It was the sixteenth over of their 2023 T20 World Cup Qualifier semi-final in opposition to Eire. Zimbabwe had been chasing 138 and had been 99 for 4. Needing 39 runs in 29 balls, the strain was constructing.
They misplaced two wickets within the subsequent 14 balls and solely scored 9 runs. In the event that they had been going to recover from the road, Nkomo must take them there.
Over the subsequent 10 days, Zimbabwe have the prospect to verify Nkomo, and the 11 different squad members who witnessed that defeat first-hand in 2022 do not undergo that once more as they play within the 2024 T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi.
They’re grouped with Eire, Netherlands, UAE and Vanuatu, and should end within the prime two to succeed in the semi-final, the place they may face one among Sri Lanka, Scotland, Thailand, Uganda or the USA and should win that knockout sport to qualify for the World Cup. Sri Lanka, who’ve received sequence in England and South Africa, and Eire, who beat Zimbabwe to a spot on the final T20 World Cup, are the favourites and Zimbabwe will need to prime their group to keep away from Sri Lanka within the semis. It is a cut-throat occasion which rewards the perimeters that may deal with strain over 5 matches greatest. Zimbabwe now have some expertise of that.
Final month, they received the inaugural cricket occasion on the Africa Video games https://www.espncricinfo.com/sequence/women-s-african-games-2023-24-1423445/match-schedule-fixtures-and-results the place they defeated South Africa in a Tremendous Over within the ultimate. Although their group matches had been all in opposition to groups ranked decrease than them and the ultimate was not an official T20I https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/south-africa-and-zimbabwe-s-matches-at-africa-games-not-given-t20i-status-1426253 as a result of South Africa fielded an rising facet, Zimbabwe nonetheless took lots from the expertise.
“We actually had fun on the market in Ghana. We had a profitable event as a crew and in opposition to South Africa and we bought over the road,” Nkomo mentioned. “It was an thrilling sport with a lot adrenaline in it and we actually had plenty of enjoyable.”
By the way, it was Nkomo who hit the profitable runs within the Tremendous Over and taking over a management function in crunch moments has grow to be a part of her total method to the sport. She is one among a handful of Zimbabwean gamers who has expertise overseas and has performed membership cricket in each Australia and England, which have knowledgeable her sport consciousness.
“In England, I bought the chance to take duty lots as a result of, in membership cricket, when you’re the professional there, it means all duties are on you. So I took that again house as properly. I understand how to play my function greater than earlier than. And I understand how to be accountable and to take duty for my very own sport.”
Now, Nkomo and the remainder of the ladies’s crew should take duty for the relevance of cricket of their nation. Zimbabwe’s males’s crew failed twice final yr of their efforts to qualify for a World Cup which implies that the earliest they may seem at a world event is the T20 World Cup in 2026. The ladies’s crew have two alternatives earlier than that: this yr’s T20 World Cup and subsequent yr’s ODI World Cup.
They perceive that for now, protecting Zimbabwe current as a world high quality facet is as much as them. Additionally they recognise the chance it gives for them as a crew: to be seen on a world stage.
“It could imply lots as a result of that is what we have been ready for. That is what we have been studying for. And that is the time to seize that chance,” Nkomo mentioned. “It can change our lives. For positive it is going to, in a constructive manner.”
