What is Zim's greatest of All Time XI for Tests?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

At least we locked in Murray by giving him a cap, and Roche to a lesser extent as well.

Who out of the current crop of 18yo's should we give a cap to Googly?

[Googly]

Amongst the 18 year olds it’s pretty thin. I’m not sure how old Dion Myers is, but he’s a good bat. There’s also Milton Shumba, Nungu and Madhevere who can play a bit. I’m sure we’ll see them in the u19’s. There’s a really good Churchill leggie coming through, I think his name is Privelege Chesa, I’m looking forward to watching him. I saw him briefly at a T20 and he’s got real control, turn and a wrong’un. The problem is you can’t see their real abilities because the standard here is not good. Looking sharp against this bowling is no real indication. These boys should be getting regular hundreds and they’re not. They all play too many shots.
The good one is Muyeye. He’s some player I tell you. He’s that good that he may get opportunities in England after school.

[Googly]

With the exception of Muyeye, none of them are A standard yet. Shumba has played a couple of FC games and done ok. He’s a decent player, and with a lot of work could be good.
If you want to make a good player ordinary then bring him back to Zim. I wonder how Muyeye would pan out if he was dropped in the mix? In England he’s going from strength to strength and being much talked about and will get many county two’s opportunities next season and we will see how good he is. I can’t emphasize enough how good he is.

[Mueddie28]

Here's my All Time XI for Tests:

1. Grant Flower
2. Hamilton Masakadza
3. Murray Goodwin
4. Brendan Taylor
5. Andy Flower
6. Dave Houghton (c)
7. Tatenda Taibu (wk)
8. Paul Strang
9. Heath Streak
10. Kyle Jarvis
11. Tendai Chatara

12th man: Sikandar Raza

All Time XI for Odi's

1. Grant Flower
2. Hamilton Masakadza
3. Murray Goodwin
4. Brendan Taylor
5. Andy Flower wk
6. Dave Houghton (c)
7. Neil Johnson
8. Paul Strang
9. Heath Streak
10. Ray Price
11. Henry Olonga

12th man: Sikandar Raza

[jward]

Had KC still been with us I suspect he would have sent his boys north. Our cricket would have had to have been looking mighty rosy for them to have been tempted to stay here. At school level Sam did extremely well here, but at age group level Curtis and Welch were probably a bit ahead of him when the bowling was tighter. Sam was always a bit of a dasher, but the other two were rock solid. That was an extraordinary age group. Murray, Curtis, Welch, Curran, Matigimu. Five stand out players that ZC think grow on trees.

KC did want his sons to play for Zimbabwe, as he told me a few years ago. Though perhaps events in this country since then might have made him decide England was a more practical option.

[sloandog]

Ben Curran is one to keep an eye on

[jaybro]

Well getting back to the All Time Test XI it's hard to judge with Zimbabwe because some guys only played a small portion of games whilst others played a lot more, also looking at the openers not many Zimbos have done exceedingly well there in Test cricket as this link below shows

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

Grant Flower has scored over 2000 runs opening for Zimbabwe (more than double the next guy on the list) and scored five centuries so I think it's safe to say he was probably the best Test opener Zimbabwe has had. Looking at the other opener it's harder to choose, Dion Ebrahim, Gavin Rennie & Trevor Gripper are next on the list but they all averaged low 20's. Tino Mawoyo is next averaging 30 opening, but looking at other guys Like Guy Whittall, Alistair Campbell & Ken Arnott who all averaged more than Tino opening but played less matches there. You can also look at guys like Hamilton & BT who have opened but have had more success in the middle order. Hard choice but I think I'll go with Hamilton just because of his overall record in Tests and when looking at his record batting in the top 3 he averages 30 over 30 Tests.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

Batting at 3 it's out of Hamilton or Murray Goodwin, Hamilton has more runs and more centuries than Goodwin from a similar amount of innings, But Goodwin has a higher average plus more '50 plus scores' which makes him the best No.3 for Zimbabwe. This decision is also made easier by being able to push Hamilton to open.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

The middle order is is a hard one because this is where most Zimbabwean batsman have had their success in Test cricket but the five guys who stand out the most are Andy Flower, Dave Houghton, Brendan Taylor, Tatenda Taibu & Guy Whittall. Andy is obviously a certainty so he goes straight in and I think DH and BT deserve a spot as they've scored 4 & 6 centuries respectively and also I feel their career numbers would have been a lot better if they played more Tests, DH was quite old once Zimbabwe got Test status whilst BT has played his entire career with Zimbabwe mostly in the Test wilderness.

