The effects of Zimbabwe’s historic win over Sri Lanka in the five match ODI series in July can still be felt.

Captain Graeme Cremer and Malcolm Waller have been picked by Bangladesh Premier League teams following starring performances during Zimbabwe’s first ever five-match ODI series win away from home by stunning Sri Lanka.

They had never beaten Sri Lanka in an ODI in their backyard.

How did they do it? 

SportsZone looks at some factors that could have inspired this historic triumph.

                            Faith

In the Bible faith is defined as the substance of things hoped for.

The Zimbabwe Cricket selector(s), coaching stuff and fans hoped for match-winning performances from firstly senior players and then everyone else.

Team selectors showed faith in under-pressure senior players, Hamilton Masakadza, who had a below par tour of Europe, Sikandar Raza, who had an awful domestic season, Craig Ervine who wasn’t firing.

Faith worked.

The seniors fired where it mattered most.

Masakadza finished as the Man-of-the –Series.

Raza finished off the first ODI win with a six and closing the Sri Lanka chapter with a six.

And he was handy with the ball too by getting crucial breaks.

Ervine’s unbeaten 69 guided Zimbabwe to a series levelling five- wicket victory in the fourth ODI.

Faith in Tendai Chatara whom some had ruled out after his career threatening shin injury while playing soccer, also paid off.

Chatara finished the series as Zimbabwe’s best bowler with six wickets from five innings at 35.16.

Faith in youngsters.

Ryan Burl was given his chance and unfortunately sickness, not dearth of runs, relegated him out of the team.

Replacing him was 22-year-old Tarisai Musakanda.

Another step of faith and Tari didn’t disappoint occupying the number three position with aplomb and confidence to finish the series averaging 38.33 from three innings.

They also stuck with Solomon Mire at the top and he repaid with a maiden ODI and ton exhibiting some audacious batting in the powerplay

             Experience / quality in training sessions

Heath Streak’s experience in the Indian Premier League as the bowling coach of the Gujarat Lions is massive for him and his country.

At the Gujarat Lions, Streak rubs shoulders with the likes of Brad Hodge, Mohammed Kaif and when he comes home he has Makhaya Ntini, Lance Klusener, Douggie Hondo and Walter Chawaguta as his support staff mates.

Zimbabwe Cricket team practices at Harare Sports Club have also improved.

Sharp, specific and fun.

                          Better preparations

There is no substitute for game time. Despite playing against Associate teams (Scotland and Netherlands) in different conditions as well, Zimbabwe had better match preparedness ahead of the Sri Lanka tour.

Moreover, the domestic one day competition had been altered to cater for the national team players ahead of their tours.

                          Unsung heroes

Malcolm ‘Maru’ Waller is one of the unsung heroes of the series triumph.

With his remodelled bowling action he bowled well controlled overs and became sort of captain Cremer’s golden arm at some instances.

Maru finished as Zimbabwe’s second best bowler with four wickets.

He also played crucial innings with his unorthodox hitting pacing the innings well to finish the series averaging 29.00 with the best strike rate (118.36) better than all batsmen in the series.

So was Sean Williams whose left arm orthodox spin has improved with each passing game.

He took three wickets in the series and scored 129 from five innings.