Battle of the zim squads

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Mueddie28
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Re: Battle of the zim squads

Post by Mueddie28 »

jaybro wrote:
Thu May 02, 2019 8:20 am
Hard to beat a Zimbabwe side with the Flowers and Streak, just as a reference for people you might not remember this is how I recall the players from 03 and how good they were at that time.

Wishart - probably the peak of his powers

Marrilier - peaked just after the WC

Grant - still a decent player but maybe past his best

Andy - looked past his best going into the WC but was Zimbabwe’s best player and scored a heap of runs

Campbell - Well past his best, originally left out of the squad replaced Vermeulan

Taibu - finding his feet as an ODI player, scored his 1st fifty in the Super 6’s

Ervine - like Taibu was still finding his feet, his best form was 12 months on

Streak - Still at the peak of his powers with bat & ball

Blignaut - peaking

Murphy - past his best, bowled tripe at the WC

Hondo - close to peak

Olonga - past his best

Ebrahim - never was a good ODI player, wouldn’t make today’s side tbf

Wittall - well past his best

Matsi - finding his feet

Vermeulan - finding his feet

So what I’m trying to say is although that side looked great on paper there weren’t many guys ‘at their peak’ compared to the 1999 side where most of the guys on 1st XI were very close of not playing at their best.

Hard to say with the current mob how many are at their best? I’d say most of the batsman are probably on the peaks of their careers and you could argue the same for the bowlers.

On paper you’d say the 2003 side but on the field 2003 v 2019 might be a bit closer than most think.
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jaybro
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Re: Battle of the zim squads

Post by jaybro »

ZIMDOGGY wrote:
Thu May 02, 2019 12:57 pm

very accurate to my mind as well.

Only tweaks Id make is that Vermeulen actually hit the ground running and was a very good player early on in his international career, and Wisharts big innings only came against club sides like Namibia and Bangladesh (at that time).

Wishart a bit like Cephas in some ways.
Yeah I agree with Rex, but his best form was 12 months on when he did well in OZ and scored that hundred at home v the Windies, at that point I thought he was Zimbabwe's next big thing.

Yeah Wish never really mad his mark v the big sides, as you pointed out that hundred v Namibia being his highest point which is why I reckon he was at his peak. He also did ok around the time of the 03 tour to Oz and scored a 96 in the same innings Rex got his 100, a knee injury kept him out of the VB Tri series in Oz, whilst the rebellion then pretty much ended him.
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zimbos_05
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Re: Battle of the zim squads

Post by zimbos_05 »

'03 squad wins this for me hand down. They were matching it with some of the worlds best. The current side has flopped to UAE, Afghanistan and Scotland.

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