CRICKET WORLD CUP 2011: Zimbabwe Look to Roll Back the years

CRICKET WORLD CUP 2011: Zimbabwe Look to Roll Back the years

Although their performance has not been quite so flash since then, the return of former players in their cricket set up augers well for the future of Zimbabwe cricket.

On 21st February 2011, the Zimbabweans take on multiple World Champions Australia at Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel stadium as they get their World Cup campaign underway.

There might be a sense of deja vu as one may recall that in their very first World Cup tie in 1983, Zimbabwe upset the Aussie applecart by 13 runs at Trent Bridge to shock the entire cricketing fraternity.

The Zimbabweans have in fact had quite a few memorable encounters in World Cups overs the years.

After toppling the Australians, Duncan Fletcher and his men nearly pulled off another giant killing act in '83 when they had the Indians on the rack at 17/5, only to be denied by Kapil Dev's historic innings of 175 not out.

Four years on in the 1987 Reliance Cup, it was only Martin Crowe's legendary catch to dismiss Zimbabwe skipper Dave Houghton for 141 that saved the blushes for the Kiwis at Hyderabad's Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium.

But Zimbabwe had their moments in the 1992 World Cup as well, a magnificent 115 not not by Andy Flower on debut propelled the team to 312/4 against Sri Lanka and the Lankans just got home by the skin of their teeth on that ocassion.

The Zimbabweans however managed to upset England, who were running red hot at that moment on the back of Eddo Brandes' 4/21 as the English failed to chase down 134.

Zimbabwe had an ordinary '96 World Cup, but their team truly came of age in the 1999 edition when they reached the Super Six stage with shock wins over India and South Africa on the way. With players like Neil Johnson and Murray Goodwin coming to the party, their team were unlucky to miss out on a semi-final berth.

There was nothing much to write home about in Zimbabwe's endeavours in the 2003 and 2007 World Cups; incidentally that was the time that their cricket was in total turmoil due to the player's rebellion which turned out to be a major blow as far as their progress on the international scene was concerned.

With no big stars to boast of, the Zimbabwe team will be looking for a collective team effort to come away from the 2011 World Cup with their heads held high and rest assured they will fight every inch of the way to prove that they are not going to be bullied into submission by the big guns.