So it leaves me deciding between Whittall and Taibu and the decision is tough !!! Whittall scored over 2000 runs including 4 centuries averaging nearly 30 whilst Taibu scored 1500 runs averaging 30 but only the 1 century. Whittall played a lot more Test Cricket than Taibu and also took 51 wickets so I think it's hard to ignore a guy who scored over 2000 runs and took 50 Test wickets in the Zimbabwe all time Test XI, so I'm going with Guy on this one, sorry Tibba.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

The seam bowling is also hard to split the guys who have impressive records from a smaller portion of matches like Kyle Jarvis, Tinashe Panyangara & Tandai Chatara who all average under 30 against guys like Andy Blignaut, Henry Olonga & Bryan Strang who played a lot more matches and took more wickets, but at a higher average.

Heath Streak is obviously the No.8 for his batting and bowling but I think I'll go with Henry Olonga for the 2nd seamers spot just because he did it for longer and has taken more wickets than the others, I'm sure Jarvis will over take him once he has played more Tests.

The last two spots I'll give to the best two test match spinners Zimbabwe has ever had and they are Paul Strang and Ray Price, both guys have taken more wickets than anyone else barring Streak and their averages are 'respectable' at 36, Strang also had success with the bat which made him the first spinner picked.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=bowling

So that's my all time Zimbabwe Test XI

Hamilton Masakadza
Grant Flower
Murray Goodwin
Brendan Taylor
Andy Flower wk
Dave Houghton c
Guy Whittall
Heath Streak
Paul Strang
Ray Price
Henry Olonga

Seven of the top 10 highest run scorers and the 4 highest wicket takers

[Andybligzz]

How can you leave Ervine out , our best 11 team is very similar to the current England team . Lots of all rounders and bits and pieces cricketers . Here is what my 11 would look like 1. H.Masakadza 2. G.Flower 3. M.Goowdin 4. A.Flower (c) ( wk ) 5. D. Houghton 6. S.Ervine 7. A.Blignaut 8. H.Streak 9. G.Cremer 10. K. Jarvis 11. H. Olonga

[jaybro]

How can you leave Ervine out , our best 11 team is very similar to the current England team . Lots of all rounders and bits and pieces cricketers . Here is what my 11 would look like 1. H.Masakadza 2. G.Flower 3. M.Goowdin 4. A.Flower (c) ( wk ) 5. D. Houghton 6. S.Ervine 7. A.Blignaut 8. H.Streak 9. G.Cremer 10. K. Jarvis 11. H. Olonga

I left him out because he only played 5 Tests, we can sit here and speculate how many runs or wickets he wouldn’t have taken of he played ‘X’ amount of tests but I can’t pick him after playing just 5 tests (no hundreds & no 5 Fors)

Ervine is my favourite Zimbabwe cricketer ever, he’s probably the guy who got me hooked on the side in the first place.

[Andybligzz]

How can you leave Ervine out , our best 11 team is very similar to the current England team . Lots of all rounders and bits and pieces cricketers . Here is what my 11 would look like 1. H.Masakadza 2. G.Flower 3. M.Goowdin 4. A.Flower (c) ( wk ) 5. D. Houghton 6. S.Ervine 7. A.Blignaut 8. H.Streak 9. G.Cremer 10. K. Jarvis 11. H. Olonga

I left him out because he only played 5 Tests, we can sit here and speculate how many runs or wickets he wouldn’t have taken of he played ‘X’ amount of tests but I can’t pick him after playing just 5 tests (no hundreds & no 5 Fors)

Ervine is my favourite Zimbabwe cricketer ever, he’s probably the guy who got me hooked on the side in the first place.

I respect your point and the fact his stats aren’t the greatest and that’s a good enough reason not to pick him. Overall though he was top 3 most talented allrounders from the land and you just need to look at his odi stats and fc stats in English conditions to prove his class . I fell in love with Zim cricket watching the VB tri series here Down under and seeing the likes of Blignaut , Ervine and streak playing amazing cricket and showing grit and determaniation against the best cricket team in the workd. He was a special player and another wasted talent by Zimbabwe . I would back if he had a career in the longest format for zim he would have average over 35 with the bat and would have taken a decent amount of wickets as well . We will never know I suppose