SC Williams - Most talented young left hander in the World?

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CrimsonAvenger
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SC Williams - Most talented young left hander in the World?

Post by CrimsonAvenger »

Oh Yes, you read the subject line right. I believe Sean Williams is currently the most talented cricketer in the Zimbabwean side, and also the most talented young left hander in World cricket. He has elegence, effectiveness, fluency of strokeplay, all the shots in the book and more, and is a treat to watch. Every time I have seen him bat, he rarely gives the bowlers a chance to dismiss him, but still scores very effectively. Yesterday's match is a case in point, and so was the CWC 2007 match Vs. the WI, where he scored 70*.

The only names that come to mind when thinking of young and talented left handers in world cricket are Alastair Cook of England and Shakib Al-Hasan of Bangladesh. Cook is not as fluent as Williams, and Shakib is not as elegent.

Every team sees to it that its best player gets to play the most number of overs, to give themselves a chance of victory. India has had Dravid and Tendulkar at 3 and 4 (and even opening), Australia has Ponting at 3, SA has Kallis at 4. Zimbabwe can ill afford to lose Williams now and I believe he is the best batsman in the team. Whenever he bats, he looks so accomplished that he doesn't look like getting out. If there is anybody in the team who can score big hundreds, its him. He must bat at 3 or 4 from now on.

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Re: SC Williams - Most talented young left hander in the World?

Post by brmtaylor.com admin »

He plays his best cricket at 4, there is no doubt about that. He looked good last night, but the bowlers were Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, you and me could probably put on a 200 run stand against that combination.

That aside, I think he is the best First Class cricketer in the country, but I think we need to see more of him in ODI's. Taibu is a shadow of his former self it seems. I've been more inclined to put Taibu at 3 and Chibhabha down the order, but after yesterday I think Chibhabha could potentially be a permanent number 3. Maybe the top order could be Sibanda, Taylor, Chibhabha, Williams

Williams average is nearly 30. Off hand, I don't know how many 50's he has, but I think it's something like 7 half-centuries in 20 innings? That is a very good conversion rate. If he can get a few more big scores and some not outs, his average could be low 40's by the end of the series - and we desperately need a batsman with a high average. Only Williams (29) and Taylor (28) have half way respectable ODI averages, everyone else is in the 20-25 range.

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Re: SC Williams - Most talented young left hander in the World?

Post by jimbo »

If the selectors continue to mess sean williams around in selection pools then he will be off in a flash i fear to county cricket.

Of course i think he's a brilliant young player and one who can emulate andy flower as one of zimbabwe's finest.

I think that Williams hundred in the last zim vs composite match was two fingers up to the establishement for dropping him....Funny thing is that gary brent seems to have picked up this myserious stomach bug which seems to be plaguing the players :?

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Re: SC Williams - Most talented young left hander in the World?

Post by brmtaylor.com admin »

His dismissal today was a bit ugly. Towards the end of the match it was very disappointing to see the Zimbabwean Collapse ©

Just because it hits over number 40 doesn't mean you have to slog. We would have been much better off if Taylor and co had just continued to run the singles. If we were only 3 down by over 46/47, we probably would have been up around the 240-250 mark, and the batsmen, well and truly settled, could afford to have a bit of a hit and turn that score into 260-270.

The likes of Williams and Matsikenyeri are not sloggers, they are more likely to play classical, classy shots. Williams for example had a swing and only made it to mid off.

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Re: SC Williams - Most talented young left hander in the World?

Post by eugene »

While I agree that Sean Williams is a talented player I think it is too early to say he is the best young left hander in the world. I think we need to see him bat more in countries like England, Australia, and New Zealand against quality opposition before we can judge him.

Alastair Cook has proven himself against every side in the world whereas Sean Williams is yet to do so. Admittedly he hasnt had the chance to play alot of international sides due to the near banishment of the Zimbabwe national team.

I hope Sean Williams does go on to be the best left hander in the world. Zimbabwe needs some world class players, particularly since Taibu's form has dropped off and Brendan Taylor remains as inconsistent as ever.
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Re: SC Williams - Most talented young left hander in the World?

Post by brmtaylor.com admin »

eugene wrote:While I agree that Sean Williams is a talented player I think it is too early to say he is the best young left hander in the world. I think we need to see him bat more in countries like England, Australia, and New Zealand against quality opposition before we can judge him.

Alastair Cook has proven himself against every side in the world whereas Sean Williams is yet to do so. Admittedly he hasnt had the chance to play alot of international sides due to the near banishment of the Zimbabwe national team.

I hope Sean Williams does go on to be the best left hander in the world. Zimbabwe needs some world class players, particularly since Taibu's form has dropped off and Brendan Taylor remains as inconsistent as ever.
Good post. I'm awaiting the return to Test cricket - that will be the true indication I think. Zimbabwe seem to come good on the big stage quite consistently. Even if they don't win, they are pretty competitive.

For example, Zimbabwe vs Australia -> big stage, Zimbabwe play above themselves and win. Zimbabwe vs Eagles -> tour match, not the "big stage", they lose quite convincingly. Same with the Patrons XI, they lost by an innings, but if it was a Test match against Pakistan I have no doubt Pakistan would have had to bat twice to win.

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