ZC Team of the Decade

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jaybro
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ZC Team of the Decade

Post by jaybro »

With the decade almost at a close or in Zimbabwe Cricket's case it already has on the international front I thought we could look at the decade in review. Every major sporting side has put forward their team of the decade so lets have a look at Zimbabwe's whilst also maybe a couple of highlights as well.

Jaybro's Zimbabwe Team of the Decade (all formats)

Vusi Sibanda
Hamilton Masakadza
Craig Ervine
Brendan Taylor wk & c
Sean Williams
Sikander Raza
Elton Chigumbura
Graeme Cremer
Kyle Jarvis
Chris Mpofu
Tendai Chatara

In picking this side the sad reality was really highlighted that this last decade has really been a mostly fruitless one for Zimbabwe cricket. Most of the side simply picked itself and although I may have had to double check the stats when deciding the third seamer or Hamilton's opening partner there weren't many other names that really jumped out at me.

Maybe Tinashe Panyangara or Prosper Utseya, but Panyangara was really average in ODI cricket whilst Utseya was a proven cheater who couldn't even re-model his action!!! What this side also showed was the failings to bring through new talent by ZC, Raza & Chatara were the only two guys to debut this decade, the rest are the same old names from previous years and more than likely the same names will appear in December 2029 when we do this again.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... e=allround

As for the highlights of the decade they were few and far between sadly with despite a promising start in 2011 when things seemed to be on the way up it's been a story of player strikes, sacked coaches, cancelled fixtures, declining domestic structures and losing to associates for the remainder.

Jaybro's Top 5 Highlights of the Decade

1: Return to Test Cricket with victory at home against Bangladesh in 2011 thanks to centuries from Hamilton Masakadza & Brendan Taylor plus great twin debuts from Kyle Jarvis & Brian Vitori

2: ODI win over Australia 2014, wins over Australia are very rare, in fact matches against Australia are very rare for Zimbabwe so the ODI win at HSC was a very bright moment for Zimbabwe. Thanks largely to a good all round bowling effort and a unbeaten half century to Chigumbura, the last ball flick over mid wicket by Utseya off Mitchell Starc no less might have been the moment of the decade?

3: Test win over Pakistan 2013, after performing so well in the 1st test it seemed Zimbabwe had missed their chance to claim a shock and rare Test win over a 'Big 8 Nation'. A missed chance of Younis Khan in the 2nd innings when Zimbabwe had Pakistan on the ropes cost them victory in that match, but the boys came back harder in the 2nd Test with the inspired selection of Brian Vitori who took 7 wickets for the match & a 5 wicket haul in the 2nd innings to Tendai Chatara gave Zimbabwe a much needed win and another rare bright moment.

4: ODI series win v Sri Lanka 2017, the one and only overseas series victory against a full member nation for Zimbabwe in the last decade was especially significant because it wasn't a 'one off match' where they caught their opponents off guard, it was a full series of strong performances with every player 'playing their part' throughout. The exploits of Hamilton & Solomon Mire at the top of the order being the highlight of the series.

5: Overseas Test win v Bangladesh 2018, again the one and only Test win away from home during the decade was a highlight for Zimbabwe, although Bangladesh were missing some names Zimbabwe were huge underdogs who performed a massive upset as Brandon Mavuta spun them to victory on debut.
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Black Mamba
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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by Black Mamba »

H Masakadza
S Raza
C Ervine
B Taylor ( c)
S Williams
T Taibu ( wkb )
A Blignaut
R Price
K Jarvis
B Vettori
T Chatara

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jaybro
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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by jaybro »

Black Mamba wrote:
Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:29 am
H Masakadza
S Raza
C Ervine
B Taylor ( c)
S Williams
T Taibu ( wkb )
A Blignaut
R Price
K Jarvis
B Vettori
T Chatara
Blignaut played 4 matches ......
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Black Mamba
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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by Black Mamba »

jaybro wrote:
Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:18 am
Black Mamba wrote:
Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:29 am
H Masakadza
S Raza
C Ervine
B Taylor ( c)
S Williams
T Taibu ( wkb )
A Blignaut
R Price
K Jarvis
B Vettori
T Chatara
Blignaut played 4 matches ......
He represented Zimbabwe in 2010 and has got better stat then some quota advantage takers

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CrimsonAvenger
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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by CrimsonAvenger »

Great topic! Went through some of the stats for the decade and here is a collation of some interesting numbers (including all 3 international formats)

Across formats, this decade:

Batting:

Most runs in the decade: Hamilton Masakadza, 6170
Most sixes in the decade: Hamilton Masakadza, 133
Most fours in the decade: Hamilton Masakadza, 628
Most fifties in the decade: Hamilton Masakadza, 34
Highest individual score of the decade: Brendan Taylor, 171
Most hundreds in the decade: Brendan Taylor, 15
Best batting average in the decade (with significant number of matches played): Brendan Taylor, 37.32
Most ducks in the decade: Brendan Taylor, 17

Bowling:
Most wickets in the decade: Graeme Cremer, 164
Most maidens bowled in the decade: Tendai Chatara, 134
Best bowling average in the decade (with significant number of matches played): Tendai Chatara, 28.88
Best economy rate in the decade (with significant number of matches played): Raymond Price, 3.89
Best bowling figures in an innings in the decade: Luke Jongwe, 5/6
Most five wicket hauls in the decade: Graeme Cremer, Kyle Jarvis, Brian Vitori, 3 each

Fielding:
Most catches in the decade: Hamilton Masakadza, 79
Most catches in an innings: Craig Ervine, 4

Wicket-keeping:
Most catches by a wicket-keeper in the decade: Brendan Taylor, 74
Most stumpings by a wicket-keeper in the decade: Tatenda Taibu, 20
Most dismissals in an innings in the decade: Brendan Taylor, Richmond Mutumbami, Regis Chakabva, 5 each
Highest dismissals per innings in the decade: Regis Chakabva, 1.3

Partnerships:
Most runs as a partnership in the decade: Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor, 2733
Best partnership average in the decade (with significant number of matches played): Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams, 47.32
Highest partnership in an innings in the decade: Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza, 224

Other trivia:
Only players with 1000+ runs and 100+ wickets in the decade: Seam Williams (4070, 110), Graeme Cremer (1228, 164)
Only bowler other than Price to have bowled 300+ overs in this decade and have an economy of less than 4: Hamilton Masakadza, 3.94

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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by Robbo »

When did Masakadza and Raza put on 224? I don't remember that.....

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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by CrimsonAvenger »

Robbo wrote:
Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:15 pm
When did Masakadza and Raza put on 224? I don't remember that.....
This was in one of the earliest bilateral ODI series between the two teams. It ended 2-2 if I remember correctly. Hamilton and Raza were opening partners back then, in 2014:

Scorecard: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/116 ... babwe-2014

Both of them had a great day with the ball too!

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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by TapsC »

Brian vitori was a real loss. I wonder whatever happened to him

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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by foreignfield »

Wow, interesting stats, Crimson. I'll need more time to digest this, but one stat that immediately stands out for me is that Taibu heads the list for most stumpings although he retired early in the decade. I think we could at least add another 20 wickets to Cramer's tally had Taibu been behind the stumps longer.

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Re: ZC Team of the Decade

Post by ZIMDOGGY »

TapsC wrote:
Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:01 pm
Brian vitori was a real loss. I wonder whatever happened to him
But was he?

He was proved incapable of bowling legally and couldn’t pass supervised tests.

If everyone chucked, there could be a Logan cup full of Vitoris. We never saw him playing the rules.
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