[Match Thread] West Indies 'A' v Zimbabwe (1st Twenty20)

[maehara]

West Indies 'A' v Zimbabwe: 1st Twenty20
22 April 2010, St George's, Grenada

More important in the context of the upcoming World T20 than the 4-day match, I reckon.

[jamthala]

need to play with full stength team

[Flower power]

I would love to have the batting top order to start heating up early as they are always the culprits for our downfalls . Our bowling line up can hock up any side in the world against a competitive total .

[sloandog]

I would love to have the batting top order to start heating up early as they are always the culprits for our downfalls . Our bowling line up can hock up any side in the world against a competitive total .

I agree with you Flower Power. Brendan Taylor especially needs to prove a point and sink his teeth into the West Indies A side. Come on Zimbabwe !!

[aydee]

Really poor result, especially considering we beat the full WI team recently in a T20. The batting is a major concern. Hopefully Bliggie can provide more than 0 off 5 and 1 over for 12...

[shumbat]

if you do not put scores on the board, you will not win nothing, very poor result.

[sloandog]

Come on lads we can do much better than this, with both the bat and the ball. Its really frustrating to see since all the players in this side are incredibly talented. They now need to use it, which would help our cause..

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Not a positive result in this match, although there were a few key players missing.

I think Taylor and Sibanda should open, although I don't think that will be a popular opinion considering how well Masakadza has played in the past year (nor do I think it will actually happen either). But going into this T20 tournament Zimbabwe should stick with what has worked in the past, and Taylor has shown that he can anchor an innings and Sibanda has shown that with the right intent he can really kickstart an innings.

I'm not convinced about Chibhabha for the upcoming tournament, I thought he was an adequate number three in the ODIs a few years ago showing real promise and fell down the pecking order due to the emergence of Sean Williams and return of Tatenda Taibu. It's understandable that players are rewarded for good domestic performances - which Chibhabha has done in the Stanbic tournament, but there is no way he should be keeping out a player like Charles Coventry.

So having said all that, a potential first eleven: I don't think Mpofu is as useful as his recent 7-fer suggests, just as his 6-fer against Kenya a while ago was misleading. I have never felt like he will be the guy to make the breakthrough when he is brought into the attack (but like most of the Zimbabwe team, he is young and will improve) - I fear he is the guy who will bowl 5 wides down leg and be launched for six over deep midwicket the following ball. So, I'd replace Mpofu with Chigumbura (1). I'm still not sure what Maruma's role is in the team, but Cremer is a much better batsman and bowler. So Cremer comes in for Maruma (2). Finally, I'd bring in Coventry for Chibhabha (3) for the reasons mentioned above.

No matter what happens (and there is an undeniable concern over the current state of our batting - and it's not through lack of talent) I think the ICC World Twenty20 should be good to watch. 20 over cricket brings teams closer together, and while Zimbabwe is playing nowhere near their peak a solid performance on the day against Sri Lanka or New Zealand should see a close match.

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

Keep embarassing Zimbabwe by playing novices and excluding match winners like Covy n Cremer

[sloandog]

Keep embarassing Zimbabwe by playing novices and excluding match winners like Covy n Cremer

I agree. If you're going to show the cricketing world what you're capable of, a full strength side is needed. And it's great to hear from you BRM