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Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaign

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:30 pm
by vikas
Zimbabwe were expected to pull off a couple of upsets but despite coming close to doing that on a few occasions, they couldn't really deal the coup de grace. They would have been greatly satisfied with their campaign if they had managed to beat a big team but the team threw away important moments, especially against India and Pakistan. While against India, poor catching stood in the way, against Pakistan, a batting failure meant they couldn't even chase down a modest 236. The defeat against Ireland made their outing worse. Losing Brendan Taylor to county cricket was another pain they had to deal with.

World Cup performance: Played 6, Won 1, Lost 5. Finished sixth in Group B.

High Point

Zimbabwe's sweated their way to a four-wicket win against United Arab Emirates, memorable in the sense that it was their only win in Pool B. However, their high point has to be the match against India where Brendan Taylor smashed 138 and made the Indian bowlers look ordinary, especially R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who until then had bowled beautifully in the tournament. Zimbabwe eventually lost the game but there is no doubt that they ran India close. The match also was Taylors last match for Zimbabwe and that made it all the more memorable.

Low point

Zimbabwe started their campaign with a 62-run defeat against South Africa. However, it wasn't a bad outing, considering they gave the Proteas some nervous moments. But the defeat to Associate team Ireland later in the tournament was definitely their lowest point. Chasing 332 to win, the Zimbabweans fell short by five runs. What added insult to injury was that Sean Williams, who was on course for a ton, rushed back to the pavilion after getting caught on the boundary by John Mooney. The TV referral showed Mooney had touched the rope in the process of taking the catch but since Williams was already back in the hut, he couldn't be called back. The match perfectly summed up Zimbabwe's campaign.

Captaincy verdict

Elton Chigumbura had to pull out after four matches on account of a thigh injury he had picked up against Pakistan, a match where Zimbabwe wasted a golden opportunity as they, chasing 236 to win, fell short by 20 runs. Great results weren't expected of Chigumbura's team in light of their resources but they played well and showed they weren't there just to make up the numbers. Credit to Chigumbura and Taylor, who captained in the last two matches, for keeping up the team's morale in the face of four successive defeats.

Most valuable player

Taylor had announced going into the tournament that it was the last time he will be playing for Zimbabwe and he succeeded in leaving his imprint by scoring 433 runs at an impressive average of 72.16. The fact that Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina shook Taylor's hand on his way to the pavilion manifested how much respect he inspired in his opponents. Allrounder Williams was another player who staked his claim for the most- valuable-player award, scoring 339 runs at 67.80 with the help of four fifties as well as taking eight wickets.

Major disappointment

As one of the most experienced players in the team, Hamilton Masakadza was always a vital cog but he had a sub-standard tournament. The 31-year-old started off well with 80 against South Africa but after that waned terribly with scores of 1, 5, 29, 5 and 15. He was also the one who dropped Suresh Raina early into his innings and the India's left-hander went on to score his maiden World Cup ton and spoil Taylor's farewell party.

Verdict

When all is said and done, Zimbabwe managed to impress on a few occasions but a big win eluded them. Result-wise, they look ordinary but what the results don't tell is that they fought in every game and didn't let their opponents breathe easy. A bit more effort, however, could have made their campaign that much better.

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:15 pm
by eugene
As far as World Cup's go this was not even close to being Zimbabwe's worst performance. I was looking back to the 1996 tournament when Zimbabwe were not competitive in any match against the big boys and struggled home against Kenya. 1999 was clearly the best tournament for us, but after that there really isn't much to cheer.

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:21 pm
by Kriterion_BD
Overall, it was a sad tourney for ZIM. Taylor's departure summed up that Zim far from recovering from the 2004 rebel walkout are only slipping further. Taylor and Williams and Chatara highlighted their credentials but also proved that currently there are only 3 players (now just 2) who can compete at this level. Hammy did well against one of the best attacks in the world, and then went on vacation. All the core players are around 30 years old and in the prime of their careers. There isn't much ceiling left on their potential if any.

Only the matches against Pakistan, Ireland and UAE were close. The SA game, Zim showed plenty of fight, but the game wasn't exactly close. The batting was great, bowling atrocious. The India game wasn't close: Indians chased 300 with the ease of having 6 wickets left.

