Utseya targets West Indies and Pakistan

Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe's captain, firmly believes that West Indies' inconsistencies and Pakistan's pre-World Cup woes can be exploited to get Zimbabwe into the Super Eights. Utseya took confidence from West Indies' nine-wicket defeat against India on Friday - they were bowled out for just 85 - as he assessed the two threats to Zimbabwe.

"Of course, with Ireland [who make up Group D], they have not played much of international cricket and we expect to do well against them," Utseya told reporters in Jamaica. "With the West Indies and Pakistan, they are not consistent, so if we can capitalise on that we could do well."

Utseya admitted the struggles of building and leading a side weakened by player strikes and boycotts under Zimbabwe' civil war, but said that everyone was "used to the situation". "It has been two years since [the last upheaval] and we have been trying to build this young side, so I don't think it will play a role [in how we perform]...we will have to face the challenge.

"We have been working hard for the past two months. We played Bangladesh in a five-match series and did well in some games. We played Australia and managed to get a 190 and took some positives out of that game. We played Bermuda [in a warm-up game] and I think we won quite convincingly and I think we are moving in the right direction."

Zimbabwe play their first World Cup game against debutants Ireland on Thursday.