What more could Zimbabwe want?

Shorter, more sharply-focused practices, a fresh mindset and space for a bit of fun have turned Zimbabwe from highly-strung to hopeful, which their senior players have put down to one thing: a change of coach. Dav Whatmore was appointed on December 30 and in less than six weeks put together the pieces of a broken squad to prepare them for the World Cup.

"It's literally been a total 180 in the players' mindsets. We're really enjoying each other's company and there's no more worries," Brendan Taylor, the former ODI captain, said. "We've got a bit more direction at the moment and very clear minds. You can see that with the new coach, new ideas and calming influence."

Whatmore took over at what was one of the lowest points for Zimbabwe. Not only had they lost all three Tests and five ODIs and even a warm-up match in Bangladesh, they also lost their way as an international outfit. Theirs was not a professional sports structure but an army-style disciplinary system enforced by commander-in-chief Stephen Mangongo.

The former coach demanded obedience in everything from the time players spent training in the nets to content of text messages. The former were unnecessarily long, the latter best kept short or not at all, especially if they include content of opposition bowlers - Tinashe Panyangara was suspended for circulating a video of a Mitchell Johnson bouncer barrage to team-mates via WhatsApp. Whatmore does not have the same stipulations.

"There's definitely a more energetic approach to training. Because the practices have been a lot shorter, guys will put in a lot more for that shorter period and go home. When Dav came in his main objective was to practice quality and not quantity," Craig Ervine explained.

"On our previous tour to Bangladesh, we practiced for a long time and after a while you start to lose a bit of interest and you don't practice the right things. After the first few practices with Dav, guys were shocked. The guys sat around and said 'What am I gonna do now, coz we're finished?'"

So what did they do? "We just went home and had a coffee," Ervine said. Not really.

Whatmore has got his players thinking about preparation instead of doing it ad nauseam. He "puts us in certain situations that replicate things at international level," Sean Williams said.

For someone like Taylor, whose habit it is to spend significant swathes of time in the nets, that means he has to juggle between the physical act of training and the other aspects. "I still hit a fair amount of balls but not as much. I try and mentally switch on, plan a lot better, write down things and make sure I've got a clear mind about how I am going to approach my innings. That's just as important as putting in the work," Taylor said.

For others it means there is more time to find the work-life balance that has been successful for teams like South Africa. "It's makes a huge difference," Williams explained. "Our training session are ten times shorter. They are only two hours now. Things are great. We play games, we do things, we can have a beer. All that's back."

And with that, the players have taken it on themselves to be responsible with their after-hours activity, just like adults should be. "The coaches have put the trust in us. They treat us like grown-ups and everybody has responded well to that. Nobody goes out boozing until 2 or 3 in the morning," Williams said.

All of that has left Elton Chigumbura in charge of a team he sees smiling more than he used to, who he can lead with the confidence that they are ready to perform better than they have done in the recent past. "The environment in the team has changed and the guys are happy with what has been going on at the moment," he said. "We will have a more challenging team than the last World Cup; a team that wants to win. I will be happy to go out with XI guys who want to win the game from ball one." What more could any captain want?