zimcricketforums.com

okay we have pretty much settled on our top 4 for the odis but the middle orders the problem ! lets have a look who can bat there , i would love taylor there but im not a fan of chibaha in the odis (hope he proves me wrong ) if only we had ballance ! well heres the people who can compete for that roll atm.
lets says sibanda and taylor open and mazzy at 3 , now 4 ? ervine , mutizwa , waller , taibu , chakabva ,coventry , matskinyeri , williams ? the only contenders for the middle order maybe even lamb if were desperate ! im so concered about this and want to see everyones thoughts . we are in desperate need of a quality opener to allow taylor to drop down or a quality CONSISTENT middle order bat. zim please sort sean willams out or brainwash ballance to come play for us. im afraid this will haunt us for a long time not having a reliable middle order. i would even consider bringing vermuelen into number 4 and leaving taylor at 2 , but its like having a time bomb in the team at any stage could explode and kill everyone. share your thoughts fellow forumers

For a man of his talent he can excel anywhere in the batting order, but Vusi Sibanda's relative success when opening for us is what created a lot of confusion. He should be in that middle order! If it were not for his ultimately fatal mixups with Taibu in the world cup, he was well on his way to getting probably one of the finest centuries of the WC after his run-a-ball 50 against Kenya. In that game, he played in the middle order and I think we all didn't want his innings to end. Ervine might have been MOM, but I think we'll agree that Vusi's knock was better, and the foundation was already laid by the time Ervine set about with his destruction job. If Vusi is playing anywhere between 3-4 our innings would be pushing on better! The opposition would strugggle to keep him quiet plus, if they can avoid runouts, him and Taibu would milk the singles and turn 2s into 3s. Right now he treats us to flair, at most up to the 15th over, then gloom sets in when the Hami-Taylor show rides into town, and it only springs back to life when Taibu comes in after Ervine's brief stay. But more often than not, if Taibu doesn't stick around the rest crumble around Taylor, assuming he lasted longer than 2 balls, but then again at times he's not too bothered about trying to hurry the innings at the expense of his figures, in case he gets knocked over! Can't blame him - captaincy's done that to him!

Do we even know what the ODI squad actually is ?

sloandog wrote:Do we even know what the ODI squad actually is ?

Zimbabwe squad



BRM Taylor*, CJ Chibhabha, E Chigumbura, KM Jarvis, H Masakadza, KO Meth, CB Mpofu, N Mushangwe, F Mutizwa, RW Price, V Sibanda, T Taibu†, P Utseya, MN Waller
no ervine again , seems to have lost his place.cremer must not be far away either, would love to see raza in there even though his form has not been great would be nice to try something different. the selectors seem to go back and forward with the openers for example : sibanda , mazzy . mazzy, taylor . taylor , chibhabha . chibhabha , sibanda. does not make sense to me at all might as well see what the likes of raza , duffin ewing ? can offfer before the next world cup , surely if coventry can why not some young blood or a experienced head in duffin. still think mazzy and taylor was the best opening combo we head in the last 5 years

I think Vusi/Duffin shld open.Raza still needs more tym,let's not rush the guy like we are doing with Chibhabha and Mutizwa.i value experience rather than form.we need to the team to build around the likes Ewing,Duffin and Taibu.

Shasha wrote:I think Vusi/Duffin shld open. Raza still needs more tym,let's not rush the guy like we are doing with Chibhabha and Mutizwa.i value experience rather than form.we need to the team to build around the likes Ewing,Duffin and Taibu.

Slowly but surely common sense is setting in!!

I know someone out there is already saying Foster had cemented his playing ahead of Waller , Ervine. I reckon that he gives us a convincing run in this series then we can give him number 6 .

Flower power wrote:I know someone out there is already saying Foster had cemented his playing ahead of Waller , Ervine. I reckon that he gives us a convincing run in this series then we can give him number 6 .

If Mutizwa can put in a few more good efforts in this series then he'll probably have the ODI spot sewn up for a while.

I'd like to see Craig Ervine given another shot in the Test against New Zealand though. In the last Test he all but scored a half-century, his domestic form has been solid if not unspectacular. I reckon he's done enough to hold on to his spot but he has certainly not cemented his place.

brmtaylor.com admin wrote:I'd like to see Craig Ervine given another shot in the Test against New Zealand though. In the last Test he all but scored a half-century, his domestic form has been solid if not unspectacular. I reckon he's done enough to hold on to his spot but he has certainly not cemented his place.

I agree on that one. I'd also like to see Ervine once more. But more appropriately he needs to play the XI game and if he fails, let's hope Ewing and Matsi will be playing alongside him as well as Forster so we can hand it to whoever does well. That's how Copeland got in ahead of Siddle for the first SL test for Aus.

andybligz93 wrote:

sloandog wrote:Do we even know what the ODI squad actually is ?

Zimbabwe squad



BRM Taylor*, CJ Chibhabha, E Chigumbura, KM Jarvis, H Masakadza, KO Meth, CB Mpofu, N Mushangwe, F Mutizwa, RW Price, V Sibanda, T Taibu†, P Utseya, MN Waller
no ervine again , seems to have lost his place.cremer must not be far away either, would love to see raza in there even though his form has not been great would be nice to try something different. the selectors seem to go back and forward with the openers for example : sibanda , mazzy . mazzy, taylor . taylor , chibhabha . chibhabha , sibanda. does not make sense to me at all might as well see what the likes of raza , duffin ewing ? can offfer before the next world cup , surely if coventry can why not some young blood or a experienced head in duffin. still think mazzy and taylor was the best opening combo we head in the last 5 years

Taylor s partnerships http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... ow_summary

1. Taylor
2. Masakadza
3. Taibu
4. Sibanda
5. Chibhabha
6. Mutizwa
7.Chigumbura