Series thread - MTN Domestic Championship

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Taylor is not performing at number 5 or wherever the hell they play him. Get this, Sibanda wasn't performing as opener, so instead of putting our best opener there (Taylor), they put Taibu... huh??
Very disappointing, Zimbabwe were embarrassing.

Sean Williams is carrying the side...

[jimbo]

Williams is indeed carrying the side, Im not saying they should permanently drop sibanda but at least think about dropping him for a few matches as it will send a clear message to him.

Too much complacency in this zimbabwe side of late...There is no denying they have the talent especially in the batting stakes..

And bring back rainsford or even mahwire..We need to see how the south african teams will cope with a bit of pace thrown at them

[zulu]

U got to remeber that these south african sides are very strong and Zimbabwe are doing just as well as i thought they would i dont predict them to win more than 2 or 3 games with the bowling attack they have...

[aydee]

U got to remeber that these south african sides are very strong and Zimbabwe are doing just as well as i thought they would i dont predict them to win more than 2 or 3 games with the bowling attack they have...

I agree. The Dolphins game was definitely a disappointment, but other than that, I think they've competed pretty impressively. South Africa's first class sides are decent. I think Zim now have 3 home games in a row, which is a good chance to add another victory or two. I think even the best side Zim have ever fielded wouldn't be nailed on to win the SA Domestic Championship. They need to avoid many more performances like the last one though, that was a bit of a flop.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Brendan Taylor and Elton Chigumbura are out of the next match because of injury. Taylor injured his hand again taking a catch in the last game, and Chigumbura (more worryingly, as it might take a few weeks to heal?) has done his hamstring.

Chigumbura is a *massive* loss to the team, we are short of our only fast bowler and we lose a genuine number 7 batsman. To be honest, I think it exposes our bowling more than our batting.

What team should we play? Without Chigumbura our bowling lineup is completely shattered. As much as the team management like to think the likes of Chibhabha, Dabengwa and Masakadza can get through 10 overs between them, they can't. They all get smashed. So, sadly, I think we are forced to play a lot of specialist bowlers.

I think it is time to take a risk (we are losing, and it's not because we are scoring low totals either) so I would recall Graeme Cremer (3 wickets at a strike rate of 46 from 3 games, it's decent enough considering Gary Brent - the leading wicket taker for Zimbabwe this series - is going at a strike rate of about 33) and play him at number 6. Hell, if they are playing Timycen Maruma at 4 in the SAA series I think Cremer is more than capable of batting at 6. He is a reasonably good allrounder, so hopefully it will cover the loss of Chigumbura batting wise. Cremer and Chibhabha are fighting for the same place I feel, and Chibhabha isn't in very good form.

That leaves Utseya or Brent to bat at 7. Take your pick.

Mupariwa is in red hot form this series, thankfully. At least we have one bowler who is on fire. Price is an automatic selection. Then at number 11 either Muzarabani or Mpofu, and Muzarabani has been bowling at a better economy rate. The opening bowling combination is the problem. I don't know how quick Muzarabani is, but I doubt he is capable of opening. So I suppose Brent and Mupariwa will need to open with their slow-mediums

Muzarabani first change, or if the situation warrants it, we could even use Price and Utseya in tandem through the powerplays to slow things down. Because this is Zimbabwe we are talking about, someone will get smashed, so whichever bowler that is can share their allocation with Cremer.

With 6 specialist bowlers, there should be no reason for

a) Masakadza to bowl
b) Taibu to give the gloves to Chakabva to roll his arm over
c) Chakabva to have an over

Sibanda is due for double figures, so he will make 10. Masakadza is scoring well, hopefully he will make 30 odd. Williams is averaging 50 odd, Taibu is going alright and Chakabva is consistently getting starts. So by the time Cremer comes out to bat, we should be hovering around the 5/150 mark.

So, my eleven:

1) V Sibanda
2) H Masakadza
3) S Williams
4) T Taibu (wk)
5) R Chakabva
6) AG Cremer
7) P Utseya (c)
8) G Brent
9) T Mupariwa
10) R Price
11) T Muzarabani



Who would you play, considering Taylor is highly unlikely and Chigumbura is a definite out?

[jimbo]

I have said before that if the zimbabwe selectors have identified muzarabani and chakabva as players of the future who have earned call up's then fair play

I would say chakabva is in red hot form at least for the provinces side, It is ggod for him and a pat on the back for his hard work

Muzarabani has been in very average form..I never see him making headlines for the provinces side in the three day matches or one day.... Why didnt the selectors give trevor garwe a go or something or even rainsford/Mahwire...At least they have a bit of pace about them

[zimdan]

http://myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=6889&part=sports

Live link to the mtn matches on supersport 2. There is one on now.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

MTN Championship
Zimbabwe vs Titans
Zim (8/223, Taibu 116, Matsikenyeri 52, Mbhalati 4/36)

We just can't seem to get beyond 220 or so, very strange. Still, a decent score, let's hope the bowlers can defend it.

[Train Driver]

Great knock from Taibu, i'm a little bit surprised that Matsikenyeri is back though, but congratulations to him on his 50.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

With Taylor and Chigumbura supposed to be out I suppose it was him, Chakabva and Chibhabha all fighting for places. I say "supposed" because there was apparently a small chance that Taylor would play, and as no team listings have been released yet, you never know...