Match Thread: Dragons v Zimbabwe Provinces

[maehara]

SAA Provincial Challenge & Cup
Powerade Dragons v Zimbabwe Provinces
14-16 & 17 February, Sedgars Park, Potchefstroom

Zimbabwe Provinces Squad
Stuart Matsikenyeri (captain), Trevor Garwe, Friday Kasteni, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Blessing Mahwire, Admire Manyumwa, Timycen Maruma, Tinotenda Mawoyo, Bonaparte Mujuru, Forster Mutizwa (wicketkeeper), Stephen Nyamuzinga, Edward Rainsford and Prosper Tsvanhu.

Maruma and Matiskenyeri drop down from the national side, Cremer is missing as he's been promoted to the Chevrons. Tino Mawoyo is relieved of 'keeper duties to concentrate on his batting. Personally, I would have kept Mawhire as captain as he's done a decent job in the role, but them's the breaks.

[Train Driver]

I'm glad to see that Ed Rainsford is in the squad, whatever the reason was for his only bowling 9 overs in the Griqualand game is obviously not serious. Not sure about Regis Chakabva, while it will be good experience for him playing in the MTN series, I would rather see him in those games after this SAA fixture has been played as another 3 day game would be better for his cricketing education.

Where does Terry Duffin go now ?, after his recent run of low scores he is certainly going to be scratching around for games to get his confidence back, is this the end of representative cricket for him ??

I must say that I agree with maehara regarding the captaincy, Mahwire seems to have done a pretty good job and a change to Matsikeyeri is just fiddling around for the sake of it, he would be better left to concentrate on scoring some runs.

Overall this squad appears to be very short of batsmen, Mawoyo, Mujuru, Kasteni, Matsikenyeri & Nyamuzinga and very heavy on seamers, Manyumwa, Mahwire, Garwe, Rainsford & Tsvanhu. I guess it will be a choice of one from Maruma and Kamungozi with Mutizwa keeping. The loss of Chakabva gives this squad a very unbalanced look to me.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I'm glad to see that Ed Rainsford is in the squad, whatever the reason was for his only bowling 9 overs in the Griqualand game is obviously not serious. Not sure about Regis Chakabva, while it will be good experience for him playing in the MTN series, I would rather see him in those games after this SAA fixture has been played as another 3 day game would be better for his cricketing education.

Where does Terry Duffin go now ?, after his recent run of low scores he is certainly going to be scratching around for games to get his confidence back, is this the end of representative cricket for him ??

I must say that I agree with maehara regarding the captaincy, Mahwire seems to have done a pretty good job and a change to Matsikeyeri is just fiddling around for the sake of it, he would be better left to concentrate on scoring some runs.

Overall this squad appears to be very short of batsmen, Mawoyo, Mujuru, Kasteni, Matsikenyeri & Nyamuzinga and very heavy on seamers, Manyumwa, Mahwire, Garwe, Rainsford & Tsvanhu. I guess it will be a choice of one from Maruma and Kamungozi with Mutizwa keeping. The loss of Chakabva gives this squad a very unbalanced look to me.

I would prefer Chakabva in the SAA squad to be honest, but if he can forge a career in the national team so young, then good on him. I just feel it will be damaging if he doesn't do well, at least in this competition he is doing well, getting more experience, etc, etc. The way I see it, we finally have a decent first eleven, we don't need to blood inexperienced youngsters like we've had to in the past.

Having said that, if we were to pick a Zimbabwe XI based purely on form right now, Regis Chakabva would be in it. IMO he is playing better than Chibhabha and Dabengwa and Matsikenyeri. From that perspective, it would be great if he could secure a spot in the team (a 50 would do it in the short term) and then play some ODI's and, here's hoping, our first Test back. Wouldn't that be an incredible journey.

I don't see us winning this match without Chakabva, he is the rock in the middle order. As for Matsikenyeri, I'm not really sure why he is captain. As Train Driver said, it just seems like fiddling with the order for the sake of it.

[maehara]

Where does Terry Duffin go now ?, after his recent run of low scores he is certainly going to be scratching around for games to get his confidence back, is this the end of representative cricket for him ??

I assume he'll get his chance to make an impression again in the Faithwear series and Logan Cup - if his run of poor form continues through them, then yes, we'll probably have seen the last of him. Hopefully not, though - he's shown before that he has the temperament & talent for long-form cricket, he just needs a decent run to give him his confidence back.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I assume he'll get his chance to make an impression again in the Faithwear series and Logan Cup - if his run of poor form continues through them, then yes, we'll probably have seen the last of him. Hopefully not, though - he's shown before that he has the temperament & talent for long-form cricket, he just needs a decent run to give him his confidence back.

An interesting gamble would be to throw him in as opener in our first Test back. Zimbabweans have a tendency to perform on the big stage and fail on the small stage. An example I've given before is beating Australia in a Twenty20 and losing to the Eagles, and no doubt, we will lose quite a few more in the upcoming Pro20 competition (small stage).

Regardless, I think we know the real answer to...

Where does Terry Duffin go now ?, after his recent run of low scores he is certainly going to be scratching around for games to get his confidence back, is this the end of representative cricket for him ??

Queens Sports Club

[Train Driver]

Maybe Duffin is saving himself for a surprise inclusion in the IPL and a whopping great contract

[Utseyalitharan]

Its nice to see Kamungozi in the line up i think he is a great spiner, although his fielding is not up to scratch. Chakabva will be missed but overally i think its a good side, lets hope Matsikenyeri stays in that team for a long time because he is just not national team material. There is a danger of exposing Chakabva this early but it will be wrong not to reward sum1 who is doing well cuz he might just carry on the momentum at the big stage.

Kasteni marked his return with a good performance and it will be nice for him to get a few matches under his belt before he plays for the national side again. Where on earth is Alistar Maregwede?

[jimbo]

Why is matsikenyeri captain?

Are the selectors trying to sooth matsi's bruised ego by giving him a tokenistic captaincy....There There you werent good enough for the national team...We'll make it up to ya buddy....As the most experienced player who has yet to justify his obvious talent you can be captain.

Nothing wrong with mahwire to me...If anything people like mahwire and masacadza are the most aggressive of players which zim need as captains.

I remember in the test match between south africa and zimbabwe in 2005 when andre nel was bowling snorters at matsi and in general giving him lots of verbals...He looked like a rabbit trapped in headlights

[maehara]

Are the selectors trying to sooth matsi's bruised ego by giving him a tokenistic captaincy

Looks like that to me - I can't think of where Mawhire has put a foot wrong as captain, and if Matsikenyeri's been 'demoted' to work on his batting technique, having to deal with the captaincy as well isn't going to help him. I also hope they don't end up putting Mawhire's nose out of joint through this...

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Going to the national team for a second, Masakadza is more suited to the captaincy I think. Being comfortable with the media is a very important part of being captain - if you are comfortable speaking to the media, then you'll probably be good speaking to and revving up your teammates. When Prosper Utseya speaks to the media he speaks softly because he is quite shy, and I have difficulty understanding what he is saying.

Masakadza on the other hand, is a very strong speaker, and quite obviously very fluent in English. I saw a Youtube video he did a while ago, which was very well spoken. In the post-match interviews in the Pakistan series, he was very comfortable and often shared a laugh with the interviewer. I also liked his sign off, he said whatever the Pakistani equivalent of "Thank you Pakistan" was. I thought that was a really nice touch, he would have taken the time to find out what it meant. It speaks volumes for his character that he would do it. I get the feeling he would be a great bloke to have a beer with.