AHMEDABAD, India (CMC):
West Indies will renew their rivalry with Zimbabwe tomorrow, as they begin their qualifying campaign to reach the main draw of the 2006 International Cricket Council's Champions Trophy.
The match bowls off at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Caribbean time.
Despite winning the tournament two years ago in a dramatic final against hosts England at the Oval, the title-holders have been forced to qualify for this edition after finding themselves outside the top six teams on the One Day International rankings table.
Under the leadership again of batting prodigy Brian Lara, the regional team will once again seek to defy the odds and lift the trophy in the tournament widely regarded as the mini World Cup.
First qualifying step
The clash with Zimbabwe is the first step in the West Indies quest to qualify, with matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to follow on October 11 and 14, respectively.
West Indies will enter tomorrow's encounter full of confidence after a decent run of form in ODIs.
They easily disposed of the under-strength Zimbabweans 5-0 in the seven-match series in the Caribbean in April/May this year and returned to humble the mighty Indians 4-1 in the subsequent series.
In the recent Tri-Nation DLF Cup series, the West Indies also managed to reach the final of the tournament before going down to world champions Australia.
In their only warm-up match for the Champions Trophy qualifiers, the West Indies' batters, a great source of concern for coach Bennett King and captain Lara after the DLF Cup, found form against a Gujarat President's XI.
Opener Chris Gayle, who showed good form during the Tri-Nation series, smashed a century, while Runako Morton and Wavell Hinds gathered half-centuries.
Unlike the DLF Cup, Lara has already made it clear the team would not be experimenting and would be fielding the best XI on the day.
"There is no question of experimentation in the Champions Trophy," Lara said this week.
"Experiments are done keeping in view the importance of match and tournament. This is a mini-World Cup and being the defending champions we're also under pressure and so we will field our best eleven.
"We tried some experiments in the DLF Cup tri-series. But we performed well against the top two teams of Australia and India."
Heavy favourites to win the match, Zimbabwe will be seeking to create an upset and make good on coach Kevin Curran's promise to qualify for the main draw of the tournament.
Still under-strength after their cricket was thrown into political turmoil this year, Zimbabwe will field the core of the side that made the trip to the Caribbean earlier this year.
bottom line
"The bottom line is that we will have to beat at least two of the three teams, if not all, to qualify," Curran stressed recently.
"We have beaten Bangladesh before, so we can do it again. Then, we will have to beat either Sri Lanka or the West Indies to qualify. It's a big challenge for the guys. We will try and win two of the three matches."
They will be led by the 21-year old off-spinner Prosper Utseya who was appointed captain for the series against Bangladesh, after making his international debut just two years earlier.
Zimbabwe will depend heavily on the batting of 20-year old Justice Chibhabha who made an impression with his classy stroke play and cool temperament in the series against the West Indies.
They were attributes that brought him two half-centuries in three innings, en route to averaging 54.
