The recent developments

[brmtaylor.com admin]

http://www.brmtaylor.com/news-117.html
http://www.sundaynews.co.zw/inside.aspx ... 2871&cat=5

So apparently Taibu's kit was left in Bangladesh because the teams luggage was too heavy, and he was uncomfortable using someone elses - hence he didn't play any of the ODI's. That is such a bizarre story it must be true, so presumably Taibu is as open to selection as anyone.

And Charles Coventry is meeting with Walter Chawaguta to discuss his availability. That is very promising, and we can only hope that it will lead to a positive outcome.

And of course recently Bvute indicated Vermeulen is available to be selected.


Taking into account these recent developments, we could potentially go to Sri Lanka looking like this:

1. H Masakadza
2. C Coventry
3. M Vermeulen
4. S Williams
5. T Taibu (wk)
6. P Utseya (c)
7. E Chigumbura
8. F Mutizwa
9. G Cremer
10. R Price
11. E Rainsford


The fast bowling department still looks light-on, but otherwise the team is shaping up to look quite good. Coventry and Vermeulen have played a bit of cricket overseas in the years after they last played international cricket, so hopefully they will have matured and bettered their game.

It will be interesting to see how the national team players go in the upcoming Faithwear series which starts this Friday. I don't think any of us saw that coming

[zimfan1]

come on bredontaylor that team has 5 white players in you really think that is going to happen?

but if we are all being positive then its great news that some of the old players are slowly starting to trickle back into the game now we just need to stop the young ones from leaving

[zimfan1]

so after the Zimbabwe A announcement looks like it will be the same 15 to tour sri lanka minus Malcolm Waller and providing that Sean Williams is available

i imagine that chibbaha will come on for waller

[Sir Mupariwa]

I think its too early to bring Vermeulen on, why not put him in the team thats going to India and if he proves himself then we include him for our next tour. Despite the lack of form in the previous series i still think Mupariwa is still our man when playing against Sri Lanka, so maybe they will have to fight it out with Cremer. This is also dependent on the conditions there and how well Sri Lanka are able to play spin. A two man pace attack leaves Utseya with very few options aswell, since most of our guys can do a bit of some spin bowling we really have to field our best pace bowlers.

1. H Masakadza
2. C Coventry
3. Chibhabha
4. S Williams
5. T Taibu (wk)
6. P Utseya (c)
7. E Chigumbura
8. F Mutizwa
9. Mupariwa/ G Cremer
10. R Price
11. E Rainsford

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I think there is no way Cremer can be dropped coming off the back of a 15 wicket series. With the sort of form he is in you have to give him at least a chance to prove himself against Sri Lanka.

We are so lucky to have Chigumbura in the team - without him it would be hard to justify 2 spinners in an ODI let alone contemplating 3. Chigumbura is a really valuable asset to the team. We are so desperately in need of another true pace allrounder to accommodate our spin bowlers, if we are going to play a spin trio consistently. It's a shame we lost Panyangara, because he was very similar to Chigumbura (probably not as good with the bat though). I guess there is pressure on Manyumwa to fill this role in the future, it seems that is the role he plays in the A team. But again, more of a bowler and needs to work on his batting more.

[Sir Mupariwa]

Well, i feel both Craemer and Mupariwa will be given a chance in the coming series coz it will be unreasonable no to after Craemer's performance and Mupariwa's overall figures against Sri Lanka. By the time we play the third ODI im sure we would have worked out the right bowling combination.