With Taylor gone, Zim will struggle because it's a matter of time before Williams leaves as well. Its probably safe to say the likes of Nick Welch won't be coming back. Thoroughly depressing.

With the way Ireland and Afghanistan are going, I don't expect Zimbabwe to qualify for the 2019 world cup unless the ICC expands it to a 12+ team tournament.

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:33 pm
by brmtaylor.com admin
Kriterion_BD wrote:All the core players are around 30 years old and in the prime of their careers. There isn't much ceiling left on their potential if any.
Agreed. This should have been the tournament where the class of 2004 was at their peak... mostly late 20s to early 30s, in their prime as you said. Taylor and Williams probably did play as well as they ever have, but nobody else turned up to the party. A damn shame.

I think ultimately, history will look back on this core group and say they collectively peaked too early - around 2010 and 2011. We played a lot of good cricket in those 2 years. Some very admirable Test performances and plenty of ODI wins, with some feel-good comebacks like Flower and Blignaut to give a real sense of positivity. But we should have built on that. We needed to build on that. That little period should have been the beginning of something really good, maybe even to rival the late 90s. We just never found consistency though. There were some stratospheric highs like the Pakistan Test and the Australia win, and some good cricket at other times admittedly - but as has been the case in this World Cup if you play well for 80% and throw it away in the other 20% it all counts for nothing.

It's no consolation, but I think Zimbabwe played an entertaining brand of cricket in this World Cup. In particular, this WC has changed the way ODIs are played - the sheer run scoring ability on display throughout the tournament was phenomenal and Taylor and Williams both adapted very quickly.

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:20 am
by Kriterion_BD
I knew Taylor and Williams are class...really the only class batsmen in the side (was almost starting to rate Hammy after the BD tour, but this world cup took care of that). But honestly, I didn't expect Taylor and Williams to do as well as they did. They batted as well as any top bat around the world and outperformed guys like Amla and De Kock.

This world cup did change ODIs...and Taylor and Willy adapted perfectly. I hope Taylor comes back in 3 years and maybe Jarvis next year, with Cremer back, ZIM can still put on a solid outfit in 2018 if they have a lineup looking like this:

Raza
opener 2
Taylor
Williams
Chakabva
Ervine
Burl
Mutombami
Cremer
Jarvis
Chatara

Taylor will still only be 32 and still have 3-4 solid years left, maybe more depending on fitness and desire. Not to mention how much better he will be after playing 3 seasons of county cricket.

So I think it is in ZIM's interests that Taylor and Jarvis fail at county level...Jarvis has done nothing in his 2 years and I suspect will remain at 2nd XI this year and not get his contract renewed and might have no choice but to come back to ZIM.

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:42 am
by jaybro
Hami could still make next WC also .....

Really only Panyangara and Matsi aren't likely to be around by then .....

Im not so convinced BRMT will return after his 3 year deal is up, Im guessing living in England will have it's perks over living in Zim plus the financial security might be too hard to give up .....

Ervine, Ireland and others never returned only Price gave up his county career to return ........

Our best hope is that Williams, Hami, Ervine, Vusi, Raza and Chigs ( needs to improve ) are still around and youngsters like Burl, Lake, Kasuza etc step up, as for the bowling there is alot of talented seamers coming through we just need to give them some experience to international cricket ......

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:19 am
by grant
Nice review......
And Kriterion_BD, don't write Hami off just yet..... Even though he failed in the WC, he's a much better batsman than he was a couple of years ago. His batting record in 2014 was impressive...... :)

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:18 pm
by Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)
Guyz the only teams which beat Aussies in last 1 year are:

Zimbabwe (beat Clarke-led Aussie having Smith, Maxwell, Finch)
SAF (Thrice)
NZ (Only 1 who beat this year)

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 9:27 am
by Englanddude
Hello,

Nick Welch is making his debut for Surrey County cricket club second XI T20 side today alongside another ex Zimbabwean youngster Sam Curran who was named in the first team alongside his brother Tom for a T20 blast game last Friday.

Sam Curran is Surrey's most promising youngster and is already one of the top performers in the acadamy.

These two could well be professional county cricketers in less than a year.

Re: Team review: Lack of a big win spoils Zimbabwe's campaig

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 11:51 am
by Flakeman
Sam Curran is going to be huge. Not a real fan of the Curran arrogance but no denying their ability. Sam is the one Zim want to get back !