Our Test Bowling Attack

[sscricket]

Betterdays,

Fine.Elton can play as a batsman if Meth is allowed to lead the attack.

When was the last time a Zim bowler had such an impressive domestic record?

Here is your link to ZimCricket's endorsement of Meth.

http://www.zimcricket.org/index.php?opt ... Itemid=125

This kid deserves to be put faith in more than anyone else.

[eugene]

The rest of us are picking teams that will win and pick up 20 wickets.

The team most picked was basically the one vs BD and PK ... and when we talk of top tier it becomes PK in which we got just the 13 wickets tho'

We are picking teams that we think give us the best shot of winning, whereas hhm is picking teams that have no ambition of winning but merely competing for a couple of days.

[Jemisi]

So, for all of that conflict, we are pretty much agreed on Mpofu, Jarvis and almost Price but maybe Cremer. It is bowler 4 that everyone disagrees on.

[hhm]

eugene, I did not pick an attack which is there to save face. I picked an attack which, in my opinion, is better than the current one. To say my guys lack both penetration and pace is an addictive myth artfully propagated by naughty sections to pollute this forum and unconsciously sniffed by many. I hope some can still be salvaged from continuing to breathe that those fabrications. It's a pity there won't be speed gun the T20 competition. My guys are capable of bowling 130-134kph throughout a Test match. That is sufficient. Even Panyangara(&Elton) bowled that pace not too long ago in the WC so stop lying! Your boys won't bowl any quicker most of the time durng a Test match, they will also operate within that range.

For the record I have stated countless times that I have confidence that Jarvis will be the leader of the Zim attack if he works on his game(I'm less confident in Vitori, and if you check my posts even though I was impressed by his Ban Test display I was convinced he doesn't cut it). Right now he[jarvis] is way out of his depth, and believe you me he will only continue to prove me right. We won't bowl twice to quality sides, and he WON'T take bags of first innings wickets, but WILL be expensive. Even if you won't admit it, you know what I'm saying is true. To accuse me of lacking ambition on the aprt of our team is being irrational.

We cannot consider the fact that we even bowled in that second innings vs Pak - to me, and a whole lot of other people, it equated to an innings defeat with horrible failures from these guys, all of which proved their inefficiency as bowlers, at both containing and striking at this level of cricket. The truth is hope doesn't pay, and records don't take into consideration that these were young bowlers who are still finding their feet. History says Zim lost, and their opening bowlers were woeful and near wicketless.

Case in point, look at India's equally pathetic decision to pick Aaron ahead of Yadav in the final WI Test. The end result has been 450+ runs with him being a liability to the team (expect Indians to blame the pitch). As will probably happen in this one, and was the likelihood with all the other matches, India could have drawn all 3 matches and I have no doubt that it would have definitely been the case had Aaron been part of their attack the other two. This raw talent, unless it's exceptional(Cummins, Fidel, Steyn etc) will always be a disaster. Vitori & Jarvis are far from exceptional in any department. They neither have the extreme pace nor the pedigree to compensate for the negatives they will bring to the team when we're up against quality sides.

Boundary, this is a thread about bowling, not batting, and I am confident that our present batting order can get roughly a combined 500 runs over two innings against top sides. They WON'T fold in a day like before, but we will still lose a lot of the matches by an innnings. That's not a defeatist attitude that's a fact. At least having bowlers who can both take wickets and do a better job at restraining the opposition will give us a chance to draw such matches, your attack will almost always leave top opposition with enough time to get their runs at a healthy rate, and bowl our decent batsmen out. To shy away from being realistic is not being patriotic, it's akin to encouraging Viru to continue to bat the way he did again if they play a Test against that Eng attack in Eng again - simply because they believe he has that ability and India need him to fire in that fashion for them to win. Reality is he will always fail in those conditions and has no choice but to 'completely' adapt his game or be dropped for someone who will handle the conditions better! What's the point of picking these youngsters when it's an almost certainty that aginst top sides we will concede 600+ dec by tea of the second day(with them picking at most two wickets between them each time), and with the pschological challenges of our much improved batsmen, that total is sufficient to guarantee vicory without the need to bat again!

No agreement Jemisi. Elton is fourth bowler, Rainsford for Jarvis.

[FlowerPower]

... For the record I have stated countless times that I have confidence that Jarvis will be the leader of the Zim attack if he works on his game(I'm less confident in Vitori, and if you check my posts even though I was impressed by his Ban Test display I was convinced he doesn't cut it). Right now he[jarvis] is way out of his depth, and believe you me he will only continue to prove me right. We won't bowl twice to quality sides, and he WON'T take bags of first innings wickets, but WILL be expensive....

