Countdown to Test cricket: Bowlers

[brmtaylor.com admin]

ZCF has voted for the following players so far:

1. Taylor
2. H Masakadza
3. Williams

...

10. Price
11. Mpofu

And also for a (specialist) combination of 2 spinners and 2 seamers.

In this poll, place one vote for your preferred second spin bowler and one vote for your preferred second seam bowler. By the end of the voting period, the spinner and seamer with the most votes will go into the ZCF chosen eleven.

[hhm]

No secret about my vote, I went for Rainsford with Panyangara narrowly missing out.

You might want to revise that one brmtaylor.com. I doubt Meth should be part of the options. Based on the criteria that you specified when the bowler combinations were being chosen, I think guys like Meth, who are potentially allrounders, were to be excluded. Otherwise I think your poll would have had 3seamers/2spinners coming out tops.

With our batting shortcomings, I don't fancy having a second specialist spinner so I abdicate my right to choose the second spinner. Hence the odd number in the aggregate votes.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

It was a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't type decision to put Meth in there - an argument could be mounted both ways. Cremer, Price, Utseya, S Masakadza have First Class hundreds while Meth doesn't and Cremer has comparable batting averages to Meth... yet of all of those players, Meth is probably the only one who could get a game on his batting alone (although I wouldn't like his odds of that based on his recent form). So ultimately I looked at his last few games for Zimbabwe, and he batted at 9 - so I included him in this list.

If enough people feel strongly about it and want him to bat at 6 or 7 or something, ie. "I would have voted for him in the middle order polls!" then just mention that in your post and go with your original decision here and I'll know to include him in the middle order poll later on as well.

[hhm]

It was a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't type decision to put Meth in there - an argument could be mounted both ways. If enough people feel strongly about it and want him to bat at 6 or 7 or something, ie. "I would have voted for him in the middle order polls!" then just mention that in your post and go with your original decision here and I'll know to include him in the middle order poll later on as well.

Not a problem. It's just that I was a bit concerned that the Bowler Combinations Poll result viewtopic.php?p=26014#p26014, which has a direct bearing on this poll, might have been different depending on how many people viewed Meth as just a seamer as opposed to an allrounder (albeit in the making) when making their choices. In which case that would have affected the choices we are having to put forward in this poll. Just to shed light on this, if Mpofu, Rainsford, Panyangara & Shingi were available for the full Logan Cup schedule, I think he would still have outshone all of them (even when sharing the new ball with Mpofu at Tuskers); but I'm rooting for Mpofu&Rainsford as the seamers in the comfort that Meth is the standout seamer/allrounder. Should he, inexplicably lose out to say Elton in the allrounder shootout(apparently in by virtue of staying on as captain - which would render the ZCF options redundant since he's a sure pick), then one might probaly think 'I should have chosen Meth as one of the 2 seamers instead'.

[jimbo]

There might even be a case for Shingarai masacad\za coming in at number 7 in tests seeing as he has the highest batting average for Zimbabwe in one day internationals ( I kid you not)
Joking aside you could have Meth at 7, Cremer at 8, Singarai at 9 in order and then Price and Rainsford.

We dont need three green horns coming in for a test match so Rainsford would be the seasoned campaigner, At least in four day/ODI matches

[Conant]

Shingi for me. He has the X-Factor

[Boundary]

Sloan isn't here at the moment to vote for The Meth but I'm sure he will soon enough, he wouldn't abandon Meth at this point would he?

Anyway, I voted for Shingi, for the X factor like Conant said and also if you can get SA batsmen a bit wary of you then you deserve a shot. But for me mainly it's for the guts he displayed against West Indies in the T20 world cup, coming at the death after receiving a pasting and acquitting himself quite well on his debut. And Cremer because he needs the loot to pay for his hairstylist.

[eugene]

Kyle Jarvis for me, he will destroy everyone in his path. Graeme Cremer gets my spin vote.

[Zimfanatic69]

Cremer and Chatara. No-one excites me quite like Chatara. He is not the finished article but he is very very much the best prospect we have. Meth and Jarvis are also very very close.