Ireland will be tough nut

[jimbo]

Now after the 2007 world cup ireland lost a few players. Johnson went into a semi retirment and boyd rankin went to derbishire. The quinn brothers went to plat county cricket. All of these players are now back i believe for the tri-series. Rankin is a partuculat threat with his height and bounce and caused zimbabwe some problems in the ODI in the world cup. Ioen morgan i think is out of the match but there are a few players in the squad with ccounty experience. Think zim will persevere though. We have our very own county specialist in ray price and also taibu

[brmtaylor.com admin]

For anyone wanting a good laugh:

"Take Ireland and Scotland. They are now definitely better than Zimbabwe. If Zimbabwe played Italy in a series of five matches, we would certainly win one game yet they are full members," he said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/200 ... -ITALY.php

Riiiiiiiight... they beat a Netherlands team made up of players that wouldn't even make the Vigne Cup first league, and suddenly they are world beaters. Dream on.

I think Ireland will be struggling to beat Zimbabwe to be honest (maybe they would win 1 in 5). Even without Taylor, Williams and Sibanda the squad is more experienced than Ireland's... the World Cup tie was an upset result. Masakadza, Taibu and Price will ensure no such thing happens again.

[jimbo]

BRM I do agree with you that zimbabwe will overcome. i would have preffered some of irelands countie cricket stars not to be playing and also In an ideal world Sibanda,Taylor and williams to be playing in the tri series. I think williams should decide where his priorities lie. We keep on having problems with him in terms of his commitement to the cause.

Anyway step up to the mantle Mujuru, Chakbva and marumisa im sure these will slot in nicely. Marumisa worringly has only one List A 50 but he has been consistent in the first class matches domestically. Mujuru has quite a few 50's in both first class ODI matches while I am sure that out of the three chakbva will be the biggest hit!!

And hello again mr ed rainsford..Zimbabwe have missed you greatly in terms of pace. Time for mpofu,chigumbura rainsford to crank up the speedometer against the associate teams

[maehara]

I think Ireland will be struggling to beat Zimbabwe to be honest (maybe they would win 1 in 5). Even without Taylor, Williams and Sibanda the squad is more experienced than Ireland's... the World Cup tie was an upset result.

Oh, so many conflicting arguments. I'm going to be positively schizophrenic by the end of the tri-series.

Ireland aren't at the peak of their form at the moment, but they're still easily the best of the Associate sides, and having the series outside the English season means that they've got none of the usual hassle of getting players released by their counties, which helps.

On paper, I agree that Zimbabwe are the better side - the problem is that Zim are inconsistent, especially with the bat. Ireland are more consistent, meaning that if Zim have a bad day at the office (a cert to happen at some point in the series) they'll be quick to take advantage of it.

It'll be an Ireland v Zimbabwe final, but I'm not going to predict who'd come out on top in that - depends on which Zimbabwe side turns up on the day.

[zulu]

I dont think theres much doubt that zimbabwe will beat Ireland comfortablly that article is laughable! last time zim played ireland in the 2007 world cup they drew, but zim should have easily won that with the start sibanda got zimbabwe off to plus lets not forget that the side then was weaker than it is now in my opinion even without sibanda, Williams and taylor we have Price and Taibu back! Players like Masakadza, Chigumbura, Mupariwa, Matsikenyeri are expierienced and improving especially Masakadza. even our fringe players in the sqaud are decent Chakabva is a real talent, also Mujuru who showed some good form with the bat against PCA seems to know his game well. and on the plus side we have rainsford back finally some pace!

Zimbabwe should win the series comfortabally they are both assosiate teams I dont think ireland will challenge zim too much and certainly Kenya wont.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Let's bring in the Kenya angle. Thomas Odoyo is a match winner. There is no doubt about that. He has been Kenya's Heath Streak for years now. Zimbabwe will have to look out for him, and also for Tikolo and Varaiya, the spinner, in my view.

Ireland have nothing to lose. This is one of their opportunities to showcase their talent once again at world stage. Again, Zim needs to be wary of them.

Zimbabwe is heavily depleted without Taylor, Williams and Sibanda. Chigumbura's bowling form and Taibu's batting form would be very crucial. But if we have to see Zim wining the series, I would certainly pin my hopes on Masakadza to deliver at the top of the order. For me, he is the key.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Let's bring in the Kenya angle. Thomas Odoyo is a match winner. There is no doubt about that. He has been Kenya's Heath Streak for years now. Zimbabwe will have to look out for him, and also for Tikolo and Varaiya, the spinner, in my view.

Ireland have nothing to lose. This is one of their opportunities to showcase their talent once again at world stage. Again, Zim needs to be wary of them.

Zimbabwe is heavily depleted without Taylor, Williams and Sibanda. Chigumbura's bowling form and Taibu's batting form would be very crucial. But if we have to see Zim wining the series, I would certainly pin my hopes on Masakadza to deliver at the top of the order. For me, he is the key.

Odoyo has 4/14 from 6 overs in the current match against the Pakistan Academy. If we can shut Odoyo and Tikolo down, as you say, then beating Kenya will be very easy. Maurice Ouma was once a promising prospect, but he has really struggled in ODI's... Kennedy Otieno is back in the team, and it's been years since he's been damaging on the scoreboard. Hiren Varaiya is a bit of a gun, but all but 2 of his matches have been against the likes of Bermuda and Canada. So his average of 19 or so is heavily inflated, in his two real ODI's (vs England, NZ) he's taken no wickets.

Tikolo isn't playing this current match against the Pakistan Academy (not sure if injured or just giving younger blokes a game), but I assume he still bats at 3-5, so the key is not to let him bat against our poorer bowlers... that means not letting Tikolo face Chibhabha, Mpofu and maybe Utseya and Mupariwa (but not so much those two). If Tikolo is left to face Ray Price and Elton Chigumbura, I think he will have a hard time doing what he normally does.

[Kopje]

For anyone wanting a good laugh:

"Take Ireland and Scotland. They are now definitely better than Zimbabwe. If Zimbabwe played Italy in a series of five matches, we would certainly win one game yet they are full members," he said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/200 ... -ITALY.php

Riiiiiiiight... they beat a Netherlands team made up of players that wouldn't even make the Vigne Cup first league, and suddenly they are world beaters. Dream on.

I think Ireland will be struggling to beat Zimbabwe to be honest (maybe they would win 1 in 5). Even without Taylor, Williams and Sibanda the squad is more experienced than Ireland's... the World Cup tie was an upset result. Masakadza, Taibu and Price will ensure no such thing happens again.

Thats wishful thinking, Italy beating Zimbabwe ?? Maybe he wasn't sober when he said that, Italy would even struggle to beat Bermuda of all teams. I agree we are a better team than Ireland, we should have beaten them at the World Cup.