Disappointment will not bring back the lost chance,'' he said. "I'm disappointed ... But I'm also pleased with what we achieved and to have contributed our bit to the World Cup.

"Our confidence has reached another level, we are playing six Test matches this (southern hemisphere) summer and have lined up plenty more one-dayers to keep the momentum going,'' said Houghton.

AP