Best Test XI

[CrimsonAvenger]

1. Tino Mawoyo
2.
3. Hamilton Masakadza
4. Craig Ervine
5. Sean Williams
6.
7.
8. Graeme Cremer
9.
10. Tinashe Panyangara
11. Tendai Chatara

The rest it doesn't really matter, they all blow hot and cold.

Pretty much. I would be tempted to swap Ervine and Hamiton at 3 and 4, and Cremer is the mainstay only because we haven't seen the other young spin options well enough. Something has happened to his rhythm since the India series. Not looking as effective as he was since his comeback.

[Kriterion_BD]

1. Tino Mawoyo
2.
3. Hamilton Masakadza
4. Craig Ervine
5. Sean Williams
6.
7.
8. Graeme Cremer
9.
10. Tinashe Panyangara
11. Tendai Chatara

The rest it doesn't really matter, they all blow hot and cold.

Pretty much. I would be tempted to swap Ervine and Hamiton at 3 and 4, and Cremer is the mainstay only because we haven't seen the other young spin options well enough. Something has happened to his rhythm since the India series. Not looking as effective as he was since his comeback.

Although your best batters should bat at 3 and 4 in any lineup, and there is no question Williams and Ervine are ZIM's best, at least in Test cricket. I'd keep them at 4 and 5 where they are comfortable. You cannot bat them too low down the order and waste their abilities, but you don't want them to bat too far up the order either.

Mawoyo
Chibabha has done enough for now to stay
Hamilton (should be replaced as soon as a better player comes along)
Ervine
Williams
Raza/Chakabva
Moor
Cremer
Shingi
Chatara
Mumba/Panyangara

Wellington, Chisoro, and perhaps the 140+ U-19 quick could make up the bench along with Ives, Burl, Mavuta also being in for consideration.

Do not think the Tiripanos, Madzivas, Jongwes or Vitoris are good enough to cut it here.

[TapsC]

Beginning to see that the biggest problem we have right now is the lack of quick bowlers in the setup. no matter how good your line and length is you will never trouble quality batsmen if you are bowling under 130 in test cricket. they only get out by making a mistake. this also affects our batsmen coz the likes of ervine and Williams never get to face quality pace bowlers in the domestic setup. what we need to do is get the quickest guys in the setup who can consistently bowl at least 135kph and work on their line and length. that would be vitori, aliseni (although he is still more of a myth at this point) mumba and the u19 pace bowlers who were a lot quicker than these guys. I don't know how quick Elton is these days but he does seem to grab a few wickets in tests and his wides won't cost us as much.

As for the batsmen Raza just doesn't have the mentality for test cricket. any top class opposition can work him out very quickly. I would go with

Mawoyo
Chamu
Hami
Craig
Vusi
Williams
PJ

A specialist keeper is a luxury we can't afford unfortunately but Regis is a good player who is just out of form. I actually think he can deal with Sri Lankan spin better than most of these guys on his day.

[Detective RDS]

1. Tinotenda Mawoyo
2. Justice Chibhabha
3. Hamilton Masakadza
4. Craig Ervine
5. Sean Williams
6. Sikander Raza (Regis Chakabva/Malcolm Waller/Vusimuzi Sibanda/Elton Chigumbura)
7. Peter Moor (WK)
8. Graeme Cremer (C)
9. Gerald Aliseni
10. Tinashe Panyangara
11. Tendai Chatara

[sixes fan]

When i see names like chatara, shingi, hami, sibanda
being posted i just melt thinking how doomed we are.
hami will never change, post injury chatara cannot even
light up a zpl where 15 year olds are making names
& reputations, shingi was never good enough from
the beginning, about cremer did he not perfom better
than all spinners on show except guptill maybe but he
bowled better than sodhi, santner, nyumbu. ervine &
williams are not world class but are the only 2 we have
if we are to win a test match. If it was me i would
change a lot in the squad for sri lanka tests..
1: chakabva
2: mawoyo
3: burl ( if fit )
4: mire
5: ervine
6: williams
7: pj moor
8: chibhabha
9: cremer
10: aliseni
11: matigimu.. ( jackiel ) ( mafusire) (mumba)
mawoyo only in the squad because no1 else can face the new
ball.pj moor not tested yet. going for straight up pace
not shit we see from our front line bowlers. chamu @ 8
This will only be sri lanka tests if you dont perfom OUT
you go .. lake can open, mugava can play @ 8 another
spin option.bruce all rounder etc ... no need to keep
the same group of useless players thinking they will change
hami should be discarded from zc as a player, panyangara too
Lets move on

*same post in another thread

[ZIMDOGGY]

All the bullshit aside, its really quite clear who this countries 5/6 top batsman are.

This is the top ten averages of the last seasons Logan cup, every year its pretty much the same people at the top;
CR Ervine 95.40
V Sibanda 89.25
PJ Moor 67.00
SC Williams 59.00
CB Mpofu 57.00
T Muzarabani 48.00
RW Chakabva 42.33
NR Waller 40.33
TK Musakanda 39.00
H Masakadza 38

Of that list, you can write of Muzarabani and Mpofus averages as being anomalies due to not outs, no one will argue those two are in the top 50 of the country.
You can write of Nathan Waller as well, until he makes himself available.

That leaves:
CR Ervine 95.40
V Sibanda 89.25
PJ Moor 67.00
SC Williams 59.00
RW Chakabva 42.33
TK Musakanda 39.00
H Masakadza 38


Take into account it doesnt appear that either Malcolm, Tino or Chamu played a Logan cup game this season, you see that Ervine,Williams, Sibanda and Moor are STREETS ahead of the competition.

To see a correlation with reality, of those 4, how many played the most recent test series? 3.

Who scored the most runs?
The same 3 people!


Regis is also consistently averaging 40+ every year and must be in the test team. He is clearly better than the competition.

Vusi is also dominating.

Tino provides a very specialised role at the top and must be there based on efforts so far.

Tino
Craig
Willo
Regis
Vusi
Moor.

There we have 6, with 2 Wicketkeepers, opening the door for 1x more batsman.

At present, you'd probably have to say Chamu, as he is the incumbent and hit a 50.

As you can see, Its really clear cut on 6/7 spots. In reality the 7th is a toss up between Hammi/Chamu.


note: Chari averages 14 last season.

How on earth did he get a run? he was right at the bottom of the list.

[foreignfield]

Although I wouldn't argue with the overall trend, the sample size from last season (Williams 1 match, PJ 2, Hami 2) is tiny. A one match purple patch in the Logan Cup and a bold, but streaky knock on Test debut does not elevate PJ over Hami. PJ still needs to prove that he belongs at international level, something that Vusi, despite sometimes outstanding domestic form, has never been able to do. But yes, PJ deserves a decent run, and yes, Vusi is, despite all his shortcomings, a better FC/Test batsman than the Charis and Marumas, and probably better than Chamu.