Enough with the Matsi bashing!!!

[eugene]

Matsi 5th best, you have got to be kidding. If he is our 5th best player we may as well give up now because all hope is lost. There players are at least better batsmen than Matsi;

In no particular order:

Taylor
Sibanda
Taibu
H Masakadza
Ewing
Duffin
Chakabva
Mutizwa
C Ervine
Mawoyo
Waller
Chigumbura
Coventry
S Marillier

[ZIMFAN]

NB: ZIMFAN, that's actually a familiar phrase. I have, and continue to hear, plenty of certain people say that, up until circa 1990, Zimbabwe and South Africa were actually more interesting and exciting. I wonder why? Having left to Aus, Can, America, UK etc, they rarely visit those places anymore! Do enlighten me boet, how much more refreshing was the ZCF? That may inspire me and 'few' deprived new members to delve into the archives from time to time.......

hhm Things were more enlightening because every single thread didn't turn into someone's own personal dogma. I am happy you think Ed Rainsford is the second coming of Curtley Ambrose. Indeed I am happy to hear all your other exceedingly laboured points. I just don't feel like I need to read them in every thread and at great length. Why use one word when ten will do? Enlightened boet?

[betterdays]

Like I said, not taking into consideration Regis' performance away in NZ, and the runout affected one in Byo, you'd have to be blind to fail to see that he'll soon be better than [...] Mutizwa, if not already! .

I'm not sure your figures really point that out ... maybe they highlight one good innings difference between the two no more! We rave about Ballance for putting up some consistently good numbers but Mutizwa has done the same at 3. I am fighting blind here, i don't believe I've really seen enough of Mutizwa to really back him but his numbers stand up and he's done acceptably well in the last year ...

[betterdays]

betterdays, I know what you mean, but Merchant had just taken 8 wickets in a debut Test match! How do you drop such a player?

They did it to that guy who covered for Steyn in the series vs eng (i temporarily forget his name) - he bowled really well [maybe a little too Steyn-like] and picked up wickets only to be unceremoniously abandoned thereafter...

Remember, Morne was coming off a 'poor' home Test series against Australia. After Morne had failed relatively failed in that Test match and the previous one, he should have been the one to go. The final Test match against SL vindicates what I mean! What they actually wanted was for Philander to remain out of the team because they didn't want to bring themselves to drop Morne. If Morne Morkel read 'Lonwabo Tsotsobe' he would've been shipped out in a heart-beat!

Only the exceedingly idiotic would have been considering leaving Philander out but although morne was going through a very lean patch i do still believe a firing Morne is a massive danger to opposition.

I think at test level Morne has earned some leniency (not because he's a confidence bowler - though that will come into their thinking) due to the reputation he's built...so the Tsotsobe analogy doesn't work for me, at their respective points in career, in this format. however, the sentiment of what you're saying seems to have been clearly highlighted in the handling of Prince.

having said the above, i think Morne is now reaching the end of his allotted grace - should he underperform in the NZ tests then defo time to see tsotsobe or de lange saking their claim

[Jemisi]

Mutizwa has more hundreds than Matsi but in roughly half the time. His big deficiency atm vs Matsi is his catching which has been rubbish.

[hhm]

It wasn't an analogy betterdays, I might as well have said Shaka Zulu but in Tsotsobe I went for a name linked to the sport like Mfuneko Ngam - if you know what I mean!

As for Mutizwa, I have nothing against him(although I rate Malcolm slightly higher), and his record/run accumulation is impressive, and until recently, I have argued countless times that he didn't receive enough opportunities. Now is not the time - Duffin&Ewing being better alternatives for addressing Zim's batting needs, so I wouldn't give him(them) the time he needs!

The whole purpose of this thread was to 'encourage' people to back off Matsi! Going by some of the things people say about him, and the kind of players that are ranked ahead of him, one wonders what if anything they thought of the young man in his early years when little was expected of him, and he hadn't built up a reputation of unfulfilled potential!

Many of you didn't not have the privilege of watching the Stanbic T20 live, but even in that T20 match vs NZ, during his partnership with Hami - it could be said that Hami was merely bludgeoning to the boundary ala Graeme Smith, while Matsi was oozing with the effortless elegance of a Mahela Jayawardene! Matsi WILL look good&classy in any format - be it Tests/ODIs/T20s! He can play any shot in the book with competence and authority! That cannot be said about many Zim batsmen past and present. Why do you guys simply refuse to admit that the boy is good and talented?

Mawayo, Duffin, Steve, Mutizwa, Ewing, Chakabva, Waller, Chigumbura etc ranked ahead of Matsi - really eugene? You've got serious issues my man!

[eugene]

Matsi may have some talent, but is he going to score runs? The answer is NO.

[hhm]

Trying to find something JWard wrote on a match inlcuding the likes of Vusi, Matsi & Rogers.

Sibanda played some handsome drives down the ground and appeared to be learning quickly the art of building an innings, hitherto a major handicap to his development. He pulled Taylor for a superb six over midwicket, and then a powerful on-drive to the boundary, off the same bowler, brought him his fifty made off 78 balls...Barney Rogers and Stuart Matsikenyeri consolidated with a partnership of 96, with Matsikenyeri the more aggressive....This did not trouble the confident Matsikenyeri, who off-drove a boundary to reach his fifty, to the delight of his home crowd....The total was 242, leaving Matsikenyeri not out with 84. He never looked in trouble against the swinging ball and could well have played himself into the Test team with this excellent innings.

Quite rightly was selected and went to make his test debut, underlining his class in comparison to a lot of batsmen - grossly inferior in terms of talent!

This one against BangladeshXI provides good comparison, as does this one against an SA provincial combo, where Williams states a case for himself. How one can justifiably pick certain players and exclude Matsi is extremely odd!

How do you know that eugene? Hafeez & Vusi have returned as matured players, after being dropped, and have done very well for themselves!

[eugene]

How do you know he WILL score runs? Finding some quotes from one of his five good innings over a ten year career is not evidence.

[hhm]

It's not meant to be evidence. It merely serves to corroborate the fact that as with now, the young Matsi was spectacularly capable at his best - equally or more than a lot of people that most seek to significantly elevate above him! You forget that at various times, even when the likes of Hami, Taibu, Vusi, Williams, Taylor, Vermeulen & Ebrahim were gelling as young players during the trouble periods - Matsi despite being inconsistent like Vusi then, had higher stocks in the class column! Did people suddenly suffer some form of amnesia or has 'hatred' for a man who did nothing to you amounted to him being useless and eroded all that brilliance he showed at various times!