[Match Thread] Zimbabwe XI vs South Africa A

[mdm]

Painful loss but a lot of positives this time. I especially liked our batting card ciz it's been long since we. Have had a healthy one. Bowlers did a good job though. Would have loved to win, hopefully this game puts a lot of self belief in the guys and they continue to have a fighting heart.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Oh boy... talk about rubbing salt in the wound. The match notes on Cricinfo:

Zimbabwe XI innings: 1X 5 balls (45th over)

[eugene]

5 ball overs happen more frequently than one would imagine.

[Boundary]

Losing by 1 run - it should hurt but I'm quite pleased instead. I saw a glimpse of fighting spirit and determination. After SA 'A' comprehensive defeat at the hands of Aus 'A', I think we're closer to the South Africans in quality (or conversely the Aussies are that much better) which paints a different colour, retrospectively, to our first defeat. Still, we showed more character in this match. I was inclined to criticise Chakabva for a slow start but his strike rate improved to 82 and besides I think by holding on to his wicket he actually averted another Zimbabwe Collapse, so I will praise him instead. I'm a great supporter of Vusi Sibanda and I think his inclusion in the top 3 has solidified our top order but even I didn't anticipate seeing him in the one day format. I won't worry much about that though, because if the middle order doesn't collapse they've enough firepower to up the run rate. Also, playing him in the one dayers allows Taylor to get used to his new partner - it's not like we're going to have so many Tests in the meantime. Masakadza is showing some determination, so dropping him (a sure mistake) must have done its trick. So, all-in-all sorry guys that we lost but well done nonetheless.

[hhm]

Decent start from the bowlers. SA restricted to 30/0 after 10 overs.
Changes: Waller for Taylor, Vitori for Meth and Mushangwe for Price. Vusi captaining the side.
Go ahead guys. Bowl the Saffers out, get a bonus point, and show the Aussies what you're made of in the final!

The site is misbehaving again BRM.

[zimfan1]

Decent start from the bowlers. SA restricted to 30/0 after 10 overs.
Changes: Waller for Taylor, Vitori for Meth and Mushangwe for Price. Vusi captaining the side.
Go ahead guys. Bowl the Saffers out, get a bonus point, and show the Aussies what you're made of in the final!

The site is misbehaving again BRM.

Taylor is out injured

Good to see vitori getting a run out will be intersting to see how he goes

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

Chigumbura gets second

[Lostart]

Hammie off to a good start but we need Vusi to back him up not just block up an end and put extra pressure on his partner. I thought that Vitori bowled well towards the endpicking up a couple key wickets, we could have been looking down 260-280 if he hadn't got the set batsmen out. Prosper was expensive but they probably targeted him because he was the pick of the bowlers in the last couple games.

[Lostart]

6 from Vusi and we are well ahead of the rate.... we may be onto something here, not too sure what the calculations are but if things go our way...... not being to specific in the hopes i don't jinx anything

[Conant]

112/2 after 22 overs. I like the promotion of Foster Mtizwa to the top order.

And not a bad List A debut either for Brian Vitori, 3/35. Very impressive too from Natsai Mushangwe. The future of spin bowling is very bright in this country.

Finally, Elton Chigumbura gets 10 overs under his belt