[Match Thread] 2nd Match: Zimbabwe XI v Australia A

[PSR]

CRAIG'S gone

[canvas]

I think our new selectors will see through some of our more experienced players tactics of being unavailable now so they can make the test side without making mistakes in the warm up games. Taibu not playing because he has a sore hand and Prosper not playing because he has a court case. Please!!!!!!!!! Change the court case dates and play with the sore hand - Tim Paine is playing this match with two broken fingers. The time has come for everyone to stand up and fight for their place.

[eugene]

Too bad to see Craig dismissed so close to the end of the day. We would have been in such a stronger position had Taylor and Ervine been able to bat through to the end of the day. Craig's form is a bit concerning but at least he is scoring in the 30s, it not like he is struggling to get into double figures.

[jimbo]

I have just come in from work and seen this score and think zimbabwe have done pretty well, Not quite excellent but pretty well

another chigs century and hopefully some help from the tail would do wonders to bolster this scoreline

[Conant]

I also said Taibu is our best dependable batsman, but let's be realistic, Taibu is not a proper bastman. He might regularly outperform this crop, but his technique does not fit the bill.

We agree on a few things at least.

(In my dreams we field six specialist batsmen like everyone else does, Taibu, Chigumbura at 8 and our three best bowlers - but at the moment you wouldn't trust Chigs with that much responsibility with the ball)

Six specialist batsmen have always included the wicketkeeper unless if the wicketkeeper bats at seven (they hardly bat lower nowadays).
So, foreignfield, we go into a five day test match with what three bowlers and Chigumbura; in essence four bowlers exactly?? Worse when you say you cant trust Chigs with a full quota. So, three?? Come on

Maybe Brendan Taylor at 4 is what the selectors are thinking. I still like him opening because of his agression, and he is a good match for any of other opening possibilities whether it be Mawoyo, Masakadza, or Sibanda.

I would love to know by what mode Taylor's agrresion has been measured by, maybe his strike rate; and now we need an aggressive batsman at the top? Maybe we should employ Coventry then.

Too bad to see Craig dismissed so close to the end of the day. We would have been in such a stronger position had Taylor and Ervine been able to bat through to the end of the day. Craig's form is a bit concerning but at least he is scoring in the 30s, it not like he is struggling to get into double figures.

Eugene, you are making a bad case from a bad case.

Taibu not playing because he has a sore hand and Prosper not playing because he has a court case. Please!!!!!!!!! Change the court case dates and play with the sore hand - Tim Paine is playing this match with two broken fingers. The time has come for everyone to stand up and fight for their place.

Pre match excitement making us flip flop between sense and sheer fallacy??

I didn't mean to nit pick but really the stolid defense offered for Craig Ervine does rankle when other players like Masakadza where once dropped from these forums without as much as a blink.

[Boundary]

Too bad to see Craig dismissed so close to the end of the day. We would have been in such a stronger position had Taylor and Ervine been able to bat through to the end of the day. Craig's form is a bit concerning but at least he is scoring in the 30s, it not like he is struggling to get into double figures.

Craig is disappointing me. I'm worried to be honest. He's talented but I can't help get the feeling that his position has been guaranteed a bit too soon. Maybe he should compete for his spot with Mutizwa. Getting to the 30s weighs in his favour but consistently then getting out points to mental fatigue that sets in. He needs to get that sorted out. At least Taylor waits til he gets to 80.

[foreignfield]

(In my dreams we field six specialist batsmen like everyone else does, Taibu, Chigumbura at 8 and our three best bowlers - but at the moment you wouldn't trust Chigs with that much responsibility with the ball)

Six specialist batsmen have always included the wicketkeeper unless if the wicketkeeper bats at seven (they hardly bat lower nowadays).
So, foreignfield, we go into a five day test match with what three bowlers and Chigumbura; in essence four bowlers exactly?? Worse when you say you cant trust Chigs with a full quota. So, three?? Come on

I said I was dreaming, wasn't I?

Only worried a bit by the long tail that some people seem to advocate. Six batsmen plus the keeper works wonders for the likes of England or India. but again, I said I was dreaming ...

