Taylor captain

[aydee]

Elton out, Taylor in...

According to cricinfo...

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Congratulations to BT, I think this is a sensible choice. The lack of experience captaining at First Class level is the only question mark, but he has certainly ticked every other box in the last couple of years and he has quite a few matches against quality opposition coming up to get adjusted to things. I wonder what sort of captain he will be (ie. in the Warne/Clarke mould? Or more defensive? )... can anyone who saw him captain Mid West Rhinos comment on this?

According to Supersport this is the 15 man squad for the tri-series:

ZIMBABWE XI: Brendan Taylor (capt), Regis Chakabva, Tendai Chatara, Elton Chigumbura, Craig Ervine, Hamilton Masakadza, Keegan Meth, Christopher Mpofu, Forster Mutizwa, Raymond Price, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Prosper Utseya, Brian Vitori, Malcolm Waller.

Very interesting to see Malcolm Waller's name in there! Good to see Vitori getting an opportunity as well.

This has been a bit of a meteoric rise for Vitori, he's played the occasional domestic match since the Masvingo days in 2006 and started getting a regular game last season - towards the end of the season he enters a bit of a purple patch, enough to get him into the 32 man squad. Then he performs well in the warm up games to get selected to play in the tri-series. Talk about grabbing your opportunities with both hands - if he plays well against Australia A and South Africa A he could make the Test team. What an incredible story that would be, best of luck to him.

It's a new look team, a bit top heavy with bowlers but I expect this tri-series will be used to see how the fast bowlers perform. Cremer's injury, while unfortunate because he is an automatic selection as far as I'm concerned, has opened up a position for a quick. Chakabva might be a strong chance to make the cut ahead of Waller or Chigumbura seeing he's been talked up a bit since scoring a century in one of the warm up games. As for Waller, my thinking is that if he's made the 15 man squad without even being in the 32 man squad he must have done something particularly impressive.

1. Taylor (c)
2. Masakadza
3. Taibu (wk)
4. Ervine
5. Waller
6. Chigumbura
7. Utseya
8. Price
9. Chatara
10. Vitori
11. Mpofu

[eugene]

I must say I don't really have too many issues with the squads chosen. Vitori, Mushangwe, and Ncube are interesting selections - particularly Vitori. Brendan Taylor will be a solid captain - he has good fire in his belly. I would have selected Kyle Jarvis on both squads and had Vusi carry the drinks instead of captaining but other than that I think I am ok with the selections.

[Lostart]

Congrats to Taylor, i must admit i wouldn't have put money on him becoming captain a week ago. Hope he does well, he will have a couple former captains around him if he feels the need to ask advice, so that shouldn't be too bad. Who's the vice captain?

Surely Regis and Foster will get some games along with the bowlers, we need to see them in big games and under pressure. I agree though that the side will be quite bowler heavy. It will be interesting to see the battle of the bowlers and allrounders.

[bayhaus]

Who's the vice captain?

What is the POINT of a VC if he is not being groomed for captaincy? Taylor was a surprise for me and my question is WHY wasnt he captain in the domestics if he was such a sure pick for ZC. ZC makes the weirdest decisions, honestly what are they based on! I think there is political trading – If you put in Vusi then make Taylor the captain - Agreed - its a deal. I am interested to see how Taylor will lead though cos he has a cool head at the crease and he works hard.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Campbell talks about the appointment in an interview at http://www.cricket365.com/news/story/70 ... as-captain

[bayhaus]

Interesting comment about the plyers' views.

Yeah found that very interesting as well. Cos I believe to be an effective captain you have to have the backing of your team mates.

[hhm]

I must express my good feeling, which I can see we all share, that finally the captaincy issue has once and for all been resolved. While some might have reservations about Taylor, after Taibu discounted himself, I can't argue with him as a choice. Yes, it came down to two options - Taylor & his captain at domestic level, and it does seem ironinc that he got the nod instead. But, he has been the regular man at international level, and has been delivering, so a good choice in the end. It's been pointed out that his peers are happy with him being captain so I hope that translates into action, and they give him their full support & cooperation. He has been chosen to lead the side in a very sensitive and critical time for Zim cricket as a whole, and I just hope he realises the significance of his appointment. It is by no means temporary, but a longterm job which requires leadership(man management), maturity, courage, patience and most of all the ability to lead from the front (à la Smith on appointment). The fortunes of the team will spill over into our domestic setup - both in terms of the quality of our domestic competitions and the enthusiasm of the local fans - which is the backbone of our future. With the uncertainty of the political landscape (elections, violence etc) there might be some repercussions due to the inevitable turbulence, so his attitude during that time will influence a lot of factors (jump ship or remain steadfast). I have full confidence in him to lead us through our rebuilding phase and into our imminent glory days. So congratulations Brendan Taylor, you have my full support. I doubt he had much of a say, if any, in the selections of the A/XI tour games, but in future we will be looking to have a setup where the captain has a great say in who he leads out into the park so he can be fairly accountable for his results as captain. No doubt that will bring even greater responsibility to him.

Regarding the team selections, what can't be questioned is the fact that a lot of time has been invested in preparing hard, and that all the players have been given a chance to impress (taking Jarvis out of the equation - he's 'special'). Which means the final choices made by those concerned, were well informed, and hence demand our respect. Butcher noted an important point that the guys have been playing 'a lot of cricket among themselves'. So, men have separated themselves from boys, and pretenders have been cast aside. Apart from the absentees and injuries (Williams, Cremer & Duffin), as most of the guys' posts here have pointed out, the selections have certainly given a clear indication of the direction the selectors and the coaches are taking. The guys in the List A selection have proven themsleves to be the core group going forward, while the bulk of the guys in the Two Day team - have in a way been given a second chance to impress before being removed from the longterm plans. Mutizwa and Waller have been duly rewarded. Coventry, Rainsford(injured?) & Nicolson are a mix of sad&surprising omissions. I will put Vitori's selection down to his potential, but most importantly being a quick left armer in a sea of right hand options. Meth's absense in the two day team might be more of an indicator that he's moved ahead of Elton as the leading allrounder, than him being given a light load as a result of his recent injury. There's not so much of a bias towards seamers, but instead a firm admission that we need to find an effective and stable set of seamers if we are to stand any chance of being relevant in Test cricket! One can certainly read a lot into all these developments, and have much to say about them be it objective or subjective. Personally I would appreciate seeing Gavin Ewing being given a chance as I believe he has a lot to offer. However, what's left for us now is really to see what happens. I'm excited & cautiously optimistic.

Let the games begin...

[clikcspeed]

great analysis @hhm! can't add more