Eish...you do it again! You frustrate me, just like a bowler who delivers 5 crackers only to give a juicy full toss to be put away anywhere the under pressure batsman desires on his final delivery..., you set up your argument well refuted eugene almost convincingly then say that...of Jarvis' 6 innings thus far (the only stats we can judge him on, not your all seeing crystal ball...) he has only gone over 4 ONCE, his first ever innings vs Bangladesh, he never went over 3.69 against the same batting line that beat SL, and also the NZ bat line up (missing only Ryder)...they may not be top tier sides, but they are Test sides. Note I have discounted Bangladesh because they are below us. Your denigrating Jarvis I assume is to promote another bowler who suposendly would do better...do tell who would make class batsmen bat twice from your lot. (Coincidentally I do ascribe to the fact that we may struggle to make a class side bat twice, but my point is who would be better in our stable?)

We cannot consider the fact that we even bowled in that second innings vs Pak - to me, and a whole lot of other people, it equated to an innings defeat with horrible failures from these guys, all of which proved their inefficiency as bowlers, at both containing and striking at this level of cricket. The truth is hope doesn't pay, and records don't take into consideration that these were young bowlers who are still finding their feet. History says Zim lost, and their opening bowlers were woeful and near wicketless.

Could be missing something, but wasn't it because our BATTING collapsed and we were a hiding to nothing and hence virtually lost by the time our bowlers came on for the second innings?

[hhm]

....hence virtually lost by the time our bowlers came on for the second innings?

.... our bowlers got to bowl twice?

Anyway, our batting has improved - a great deal, Tino&Waller included. We won't get skittled or rolled over easily. The second XI match against Australia is a perfect example of everything that I continue to put foward(as good as our current full strength side, missing only Taibu, against a side good enough to have beaten the Pak we faced) - those same bowlers failed in the only chance they got to bowl, while our improved batters failed as well. And it wasn't even a Five day game

You may not see my light, but it's glaring ibrightly n your face, and it shall continue to do so each time we come against quality opposition i.e Pak, Aus XI etc. I have more than enough evidence to justify my position without the need to deliberately nit-pick sparsely isolated negatives about these boys.

[FlowerPower]

....hence virtually lost by the time our bowlers came on for the second innings?

.... our bowlers got to bowl twice?

Anyway, our batting has improved - a great deal, Tino&Waller included. We won't get skittled or rolled over easily. The second XI match against Australia is a perfect example of everything that I continue to put foward(as good as our current full strength side, missing only Taibu, against a side good enough to have beaten the Pak we faced) - those same bowlers failed in the only chance they got to bowl, while our improved batters failed as well. And it wasn't even a Five day game

You may not see my light, but it's glaring ibrightly n your face, and it shall continue to do so each time we come against quality opposition i.e Pak, Aus XI etc. I have more than enough evidence to justify my position without the need to deliberately nit-pick sparsely isolated negatives about these boys.

Yep even if just symbolically they did bowl a second innings...21 overs...

I TOTALLY get you hhm, but my point is that would also hold for an attack of Mpofu, Rainsford, Chigs and Price which you insist on. My assertion is just as Jarvis, Vitori, Mpofu, Cremer (and I have conceeded to this attack's weakness) would fail to make a top team bat twice, so would Mpofu, Rainsford, Chigs and Price. If you accept this then it becomes a straight shoot out between the young turks and the older, and depending on gameplan. If we go defensive, then Mpofu, Price, Jarvis and Rainsford/Meth will do, and attacking would be the dreaded Jarvis, Vitori, Mpofu, Cremer, on all accounts I believe Chigs as a bowler is not better than Jarvis and Vitori, maybe more experienced but not better, but I am willing to listen to Rainsford is more containing than Vitori...

[ZIMDOGGY]

Fuckin hell you guys there's 2 threads going over and over about the same thing. Don't overthink this. Just Look at recent form- internationally>domestically. I admire the passion but relax up. My 2 centsj

[betterdays]

Don't overthink this. Just Look at recent form- internationally>domestically.

word! or preferably;
'hear hear!'

so, Chigs/Meth, Jarvis, Price, Mpofu. end of...

[sloandog]

Fuckin hell you guys there's 2 threads going over and over about the same thing. Don't overthink this. Just Look at recent form- internationally>domestically. I admire the passion but relax up. My 2 centsj

Fed up with the essays