zimcricketforums.com

This forum is funny for obsessive kinda fans...there are forum favourites and there are players that ZCF love to hate too (MMatsi,Dabengwa,Lamb) etc.


I just want to dispell a few rumours, and bring us down to earth. These are no players i havent said the same things about earlier On the flipside- i will do the reverse in a reply mail to this:

Tinashe Panyangara:

Was seen as THE white light of zimbawean bowling on this forum (although admittedly the hype started to die after the lankagame).

However i NEVER understood this.

2 things were going for Tinashe.

1. he took 6fer in an under 19s matxh against Aus.
2. he took another 5fer or something against someone.

Firstly, the 6fer was in a one dayer, played with children. Children and teens are mentally nervous and unstable. I believe Australia crumbled that day out of sheer nerves and desperation and Tinashe was lucky to collect the scalps (not unlike Mpofu getting lucky against Sri Lanka. Hell....in that same tournament Nepal was there and did well. Can you name any Nepalese today?

Apart from that Tinashes done nothibng. Hes militiary medium, doesnt swing and doesnt take wickets for his state team. Yet people were surprised he couldnt turn it on against Lanka? even after abysmal record against teams like bangladesh?
The guy is nothing better than a mountaineers first drop bowler. And being uinjured and in england made it worse.

Vusi Sibanda.

Looks solid at the crease, but thats where it ends.
Ten years he has shown that he is too slow to make runs, and that is few and far between. What is his issue? who knows..... probably mental weak. But he is not the future captain some are saying.

Shingi


Wheres the love coming from?
quick but cant bowl it on the pitch and is the most expensive bowler in world cricket today.


Tendai Chitara

I dont mind Chitara, dont get me wrong. Hes young and has improvement in him.....
however i notice the trend is similar to Tinashe, hyping him up on the back of nothing.

Yes, the last few games he is picking up bagfuls. But look who hes bowling too! out of the 55 state players running around at presesnt the best 20 odd are out through injury and world cup duty.

This means fringe players are the seasoned vets and the rest are no namers.
He is bowling too nuffies. Doing well, although so is Nicolson and Mupariwa and surpringly-Justin Lewis..... but as Jigsaw would say.
"you have not been tested, but your time ill come".

ZCF is setting themselves up for the fall by having this lad as the new pn up boy. Hes at least 2 yrs away.

and on the flipside:

Gavin Ewing.

I believe this guy culd be the short term answer to all lifes problems.
He played for zim in an era dominated by all rounders- travis friend, streak,blignaut, Flower G, sean ervine (and a dion ebrahim shoved into the order for political reasons) and somehow forced his way in regardless and stayed there till the strike.

Now yes back. Bit rusty at first, but hes reinvented himself as a hard hitting opener, who came into prominence as a bowler. If he hits his straps-he could be our captain soon. Hes only 31.


Chris Mpofu

gets a bad wrap....but he is seriously the best of a bad bunch. keeps it tight-ish early on..... Grabs wickets late in the innings. And bowls a respectable pace. He doesnt seem ridiculusly accurate and gets blasted when hes not on song. But hes holding the fort short term. Good series against the bangers, good series in the t20 WC, and a few decent performances this cup. miles ahead of shingi and tinashe.


martin waller

Where this white boy at?
yes hes been there before....played terribly...but hes older now and is shoring up the higher middle order for the rhinos. Never mentioned, yet surely deserves a chance.

ian nicolson
As good as anyone in the country, deserves another shot after a bad start should chitara or mpofu get injured.

pardon for the above spelling mistakes...im half tipsy.

now in true ZCF style...let me name my team for the next round of touring. (leaving out compton and ballance).


1 brendan taylor (VIP)
2 gav ewing
3 hamilton (deserves a shot)
4 taibu (although preferably id want him shoring up the lower order like a wiki batsman is meant to do, but no alternatives)
5 craig ervine
6 sean williams
7 elton chigumbura (on his last legs)....coventry as a pinch hitter should he fail
8 prosper
9 cremer
10 price (vip)
11 mpofu

12 lamb (back up offie all rounder....or discard him for the options below at 15.)
13 rainsord (back up pacer)
14 waller (back up bat)
15 chitara (if u want an extra pacer as zim usually does) an extra mid order hitter (coventry) or chibhaba or mawoyo(extra top order bat.


duffin feeling unlucky





wit this 11 u have 7 bowlers to choose from with 5 spins and 2 quicks.

if the batting still fails....id be VERY tempted to slot in waller at 4, taibu back to 7...and chigs, prosper or mpofu out. That will give us 8 bats and 6 bowlers

I would disagree with you about Chatara Zimdog. This guy has been consistently taking lots of wickets for a while now. early febuary he took a 5 fer which included the wickets of Overseas player horton,ewing,meth and dabengwa. I'm sure he will continue to take lots of wickets even with the return of the national players. I agree with you about payangara totally but dont agree about masacadza, He will come good and the economy rate is Representative of a zimbabwe side who collectivly got battered against south africa he was the one who looked like getting wickets against them which he did.
Give these two time, they have all the attributes of good fast bowlers

gavin ewing deserves to be the captain

has decent experience

could be soln to all zim problems

Great topic DOGG. I think we could add Chibhabha to the list of players that ZCF loves but shouldn't. Like Sibanda he plays one decent shot and everyone thinks he should be captain. I also think Mpofu doesn't get enough credit - I guess having an economy rate of under 9 isn't fashionable for pace bowlers these days.

How is Ewing's bowling these days? Perhaps he could be an upgrade over Lamb?

Jimbo-
I like chitara. Just I'm trying to say please don't expect miracles, not yet, he is developing and a bright prospect but a prospect nonetheless. Deserves a go though.

As for Shingi, the guy is a weapon at club level and he might come good but gee he has a long way to go at international level, he needs every ounce of Heath streaks knowledge.

Eugene- I like lamb, keeps it tight, bowls well, looks solid but even I admit he hasn't done enough to keep his place ATM, I think he might be misused. When he returns he will have to return as a number 4i think. Ewing will take over his 8/10 overs role and provide extra batting starch, Thats why I'm excited about Gavin. He could potentially fix 2 problems. Top order batting and bowling

Ewing would be solid in the middle order - he does have a test half-century to his name afterall.

PSR wrote: could be soln to all zim problems

Nope.

I like Ewing, I don't even think it's a bad shout that he could be a captain/opening batsman. However, a miracle cure he is not. Realistically, Sachin as captain/opener would not 'be the solution to all Zim's problems', so there is absolutely no chance that Ewing will be...

And for the people who are asking about his bowling... In the Logan Cup this season, he has 1 wicket in 10 matches at an average of 147, and in 40 over matches he has bowled just 13 overs in 7 matches taking 2 wickets. Dabengwa is consistently used ahead of him. To all intents and purposes, at international level he is a non-bowler nowadays, I'm afraid.

His ability with the bat is probably enough to make him worth exploring.