Zimbabwe head coach interview: ‘Win against Australia was massive, but beating Sri Lanka was even more important,’ says Justin Sammons

How do you rate your performances in the group stage?

We’ve been really good at executing the plans and keeping things fairly simple. Obviously, that win against Australia was a massive one for the group. It’s given a real belief and confidence that they can compete against the best on a big stage like this. But I also feel the win against Sri Lanka was probably even more important because it was a full house. It’s one of the host nations, playing in conditions that they’re really accustomed to. The way we went about our business and sort of stayed in the fight with the ball, fought our way back, and then the way we chased down those runs was brilliant.

Where is Zimbabwe’s domestic structure in producing players?

From a domestic cricket point of view in Zimbabwe, they’re trying to get the standard up higher. It does need addressing. And it’s always going to be a tough space from a financial point of view. But certainly, I know the board is now understanding that needs attention. And I hope that a lot of attention is put into the domestic structures, because it can’t be a top-down system; it needs to be from the bottom up, for a system to be sustainable and healthy. You need your high-performance set-up, your under-19s, your youth cricket, your academies and your domestic stuff to be really strong. We need to create more depth; that is a concern for me. But that won’t be a quick fix. It’s going to take time. It’s going to take a lot of effort. Hopefully, they can get that right.

Tell us about your preparation coming into the World Cup?

We had a tri-series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka in November, then we didn’t get to play any cricket for two months. So it was a bit of a long layoff from international cricket. The guys went and played some domestic cricket back home. And then we got together in early January, and started doing some work in Harare, in particular around the conditioning of the players, and basic fundamentals work with bat and ball. We paid quite a bit of attention to our fielding in that space in Harare. We came early to Sri Lanka on 21st January and had a 10-day camp in Hambantota, which was brilliant. The facilities were outstanding and it really allowed us just to be together as a team away from any distractions. We had full training days, two sessions a day, and we put in a lot of work there. We said that’s where we’re going to get our volume in, understanding that obviously when you get to a World Cup, it really is about making sure your guys are fresh and are able to bring a certain intensity. That has paid dividends.

Can you elaborate on the two-year plan that was in place?

We had a goal and a vision two years ago about getting through to the Super 8s. Things have not always gone our way, but the group, and I’m very proud of them, have stuck to their processes, they’ve kept a belief, even when it was really tough, in particular against South Africa and New Zealand in the tri series (in 2025), we had in between sort of Test series against those two nations as well. That was a very difficult period where things didn’t go quite according to plan, but we knew that a lot of learning was taking place. We’ve had our highs, managed to beat Afghanistan in a T20, we managed to get a win over India and Pakistan, a couple of wins over Sri Lanka, a series win against Namibia and Ireland. So there were some really good highs amongst a lot of lows.

Tell us about Brian Bennett, who has been a star for the side?

He’s mature beyond his years for a young man at 22. He has a clear understanding of who he is as a cricketer. And I don’t think he’s trying to be somebody different. And that’s what makes him successful. Especially in understanding who he is. And I really hope that he continues to show the world what he’s about. He hasn’t hit his straps, to be honest, in this tournament. Yes, he’s had a few knockouts. But from a timing point of view, he hasn’t quite found his way as yet. But if he does, he’ll really turn some heads in even a bigger way.