Series Thread: Al Barakha Cup (Canada T20)

[Kopje]

Zim win. Should never have gotten to this stage, though...

Yea man, congrats to all Zimbos and Zim team. We shouldn't have got here though i agree.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Zim win. Should never have gotten to this stage, though...

Very hollow victory.

But I'd much prefer the scorecard to say Zimbabwe win from a bowl out than Tied match. It doesn't matter how you get them in the end I guess.

Tawanda Mupariwa being interviewed right now, I think he's saying what we are all thinking (we have the quality, shouldn't have got to this stage, we shouldn't have to rely on a bowl out to win, etc).

[jimbo]

Another point worth considering is that its a good job that the zimbabwe team manager givemore makoni talked taibu into coming onto the tour, It would have been much worse but for him

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Another point worth considering is that its a good job that the zimbabwe team manager givemore makoni talked taibu into coming onto the tour, It would have been much worse but for him

True. Ethically, it might not have been the right thing to do, but from a cricket perspective it definitely paid off.

Zimbabwe played very poorly today, we must turn our form around ahead of the Kenya tri-series. I don't think Ireland or Kenya will be as forgiving as Canada. Twenty20 is a funny game though, I mean - that bowl out was one of the strangest things I've seen. A lot of Zimbabwe's wickets were a result of risk taking, so hopefully in the 50 over match when there is not such a focus on scoring we will be able to structure our innings better.

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

I must confess that i was speechless when scores were tied. I went into bed quitely driving a paralles between this and Ireland tie. I had no idea about bowl out. Then i thought of sharing my feelings with OUR OWN peoples i.e., this fab group.

It was a pleasant suprise to see maehara's post. I quickly hooked to cricinfo on my mobile n was RELEIVED to see the result.

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

Though we did very bad in total 40 overs but we must give credit to our team for bowl out. It's not that easy, ask Pak.

Yeah, we will surely do well in 50 overs but we must not underestimate our opponents. In the 90 over match N.O' Brian hammerd 146 against Kenya.

we badly need Williams and Taylor.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I've been saying for a long time that our squad depth is non-existant.

Our best first XI (which we would have seen at times early this year and late last year) was of a decent standard. It included guys like Taylor, Williams, Sibanda and Brent and meant there was no room for players like Dabengwa and Mpofu and demonstrated we could compete on the international stage.

But now we have lost some players, our lack of depth is exposed. As we've seen, Zhuwawo got out to a very amateur shot first ball - he may need another few months (or years) at Zimbabwe A level. Regis Chakabva is promising, and I am not opposed to him being "slowtracked"... we've seen so many guys thrown in the deep end over the last 3 years, if we get actually get someone to ply his trade at A team level for a while and actually deserve his promotion based on form rather than potential, that can only be a good thing.

Cremer is the only member of the non-playing squad who is actually at international level, I would be playing him ahead of anyone else.

Matsikenyeri and Dabengwa have to be dropped, there is just no point justifying their selection. Can't bat, can't bowl... but to their credit, they are both outstanding fielders. This can't be seen to be a rushed decision, they haven't performed well on the international stage in years. These guys should still be kept in the system, they should play for Zimbabwe A. And hey, if they perform well against good opposition, then by all means they should be reselected.

Utseya's position would have to be under pressure as captain. Yesterday's decision making was bad enough, but what was worse was that he repeated the same mistakes today.

I hope to God that we silence some critics (which at the moment, is us, the fans) on the Kenya trip, otherwise the the question will be asked, have we improved since the beginning of the Robin Brown era when we beat Australia and West Indies?

[andy24]

i think if Zim are serious tonites team should be this
1 H Masakadza
2 C chibabha
3 T Taibu
4 R Chakabva
5 E Chigumbura
6 S Matsikeniri ( we need him there just for another batsman)
7 Zhawawo ( just to give him another go
8 Muruma
9 R Price
10 P Utseya
11 T Mupirwa
12 dabengwa ( if his a speacialist fielder he can just be a sub fielder then.

[CrimsonAvenger]

I went to bed when the score became 35/3 fearing the worst, and was expecting to read the headline "Zimbabwe humiliated by Canada" in Cricinfo, but to my surprise, there it was! Win in a bowl out!

Yes, there is no depth in the team at all, and I was also following Kenya Vs Ireland Intercontinental Cup match, and looks like all the Ireland top order batsmen are getting into good form.

Lets get a good game today, and focus on the tri-series.

I don't even want to come up with the final 11, but here it goes:

1. Masakadza
2.
3. Taibu
4.
5. Chigumbura
6. Chakabva?
7. Utseya
8. Price
9. Mupariwa
10.
11.

Fill in the blanks... (that's the issue).

Finally, Why didn't they award MoM to Rizwan Cheema yesterday? - 23(11); 4-1-19-2; and hit the stumps in the bowl out too. I think he deserved the MoM award...

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Cheema didn't get man of the match because he was outdone by Elton Chigumbura in both departments. Chigumbura at one stage was on 21 from 11 I think, which was very close to Cheema's score, because he hit a few huge sixes... watching it live it just didn't seem as destructive though, but looking back it was. Furthermore, Chigumbura built on this and went on to score 30, which was a bigger contribution than Cheema's and more influential in the end. Throw in his 2/31 and Chigumbura was a better player.

And obviously those selecting man of the match thought Taibu was better than Chigumbura, which is probably true because Taibu played the anchor role and saw the side home (very nearly), although Chigumbura's sixes came just at the right time and he did take vital wickets. I would have given it to Chigumbura, but it was very close between them.





Right about now, having someone like a B. Mujuru or a T. Ngulube in the squad would be very beneficial. They are still largely untried, but take Matsikenyeri and Dabengwa out of the team and the batting depth within the 15 man squad is err... Regis Chakabva (limited overs intl. debut) and Graeme Cremer (limited overs intl. debut). Not a position you want to be in.

My prediction for the Pakistan game, because Zim won't want to disrupt the team too much, is that Matsikenyeri will be out and Chakabva in (I don't agree with this, Cremer for Dabengwa would be better). I think they should persevere with Zhuwawo for one more game. I can't see Zimbabwe making the final (we'd need to beat Pakistan quite a bit more than Sri Lanka beat Canada which is unlikely) so there is not too much at stake.

Fielding first again would be the way to go, if we can somehow bowl well and restrict them to 120 or less, we will be in with a shot by batting responsibly. But if we concede 160 odd (or more, which is a possibility unfortunately) then we may as well throw caution to the wind and open with Zhuwawo and Masakadza, Chigumbura at number 3, the teflon man Keith Dabengwa at number 4 and see what happens.