[clikcspeed]

The Mawoyo and Vusi partnership is looking good, they have managed to put 50+ scores in consecutive innings, their average for this series so far is at 75.66, the lowest this average can be is 56.75 (a duck in the 3rd innings). I think that this is pretty healthy - you always want to have a solid foundation that the middle order batsmen can work with so right now I wouldn't want to change this pairing - even for BT.

The run rate which a lot of people have complained about is averaging is 2.54 - this is not to bad given that these guys are facing 30+ overs - more than enough to remove the new ball from effect, looking at our team, we have Hamilton and Brandan who are destructive and can up the run rate quickly.

My possible XI would be

1 Mawoyo
2 Sibanda
3 Masakadza
4 Taylor
5 Ervine
6 Taibu
7 Chigumbura
8 Meth
9 Cremer
10 Price
11 Mpofu

Chakabva is the man in form who is unfortunately not in this list. His competition is Ervine who hasn't really picked up but for looks like a better player of spin - Bangladesh have more than enough spinners!

There are no obvious strike bowlers in the pace department but what bolwers like Meth and Mpofu can do is to build pressure through consistency, that is how we will get wickets - look at a guy like Darren Sammy, nowhere near express but an amazing bowler - really. They are also from the same team in the domestic circuit so by now they should know how to bowl as a unit.

[jimbo]

Need another out and out paceman to complment Mpofu, Vitori/jarvis fit that bill. Meth and chigs are military medium only though Meth is a good exponent of swing

[eugene]

I also said Taibu is our best dependable batsman, but let's be realistic, Taibu is not a proper bastman. He might regularly outperform this crop, but his technique does not fit the bill.

We agree on a few things at least.

(In my dreams we field six specialist batsmen like everyone else does, Taibu, Chigumbura at 8 and our three best bowlers - but at the moment you wouldn't trust Chigs with that much responsibility with the ball)

Six specialist batsmen have always included the wicketkeeper unless if the wicketkeeper bats at seven (they hardly bat lower nowadays).
So, foreignfield, we go into a five day test match with what three bowlers and Chigumbura; in essence four bowlers exactly?? Worse when you say you cant trust Chigs with a full quota. So, three?? Come on

Maybe Brendan Taylor at 4 is what the selectors are thinking. I still like him opening because of his agression, and he is a good match for any of other opening possibilities whether it be Mawoyo, Masakadza, or Sibanda.

I would love to know by what mode Taylor's agrresion has been measured by, maybe his strike rate; and now we need an aggressive batsman at the top? Maybe we should employ Coventry then.

Too bad to see Craig dismissed so close to the end of the day. We would have been in such a stronger position had Taylor and Ervine been able to bat through to the end of the day. Craig's form is a bit concerning but at least he is scoring in the 30s, it not like he is struggling to get into double figures.

Eugene, you are making a bad case from a bad case.

Taibu not playing because he has a sore hand and Prosper not playing because he has a court case. Please!!!!!!!!! Change the court case dates and play with the sore hand - Tim Paine is playing this match with two broken fingers. The time has come for everyone to stand up and fight for their place.

Pre match excitement making us flip flop between sense and sheer fallacy??

I didn't mean to nit pick but really the stolid defense offered for Craig Ervine does rankle when other players like Masakadza where once dropped from these forums without as much as a blink.

Sorry to see you disagree with so much Conant. Ervine constantly getting out in the 30s is a concern but at least he is getitng starts. It would be much worse if he was struggling for any runs. 30 runs is better 0 runs. Ervine's ability is clear for all to see, he just needs to work on mental toughness and occupying the crease for longer and getting 50s and 100s. Whereas if he was scoring nothing his form would be bad not only due to mental toughness but also most likely some technical flaws. I don't think any defense of Ervine has been greater than any defense of Masakadza. Almost the entire forum was astonished at his dropping before the world cup.

Brendan Taylor's aggression is measured by the fact he is always looking to dominate the bowlers and not merely survive. Surviving does have its merits, but I am fairly certain that of all our batsmen, Taylor is the one most feared by the opposition. When he is on form he is hard to stop.