Cremer pleased with plucky Zim

Cape Town - Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer is pleased with the fight displayed by his team, throughout their series against the Black Caps.

His team may have lost 2-0, but at times they showed signs of improving, and they certainly displayed plenty of fight as Sean Williams and Craig Ervine hit maiden Test tons.

Cremer didn't panic when his side were bowled out for 164 in the first Test: "When you don't play enough cricket you can come into a Test match and be shell-shocked and that's what happened,

"I knew the guys were going to fight back."

Zimbabwe showed a lot of courage playing their first Tests since 2014, refusing to be overwhelmed. Prince Masvaure and Donald Tiripano put on 85 for the ninth wicket, and Ervine would score the first fifty by a Zimbabwean batsman in the series.

Cremer was impressed with his teams display: "It was good to see the guys learn and willing to get stuck in. For two of the guys to get hundreds was excellent,

"And then Donald, with bat and ball looked like he had been playing for a couple of years now. He is one of the guys that really put up his hand. Prince also showed he can play. Our younger guys just need that little bit of confidence.

"The bowlers worked hard. When we prepared a wicket like that, we knew it was going to be tough to take 20 wickets and they've got a good batting line-up that a lot of teams would struggle to get wickets against so credit to our guys for working hard."

If one thing is clear from this series it is that there is potential in Zimbabwe, but they absolutely have to play more Test cricket.

Cremer continued: "There are a lot of people in the system now who have realised that we need to play more cricket,

"We are heading in the right direction, if we can keep getting a lot more cricket. We are getting some A team tours and our first-class structure is going to be a lot longer."