Zimbabwe coach Heath Streak has declared himself happy with his team’s preparations ahead of their four-day day/night Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth starting on Boxing Day.
The Zimbabwe squad have been attending a training camp in Bulawayo and Streak says his side are motivated to do well in what will be their first day/night Test experience.
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The Southern African side will fine-tune their preparations in a three-day warm-up game against a SA Invitational side in Paarl from 20 December.
The SA Invitational XI will include some of the Proteas’ biggest names with AB de Villiers, Temba Bavuma and Chris Morris set to take part and Streak is happy that they will play quality opposition before the Test.
Streak told the Daily News in Bulawayo: “The preparations have been good.
“All the guys were highly-motivated and went about their training with determination required of every athlete and we are looking forward to the one-off Test beginning with the three-day warm-up against an Invitational side.
“It’s good for us to play against such strong opposition in the warm-up. It gives us a realistic yardstick of what to expect in the Test because we won’t be surprised playing against some of these big names.”
With the Proteas currently second in the ICC’s Test ranking and their Southern Africa neighbours languishing down in tenth place, the hosts will be strong favourites to romp to a win.
Streak, however, says his side will not just roll over and give the home side an easy victory.
The coach continued: “We are going to play to win. We are just playing to compete and we hope we are not going to embarrass ourselves.”
