zimcricketforums.com

After losing the 2nd time in a row can the Zimbabwe team win again. The team has been exposed in the pace bowling department and spin is the predominant weapon. The 3rd ODI saw a mediocre batting effort from the whole team, just wondering what peoples thoughts are if we can have a comeback or its back to the drawing board. West Indies are now on a high with Bravo back and 2 cosecutive wins. Zim has been relying on spin can this continue or will the coaches have another strategy?
I think our Batsmen need to step up a little they have the potential but they need to make runs. Hamilton is showing to be in some form so far but the others have to follow suit and make runs. Our bowling still needs to improve especially our seamers, at the moment Chigumbura is the only reliable one but the others need a bit more exposure and discipline at this stage. Im just wondering what the plan of action in the remaining 2 games form the coaches is.

We can bounce back as WI are not consistent themselves. We just need to bat well, Coventry in for Matsi, either Shingi/Mpofu in for Maruma, that pitch is good for seamers. Mobility and discipline in the field and the game is ours.

I don't think it will get any easier, especially with Bravo back who is a world class allrounder. Coventry will replace Matiskinyeri who should not picked for a long time if at all, he's had countless opportunities, is old enough and experienced enough for Zimbabwe to demand more out of him as a batsmen. Shringi.Masakadza should come back after his frankly disgraceful omission (yes he went for a few runs but took 3 wickets, showed promise, pace and considerable calm and then gets dropped after ONE match). Mpofu like Matiskinyeri has had enough chances although he's young enough to still make an impression. After that it's a bit like shuffling deckchairs on the titanic, maybe promote Chigumbura? fly Mutizwa over as a replacement for Jarvis and slot him into the middle order? Drop Lamb down the order?

Its really difficult to bounce back now as we blew two golden opportunities. WI have got their confidence as well as momentum back. They have got big match winners which we lack. Any attempt to underestimate them will be follishness.

Our biggest match winner in bowling is only Ray Price and we are exposing him too early. Gayle usually sees him off and its a crime to blunt his spinning effort with new ball. Before we realise, his 7 useful overs are gone in flash. When he returns around 40th over, its batting powerplay and he again got hit. So we are basically underutilising our biggest bowling weapon. Murali never bowled during poweplays. We should rely on our pacers to knock down Gayle. In our over-enthusiasm, we are killing overs of priceless spin.

Another important member is warming the benches despite played a massive one-in-a-lifetime inninings of 194*.The man who put Zimbabwe on the pinnacle of ODI score is serving drinks and their cant be any pathetic site than that in modern era. Any day anytime he is much much better than Matsi, Lamby or even Sibanda. We gave Matsi-Vusi 8 years and still they are shaky. Give, for god's sake, at least 8 matches to Coventry and see the results.

Maruma for me did everything right in last ODI. The googly man took wickets and catches and got a good ball during batting (by that time our so called batters have failed miserably). Lamb is a big pain to watch.I dont have guts to see him bat in next two. Domestic averages doesnt matter to me. Its high time we raise our level and play the deserving candidates.

Now it is hard to bounce back.zim must open bowling with all spin attack.
If iam captain my strategy will be this.
1-10 bowl by price and utseya
11-15 bowl by chigs and lamb
15-20 bowl by chigs and cremor
20-25 bowl by cremor and lamb
25-30 bowl by lamb and cremor
30-35 bowl by price and utseya
35-40 bowl by price and utseya
40-45 bowl by chigs and cremor
45-50 bowl by chigs and lamb.

Batting order looks like this-
masa
sib
tay
chib
tab
coven
chigs
lamb
utseya
cremor
price

Greg Lamb isn't of international standards. Full Stop. He's got no bat lift, poor foot movement, and looks weak at the point of contact. His only saving grace at the moment is his spin (Which has been very handy). He shouldn't bat any higher than 8 in my opinion. Charles Coventry MUST play. No 2 ways about it.

I am afraid that means only 2 Zim players are of international standard, namely Taibu and Price.... Lets be realistic, Lamb has played several years of first class cricket in England something that the majority of the current squad will never achieve in their careers as the standard there is several times higher than in zim... I would know, i have played in both countries before.....

Our current squad isnt good enough and only when Ervine, Goodwin and/or Ireland return will we have a geniunely decent and competetive one day side..... period

Xlife wrote:I am afraid that means only 2 Zim players are of international standard, namely Taibu and Price.... Lets be realistic, Lamb has played several years of first class cricket in England something that the majority of the current squad will never achieve in their careers as the standard there is several times higher than in zim... I would know, i have played in both countries before.....
d

If the standards are so high and Lamb really perfomed, the why does he play like such a trundler?

The majority of the players will never "achieve playing in the UK" because they do not have a British passport not because they cannot make the grade.

And quite frankly, anybody who picks a Zimbabwean team, classisfies it and fails to recognize Elton Chigumbura's perfomances sounds like he hasn't watched the real Zimbabwe in a long time

Conant wrote:

Xlife wrote:I am afraid that means only 2 Zim players are of international standard, namely Taibu and Price.... Lets be realistic, Lamb has played several years of first class cricket in England something that the majority of the current squad will never achieve in their careers as the standard there is several times higher than in zim... I would know, i have played in both countries before.....
d

If the standards are so high and Lamb really perfomed, the why does he play like such a trundler?

The majority of the players will never "achieveo playing in the UK" because they do not have a British passport not because they cannot make the grade.

And quite frankly, anybody who picks a Zimbabwean team, classisfies it and fails to recognize Elton Chigumbura's perfomances sounds like he hasn't watched the real Zimbabwe in a long time

Sounds like someone who has never played the game at a reasonable level before... Thats the problem with armchair cricket fans.....

Lamb performed quite well in the 1st 2 games of the tour considering that it was his debut and nerves were probably a factor.... Chigumbura is still young and will reach his peak in his late twenties when he will be of extremely high class but not yet
And for your own information, you dont need a Uk passport to play here, clubs are always on the look out for top quality overseas players and pay airfares, wages etc if you are not good enough, they wont come calling... People here should probably concentrate on commenting on things they know about

Xlife wrote:Sounds like someone who has never played the game at a reasonable level before... Thats the problem with armchair cricket fans.....

Stop being so big headed. We all respect eachothers' views on this forum, those views just happen to be things that we do know about. Conant was meerly expressing his view on things, and i agree with him.