My favourite Zimbabwe Test centuries pre-suspension

[eugene]

In chronological order:

Andy Flower 115 vs India, 1993 at Delhi - scored in tough conditions against Kail Dev, Anil Kumble, and Rajesh Chauhan.

Grant Flower 201* and Andy Flower 156 vs Pakistan, 1995 at Harare - scored against Wasim Akram, Aaqib Javed, and co. Our first test match victory.

Grant Flower 110 and Paul Strang 103 vs Pakistan, 1996 at Sheikhupura - Pakistan attack was Wasim, Waqar, and Saqlain - enough said.

Murray Goodwin 148* vs England, 2000 at Nottingham - one of the few bright spots from test tour of England.

Guy Whittall 188* vs New Zealand, 2000 at Harare - fought a lone battle for 506 minutes and 429 balls. Sheer bloody-mindedness drove Whittall.

Andy Flower 232* vs India, 2000 at Nagpur - Andy was in the form of his life.

Andy Flower 142 vs South Africa, 2001 at Harare - Andy fought a lone battle against Pollock, Ntini, Nel, and Kallis.

Hamilton Masakadza 119 vs West Indies, 2001 at Harare - a historic knock from Hamilton on debut.

Stuart Carlisle 118 vs Australia, 2003 at Sydney - one of our few outstanding efforts against Australia.

[jaybro]

In chronological order:

Andy Flower 115 vs India, 1993 at Delhi - scored in tough conditions against Kail Dev, Anil Kumble, and Rajesh Chauhan.

Grant Flower 201* and Andy Flower 156 vs Pakistan, 1995 at Harare - scored against Wasim Akram, Aaqib Javed, and co. Our first test match victory.

Grant Flower 110 vs Pakistan, 1996 at Sheikhupura - Pakistan attack was Wasim, Waqar, and Saqlain - enough said.

Paul Strang 103 vs Pakistan, 1996 at Sheikhupura - remarkable effort for a bowler who could bat a bit.

Murray Goodwin 148* vs England, 2000 at Nottingham - one of the few bright spots from test tour of England.

Guy Whittall 188* vs New Zealand, 2000 at Harare - fought a lone battle for 506 minutes and 429 balls. Sheer bloody-mindedness drove Whittall.

Andy Flower 232* vs India, 2000 at Nagpur - Andy was in the form of his life.

Andy Flower 142 vs South Africa, 2001 at Harare - Andy fought a lone battle against Pollock, Ntini, Nel, and Kallis.

Hamilton Masakadza 119 vs West Indies, 2001 at Harare - a historic knock from Hamilton on debut.

Stuart Carlisle 118 vs Australia, 2003 at Sydney - one of our few outstanding efforts against Australia.

The Carlisle knock was the only one there I watched & it was a good innings. He seemed to really like Australian pitches, he also scored an ODI v Australia in Perth in 2001/02, scored a List A century v Aus A in Perth in 2003/04 then on the same tour another ODI ton against India @ Adelaide. This why I have always held Carlisle in such high regard as he always played well when I saw him in Australia......

[pariah]

Hami's ton against WI and Carlisle's ton against Australia are #1 and #2 for me.
Andy's big one in Nagpur my #3
I didn't watch Grant's 110 vs Pak, but it looks like a #3, possibly tied with Paul Strang
I enjoyed watching Andy toy with the Saffers.

Taibu's century 153 against a Bangladesh attack(on that form then) which I rate stronger than what they have now(at any point), also deserves a spot in there.

[jaybro]

Taibu was huge on that tour .....

[pariah]

Taibu was also great here against India - http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/219062.html
Bhaji, Kumble, Zaheer Khan and Irfan!

A lot of people here didn't want Duffin and Ewing, but today they are happy to have the Moors and Malcolms of this world in their Test line up.

[Kriterion_BD]

Taibu's century 153 against a Bangladesh attack(on that form then) which I rate stronger than what they have now(at any point), also deserves a spot in there.

The current Bangladesh attack is considerably stronger, and potentially would destroy our 2005 era attack. That attack consisted of Mortaza (at the time decent with the potential to be world class but injuries set him back), Baisya (not better than Mpofu, and statistically quite a bit worse), Rafique (very good), Enamul (lots of talent, but never was able to put it together). So overall if I had to rate each bowler out of 10 and compare it would be like this:

Shakib 7.5 > Rafique 7
Mustafiz 8 > Mortaza 6.5
Taskin 6.5 > Baisya 5
Taijul 6.5 > Enamul 5
Miraz 7.5 > any part timer we had back then

Its not for nothing that the old Bangladesh attack never took 20 wickets, but the current one has on 2 occaisions in the past 7 Tests.

I'll break it down even further qualitatively.

Shakib vs Rafique: Neither really spun the ball, and Rafique was a bit more economical. But Shakib has a killer arm ball and far better strike rate.
Mustafiz vs Mortaza: Mortaza was a true quick, but the Fizz has better accuracy and the ability to create wickets out of nowhere.
Taskin vs Baisya: Neither has good stats, but Taskin has the tools to improve his average of 80. Baisya had neither the pace, the bounce, nor the seam movement that Taskin has.
Taijul vs Enamul: Both are probably the biggest turners of the ball amongst Bangladeshi SLAs, but Taijul has consistently been competitive. Enamul fell away after one good series vs ZImbabwe and one magical delivery to Michael Clarke.
Miraz vs anyone: Miraz is a terrific off spinner and has a lot of batting ability as well.

[pariah]

Shakib 7.5 > Rafique 7

Shakib vs Rafique: Neither really spun the ball, and Rafique was a bit more economical. But Shakib has a killer arm ball and far better strike rate.

I'm stumped! You rate Sakib higher than Rafique??? Wow!

This Bangladesh side relies on the batsmen not the bowlers.

I still can't believe you rate Sakib higher than Rafique as a Test spinner! Not sure if your view is a bit clouded by Sakib's ODI&T20 bowling as well as his batting.

That sounds a bit like someone saying Kallis is a better bowler than Morkel.

[eugene]

That Taibu knock was a great effort, but of all the centuries I have listed his was against the weakest bowling attack. Tapash Baisya hardly compares to Wasim and Waqar.

[pariah]

That Taibu knock was a great effort, but of all the centuries I have listed his was against the weakest bowling attack. Tapash Baisya hardly compares to Wasim and Waqar.

21 year old captain, away in Bangladesh? Let's admit it that was a special and superb century. He really showed maturity far beyond his years as both leader and star batsman of the side - scoring well in both innings.

Australia almost got emarassed in a Test in Bangladesh just after that remember? http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/238171.html

Sakib > Mohammad Rafique? Never! That man could rip it!

The man destroyed the Proteas too! http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64029.html

If Bangladesh had today's batting then, they would have beated both the Proteas and Australia on those occasions. If Sakib was the bowler, they wouldn't have had a sniff.

[eugene]

Oh I agree Taibu did well, I just remember the others more fondly. Perhaps because Taibu's is from a time when things were really going down the drain for Zimbabwe cricket?