Boundary wrote:I think I made my case for Sibanda. As Sloan backs me up, Vusi has good technique and after seeing the erratic nature of our batting, isn't a little stability a good thing? Of course current ODI cricket means the top order attacks hard and attacks fast, so someone with a lowish strike rate (about 60 in ODIs) batting that high would be puzzling but I think it's worth a try. As far as captaincy is concerned, Taibu is a wicket-keeper, bats high up the order and is experienced (having done it before) but making him captain simply puts too much on his plate. Price then becomes the next choice but even at 34 this would still represent a gamble. He's never captained before but he's obviously a leader out there and if experimenting has to be done it might as well be with him. However, my main concern is something else entirely: how long would he do it for? Eventually we'll stop packing 3 full time spinners and while he can certainly keep his place on merit, we have Utseya who's younger and Cremer who's a very bright prospect. If Price is the captain, it might be for a couple years at most until his place is not guaranteed and then we'd be right back to square one. That's why I view his appointment as transitional. Maybe H Masakadza but they've just dropped this guy, and they'll have to swallow their pride and ask him back, so would they want to make him captain? Vusi is a solution for me because he'll play Tests and in my view we need him in one dayers too. At 27 he's young but also relatively experienced. He led the younger guys in the I Cup and against NZ 'A' last year - so someone's thinking about this guy in that leadership role.
Stability is a good thing.
UNFORTUNATELY Vusi neither scores or runs or hangs around.
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:
FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay
Boundary wrote:If Price is the captain, it might be for a couple years at most until his place is not guaranteed and then we'd be right back to square one. That's why I view his appointment as transitional.
Transitional leadership is not that bad. India had no prospective leader when Dravid gave up the captaincy, and the selectors turned to Kumble at the age of 37. And, need I say more...
Vusi Sibanda must be one of the most overrated players on this forum. He plays one great shot (and then gets out) and everyone is anointing him the next Messiah of Zimbabwean cricket. Unfortunately, as Zimdoggy pointed out Vusi 'the chosen one' Sibanda neither sticks around or scores runs. Sibanda may be experienced, but he has no experience at performing well or playing match-winning innings.
Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), Grant Flower, Dave Houghton, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Ray Price, Eddo Brandes
FOR AUSTRALIA SERIES
1 BRENDAN TAYLOR
2 GAVIN EWING (C) CAPTAINED TUSKERS VERY WELL ( SHOULD BOWL)
3 HAMILTON MASAKADZA
4 MARK VERMEULEN
5 TATENDA TAIBU
6 CRAIG ERVINE
7 SIKANDAR RAZA
8 KEEGAN METH
9 RAY PRICE
10 GRAEME CREMER
11 TENDAI CHATARA
Rainsford would have made the difference in this world cup, I prefer him over Mpofu, A pace attack consisting of Chatara/Masacadza and rainsford would cause problems definetly
Let's not throw the baby with the water, Mpofu has vastly improved in a very short space of time - there's no merit in dropping him now (a year ago maybe, but not now). Overall we should think of the whole balance - the spin trio have been the best performers, do we drop one or two of them (presumably that'll be Utseya and Cremer, incidentally our best defence against the Zimbabwe Collapse in the world cup) to make way for two or more seamers? Or do we keep the structure we have - one seamer, one allrounder (presumably Chiggs) - for a little while yet?
Vusi Sibanda has had more bat sponsors in the last year than runs he has made in this years world cup. Maybe the bat sponsors are as dumb as some of our selectors because somethings never change.
I think you would at least get eleven players who are better than Sibanda. Blignaut may be a quick fix but we need him - even if he is only batting. We have no big hitters for the lower order. The problem is most of our team - particularly the black players (e.g. Taibu, Chakabva) are all about 5 foot 7 and look to weigh about 90 pounds - they don't have the strength to just come out and hammer the ball like a Jacob Oram or Lance Klusener can. Blignaut is big and strong and actually has the physique of an athlete.
Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), Grant Flower, Dave Houghton, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Ray Price, Eddo Brandes
