[Match Thread] New Zealand v Zimbabwe: 2nd ODI

[Jemisi]

Well, by far our highest score of the tour. (Not including the warmup). But a thrashing none the less. 141 runs less remarkable than the 300 it was looking like at one stage early in the chase, whatever that is worth. Hopefully the time in the middle was useful for Chigs' head.

[FlowerPower]

Shingi and Prosper having a go . Strong top order perfomance would have made things a bit different .Our Lower middle order seems to be batting well of late .

Which really makes the whole opener issue even more painful. Why or why do we continue to try and do things the hard way? We all know we self righteously put ourselves in a pickle (not sure there are merits in it, but will respectfully accept those who say it was the right way to go, myself, I would have publicly rebuked Vusi, fined him half his tour money and seen the bigger picture, a REBUILDING side).

Now that we were there (in the spot of bother), why on earth was poor out of confidence Hami pushed, up, and even much worse, without any preparation. Vusi's ban would have been known to all that matter by beginning of the year. Hami could have played his way into some form of opening. Better yet, as a stop gap measure why not take Duffin, who does the job for a living? Or if people were so averse to that what of Mawoyo? Yes he's a test player, but he is experienced at seeing out the new ball, and he is part of the party. To feed a returning Matsi to the lions...not cool (but he could have done better...but still...not cool). And if that was such an abhorrent idea, why not Taylor himself, for the umpteenth time, I will repeat, he is virtually opening anyways for crying out loud! Then maybe Hami and Matsi would put some runs in the middle order. As it is they are a waste of wickets, they make no runs or see out the new ball, as they are out of their depth...surely the coaching can see this? Imagine no loss of wicket (irrespective of how many runs on the board) after 8 overs, this would be a solid start, if only to eat away 4 overs apiece from Mills and whoever is opening with him, then top order and middle order can add onto "something"...

For the third ODI, I demand! (no longer Mr Nice guy who will appeal for, but demand) the following:

1. Taylor 2. Mawoyo 3. Hami 4. Chakabva/Matsi 5.Taibu 6. Waller 7. Chigs 8. Shingi 9. Utseya 10. Price 11. Jarvis

Open with someone who has a clue what they are doing (no disrespect to Hami and Matsi).

[tawac]

lets face it we are just not talented enough. Half of the time our batsman are playing for survival the bowlers spray the ball all over the show like a licking hose.

I think its all basic really, we can't find someone who balls 140+ so lets get the ball in the right place too bad our bowlers are no McGraths either. Fielding errors are unforgivable we are dropping 90percent of the chances we get.

With the FC we have a larger base of players lets rotate them bring in Rainsford if he don't do a job give Panyangarara a chance. Matsikenyere disappointed but was it right to have him opening don't think so.

[tawac]

lets face it we are just not talented enough. Half of the time our batsman are playing for survival the bowlers spray the ball all over the show like a licking hose.

I think its all basic really, we can't find someone who balls 140+ so lets get the ball in the right place too bad our bowlers are no McGraths either. Fielding errors are unforgivable we are dropping 90percent of the chances we get.

With the FC we have a larger base of players lets rotate them bring in Rainsford if he don't do a job give Panyangarara a chance. Matsikenyere disappointed but was it right to have him opening don't think so.

[ZIMDOGGY]

What reason would u bring in panyangara?
Say one good thing he's done in the last 2 seasons

[hhm]

1. Taylor 2. Mawoyo 3. Hami 4. Chakabva/Matsi 5.Taibu 6. Waller 7. Chigs 8. Shingi 9. Utseya 10. Price 11. Jarvis

I like the lineup, very much!

Just one change though, drop Jarvis and let Hami bowl a full 10overs, the middle 30 overs with the spinners, while Shingi&Elton take care of the 1st&last 10 overs. We're best served by lengthening the batting.

1Taylor, 2Tino, 3Waller, 4Matsi, 5Taibu, 6Hami, 7Elton, 8Regis, 9Shingi, 10Utseya, 11Price

[hhm]

lets face it we are just not talented enough. Half of the time our batsman are playing for survival the bowlers spray the ball all over the show like a licking hose.........With the FC we have a larger base of players lets rotate them bring in Rainsford if he don't do a job give Panyangarara a chance. Matsikenyere disappointed but was it right to have him opening don't think so.

I expressly told you guys, that's exactly how you'd be feeling at this point in time. I predicted it right to the last detail! With this new beginning or renaissance ushered in by AC, Butcher, Streak & Grant, plus fresh faces, most kept saying we're on a recovery path! unfortunately we've sunk to alltime lows, and there's no end in sight!

Most kept saying my defensive-Curran-oldies approach was pathetic, we need to start pushing for wins! Well, are we scaling the heights; does extrapolation reveal an upward curve; with Bangladesh next to come, can we be confident enough of holding off the backlash?

You'll ALL sing the same tune whether you like it or not, and we can be mad together!

[shumbat]

truly exposed, ideally half these players should be away playing Zim A, with more senior players playing for the first team otherwise we would keep on being slaughtered, food for thought for ZC, if they do care.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

It's just been one of those tours. When Price and Utseya have economy rates of 6.7 and 7.1 you know the team is having a bad time of it. It was bound to happen sooner or later, it's a shame it has been so comprehensive but nonetheless I think some good has come out of all of this carnage.

Despite being expensive in the Test, Cremer impressed. Turn, bounce, dip, the wrong-un - all of this on a first day pitch in overseas conditions. That's very pleasing, and his batting was more than adequate. Jarvis has been by far the best of the seamers this series. His pace has gone up as the series has progressed, he's still getting it to swing away considerably from the right handers and he's generally held tight lines. S Masakadza has shown himself to be a suitable squad member - he still needs to work on his bad balls because they are still too regular, but on the whole he's improving and he's been decent with the bat too. Vitori needs to work on his stamina but while he has the ability to swing the ball both ways at will he should always be an automatic selection in my opinion. In three years time any combination of Cremer, Jarvis, Vitori, Mpofu and S Masakadza is a mouth watering prospect. With 20 odd Tests under their belts they will be much more confident and threatening bowlers.

Nothing to write home about in the batting. The usual suspects bar Masakadza have all done something decent even if not consistently. Chakabva has been a bit of a revelation; he's overtaken Mutizwa and is finally demonstrating what the selectors have seen in him for so long. He is an exciting prospect and will get better with exposure; although I see him right now as more of a Test batsman he appears to have the talent to cross that over into ODIs. Masakadza is in a bit of strife - his bowling is more valuable than his batting at the moment. Unfortunately Matsikenyeri has lived up expectations so far. He's opened 30 odd times in ODIs; there's no excuse. Chigumbura's return to form is timely; a good allrounder is beneficial to any team.

The difference between this squad and the one of last year is that this is a squad of individuals (which is why everything seems so haphazard in this tour), last year it was a squad performing as a team. This tour will be a huge wake up call. This group, which is almost the best group Zimbabwe has to offer, looks mentally broken. The worst thing to do would be to shake things up as it won't achieve anything. I'd like to see the same squad during the next tour, with the exception of Sibanda back in for Matsikenyeri - and barring any spectacular antics in domestic cricket.

[The Saint]

Picking Matiskinyeri is like that old Simpsons episode when Lisa wires up a cupcake to a electrical charge and Bart, upon seeing the cupcake try's to pick it up and gets an electric shock. Instead of learning his lesson he keeps attempting to pick up the cupcake only to get zapped over and over and over and over again. When will the selectors learn? How many times does Matiskinyeri have to fail before they realise that maybe, just maybe he ain't up to it.