Draft 1 Poll

[CrimsonAvenger]

Well, bring on the battle of the Flowers!

[foreignfield]

I must have been on drugs with my bowling changes

Rogers bowling 10

Ervine, Johnson & Olonga not bowling at all lol

Ironically the key to my side was the long batting lineup with many bowling options, but in the end I probably had too many bowling options and my long batting all failed

Your bowling was outstanding, compared to the three other bowling innings so far: 194 runs conceded opposed to 241, 249, 278.

I was as surprised as you are that Ervine and Johnson didn't get a bowl, but Zim were defending 90-odd and 110-odd in their random matches, and England and Australia cantered home. Olonga's innings (0/41 off five overs) was surplus to requirements, so the wealth of bowling options actually helped you. I had to cancel five more overs and reducing Traicos from 1/50 to 1/25 (the one wicket rounded up) was slightly more advantageous than reducing Barney Rogers to 1/28.

Rogers had a superb match, in fact he was MOM on that day at Chattogram back in 2005; I believe he was man of the series as well. It seems a real shame that his international career was cut short soon after.

[foreignfield]

Well, bring on the battle of the Flowers!

The final would be a good time for one of the sides to bat the full 50 overs.

I expect a score from eugene's engine room (Goodwin/AF). No pressure!

[foreignfield]

Chicken farmer does it again. Eugene’s batting meltdown hands CrimsonAvenger easy win.

CrimsonAvenger 192 all out beats eugene 156 all out by 36 runs

The final of the Zim All Stars simulation tournament once again highlighted the frailty which has always been a prominent feature of Zimbabwe’s batting. Fittingly, a disastrous showing with the bat decided the battle of forum stalwarts CA and eugene, after his bowlers had given the Kiwi one-line maestro a fighting chance to claim forum bragging rights. Paul Strang (38) top-scored for a side rich in batting talent, Tatenda Taibu (16) the only other batsman to reach double figures.

Indeed, so embarrassing were the numbers that came out of the hat, that the authorities tried to cover up the whole sorry affair, and it took us over a week to come up with the full score sheets. Thankfully, ZCF still has competent and fearless members on the ground, as well as secure dead drops all around the globe.

Vusi 4/14
Vermeulen 6/7
Goodwin 6/15
Andy Flower 7/14
Taibu (wk) 16/38
Fletcher 2/11
Marillier 0/1
Blignaut 4/5
P. Strang 38/52
Rainsford 9/7
Chatara 0/4
-------
92 all out (28 overs)

CrimsonAvenger's bowling held its own with a return of 224/8, i.e. conceding 219 runs, and never gave eugene a sniff. Ryan Burl (4/32 off 6.2 overs), Grant Flower (1/31) and Ray Price (0/23 off 7) were the pick of the bowlers, but there were also useful contributions by Eddo Brandes (2/57 off 9), Sean Williams (0/35 off 9) and Wes Madhevere (1/38 off 7). Solomon Mire made up the full quota with 0/8 off 1.4 overs, Chigumbura’s and Rawson’s bowling surplus to requirements.

Earlier, CA’s batting also wobbled but did not fall in the face of an excellent team bowling display. Grant (2) and Solz (2) fell early to Blignaut (2/41) and Rainsford (2/51), Houghton (19) and Williams (26) got starts but were cut back by Paul Strang’s superb spell of 2/29. With Burl (2), Elton (3) and Choppa Coventry (14) all unable to make a lasting impression at the wicket it was left to young Madhevere (52) and especially the fireworks of Eddo Brandes who hit 55 off 35 balls to give CA a challenging total. Rawson (15) and Price (11) helped him to 201, a total later adjusted to 192 due to eugene’s impressive bowling return of 187/8, or 182 runs conceded. Fletcher (1/27 off 9) and Marillier (1/32) also bowled economic spells, while eugene’s most expensive bowler on the day, Tendai Chatara, was only required to bowl a single over for 7 runs.

MOM
Eddo Brandes

[jaybro]

Well done CA

Despite your wobbles up top you were able to post Zimbo-competitive totals and strangle your opponents to victory

[CrimsonAvenger]

I knew picking the chicken farmer to lead the attack when others were going for top order batsmen was a great bet!

And contrary to all my other calculated picks, the two youngsters Wes and Burl have been the stars in this series for my team. Good to notice that.

To think that Eddo played that knock of 55 off 35 in an era where quick scoring wasn't really on many peoples' minds should give us an idea how devastating an innings it would have been.

So, Grant Flower the skipper and senior pro David Houghton deserve all the credits for masterminding these wins!

[CrimsonAvenger]

Well done CA

Despite your wobbles up top you were able to post Zimbo-competitive totals and strangle your opponents to victory

Not suffering a full blown Zimbabwe collapse, which all the other 3 teams suffered, was the only reason to get these wins.

[foreignfield]

And contrary to all my other calculated picks, the two youngsters Wes and Burl have been the stars in this series for my team. Good to notice that.

You obviously didn't know we would do this simulation thing, but Wes with his three matches to choose from and no real failure was a high-value draft under the circumstances.

...

Eddo Brandes was MOM in that match as well, Sharjah 1993 vs. SL: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/854 ... hy-1992-93