[Match Thread] Zimbabwe vs South Africa, 1st ODI

[Mr Twig]

Elton should have caught that.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Decent bowling effort. Shame we couldn't have posted 180 to make it interesting.

[Jayb]

I can't believe how bad they are.

Appaling shot selection, it's like they are trying to play aggressive and make a statement but don't have the ability to do it. If Duminy keeps sweeping he will get out in a minute as well.

We have more energy in the field today.

[Googly]

We won’t win any games when we play so seldom. I don’t think we’d win a game against an associate side after such a long lay off. It doesn’t matter how much you prepare in the nets, it’s quality game time that counts. We really need Tari, Raza and Blessing in that side. I’d go with Murray as well, he’d may as well get as much exposure as possible. There’s no plan persevering with a couple of our players, they just won’t cut it even if they play another 100 ODI’s in quick succession.
I’m still holding my breath for a clean out of the nest of vipers. There is no hope with these guys at the helm.

[eugene]

I must admit to entirely forgetting about this match. Doesn't look like I missed much.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Decent bowling effort. Shame we couldn't have posted 180 to make it interesting.

I didn’t watch it but I can guarantee by the scorecard on both sides it was simply a bowling pitch.

This is why people scratch their heads and say ‘we bowlers so well but we couldn’t bat’ or ‘we bat so well. It couldn’t get a wicket’

We aren’t necessarily doing either that great, it’s the pitch and you can always tell by how thegame went down with the opponents

[zimbos_05]

The problem with not playing regularly is that our matches are too few and far between, which means when we do play, we are very rusty and poor. However, I don't think that is an excuse considering we have guys with more than 200 ODIs to their game. You should have learnt something by now as a player. In terms of how you play and what you do. You learn how to play certain bowlers by watching them and analysing them. Sport is more than just on the field nowadays. You develop your technique off it, so that on it you are better. Taylor has always been a low stance, and not something he developed at Notts, and it's not the best, but it has served him well to the point where, statistically, he is our best ODI batsman ever.

Bowling pitches are obviously hard to bat on, but we go to the extreme. We just capitulate. We do the same for batting pitches. We let the opposition run away with it. On a bowling pitch with a low total, you go all out. You use up Chatara, you don't save him for later. Hammy is not a captain.

Chigumbura is lucky he top scored because I don't really see what he offers the team and he really should be sacrificed for someone like Murray or Tari or another one of the youngsters.

This thing is though, this was a second string SA side, but there is method to it. All of these players are either starters, on the fringe, or being groomed to take over. We can't beat associates and part timers, there is no way we should be favourites against any of the top 5 full member second string sides. SA will have been coaching these guys for their system for a while. Some of them are first teamers or even former first teamers. SA will build on this. Some of these guys will get dropped for the next series SA has and it will be fine, because they will still be being coached as first teamers. They will still be working on the side to be part of the set up, and will fight to earn their spot.

Our guys have had coaches who have World Cup wins and great success all over their CVs, but there is no back up and follow through. We saw early signs of success under Whatmore, but then it just fell apart, and it looked like the guys learnt nothing. Then we saw some success with Heath, and since then it has again just fallen apart. Our guys don't seem to learn, or want to learn, and then their is a lacking in application. I don't buy the argument that we don't have the quality and the players, because history proves that we do produce talent, the problem comes from supporting that talent, and the mentality of that talent.

[Jemisi]

So 5 wicket loss and out lowest total against SA.

At least Chatara was able to get something going and Wellington strengthens his case as no.2 behind Cremer.

Now they have had a warm up game we will see how the next one goes.

[Kriterion_BD]

Decent bowling effort. Shame we couldn't have posted 180 to make it interesting.

I didn’t watch it but I can guarantee by the scorecard on both sides it was simply a bowling pitch.

This is why people scratch their heads and say ‘we bowlers so well but we couldn’t bat’ or ‘we bat so well. It couldn’t get a wicket’

We aren’t necessarily doing either that great, it’s the pitch and you can always tell by how thegame went down with the opponents

Thats true. It makes 100+ run victories all the more impressive. Or those instances when a team puts up 350 and then bowls the opposition out for under 200.

[TapsC]

I think we need to change the pitches in Zimbabwe. Historically looking at it we have been producing better bowlers than batsmen since the rebel walkout with only 1 guy scoring a century. We only have an ok batting lineup because these guys have been playing for 14 years now. Chatara looked very decent yesterday and even the likes of Mpofu got movement in that test match.

To me we will never improve until we start practising on difficult pitches. Bowling is key for me because if your batsmen face tough conditions and bowlers, they naturally improve over time. For example if BT was playing for the proteas he would be averaging well in the 40s by now.

Just a thought on a small thing that could change our future in the long run. Bangladesh first learnt how not to lose easily then worked on a stregnth and created pitches that suit that stregnth. Now they win at home. Thats real growth. Slow but rewarding.

We are always so negative preparing pitches that dont suit the touring team but that means we never develop our own identity.

We have created a middle order who cant play pace and a top order who cant play spin because of a lack of identity. This is why we collapse so often. A spinner comes on early and Hami is gone. The top order goes early and you just know Williams will be bullied by a fast bowler. We will never grow if we continue like this.

I personally think we will get more success if we focused on green pitches than spinning wickets. We have so many medium pacers in Zimbabwe. Look at how Mulder and Phehlukwayo looked dangerous yesterday. Chamu bowls at that pace and we have seen he can get movement. He could have impacted yesterdays game. Our batsmen dont have the technique to deal with spin in my opinion. Well most of them dont.