The Official Midwest Rhinos Supporters Club

[zimfan1]

Think its time to get this thread into action again. Been a quite winter but the signing of Steve Mariller should up the top order when the national team players are away.

I also think this is a big season for Simon Mugava who showed good promise last season with both bat and ball. Hopefully Rememberance Nythi will continue the big improvements to his alround game which he showed last season and Roland Benade can add wickets to his promising lower order knocks.

With Vincent and Tait coming for the T20 and Balance coming back we do have good experience which our young guys can learn from.

Lets hope myself and Train Driver can see some sucess this year.

[Train Driver]

Crikey Zimfan1, you must have a good shovel to have dug this thread back up

Very much looking forward to another season my friend, hopefully one that will bring us a bit of silverware after all these near misses we've been having

I totally agree with you on Simon Mugava, this lad could be one to watch for future Zim honours

As i said on the Jason Gillespie thread, i do have a few worries about our depth when the national players are away, i very much hope that no news is good news as far as Riki Wessels is concerned, if we have Wessels, Marillier and Ballance with an all cylinders firing Friday Kasteni, being backed up by the likes of Nyathi and Benade, then we should be good for runs again

Hopefully Coach has some plans in place for the seam attack, Rainsford is one of the best in my opinion but he does seem to pick up injuries too often, with only Nicolson and Chinouya as obvious support and Lewis injured, we could be struggling to bowl sides out quickly and cheaply if we only have the youngsters to fall back on, if that's the case though we should find out which of the new boys are good enough, if vitori can do it then why not one of ours

Looking forward to next week and getting a good start against Rocks, with maybe some surprise signings to talk about

[andybligz93]

big season for the lads ! with the national squad available we look un-beatable but when the nationals leave it doesnt look to flash but like you boys mentioned we have ballance and marillier who are both class acts.we need rainsford and nicolson to stand up as they are the obvious pace battery leaders. we shall wait and see as the season progreses .

[Train Driver]

First game up then and no surprise signings, no place for Friday Kasteni while BRM has got his feet up dreaming of kiwis

Debut for Steve Mariller and a, can we call it a re-debut, for Mike Chinouya

Glad to see we do have Riki Wessels and Gary Ballance both safely back in Kwekwe, while the youngsters Simon Mugava and Neville Madziva are getting an early season chance to show their talent

Almost disappointing in a way that there is no new marquee signing but, at the same time, more than happy to see Coach Gillespie show confidence in the players he had last season

[Train Driver]

First big challenge tomorrow as the season continues with the national players missing, so no Taylor, Sibanda or Waller while Cremer will, presumably, still be unavailable

So who do we have available ?, Marillier, Ballance, Wessels, Nyathi, Mugava, Rainsford, Madziva, Nicolson and Chinouya are the others who played in the two fixtures against Rocks along with Benade who appeared as a sub during the Logan Cup fixture

Others that appeared in Logan matches last season are Kasteni, Nkala, Chapungu, Mire, Chikunya and the injured Lewis, while Muzhange and Mavhiko played in a couple of List A matches, as there have been no announcements of any description from Rhinos management then it's anyones guess whether any of these players are still with the franchise, somebody will also have to take over the captains job, Rainsford ? Wessels ?

The bowling still looks strong after the first couple of games, as long as they cut out all those stupid wides, but the lack of the three batsmen could be a major worry

A big disappointment for me has been the complete blanking of an email i sent to Rhinos a couple of weeks ago. I tried to explain that there is a global support base out there for the side, small at the moment yes, but there are people that care but who are frustrated by the lack of information at all levels in Zim cricket, we'd like to know what's going on but, sadly, it seems that nobody wants to take any notice or any responsibility. I'll try again higher up the chain and see if i can get some response next time

Tomorrow ? forget that silly T20 match, Kwekwe is where it's happening

[Train Driver]

Well then, i was dead right with calling that T20 match silly, Rhinos didn't have to join in though

Good to see that Solomon Mire and Bothwell Chapungu are still around but we didn't really have much batting to replace the missing national players, with the long tail that we have it's going to be a long hard season when those national players are away

Heartfelt symapthy to Vusi Sibanda, i'm sure it will help him and his family if he's able to dedicate a successful season to his late mother

As for yesterday, why on earth did Eagles have Rob Nicol in their side ?, are ZC kind or what, let the bloke get his eye in before he plays for the touring side ? don't understand that one at all and Ryan Bishop, a 24 year old nobody making his first ever senior appearance and he helps himself to 76 and 3 catches, doesn't inspire a lot of confidence really, getting steamrollered by a legend like Matsi is one thing, a nobody though ...........

The bowling is really all over the place at the moment, Ed Rainsford 22-0-154-4, Mike Chinouya 20-0-129-4, Ian Nicolson 22-1-125-3 along with 21 wides and a total of 613 conceded in 100 overs, the only bowler that looks as though he can just about hold his own at the moment is Simon Mugava with 21-1-98-3, i think Coach Gillespie is going to have to bring some of his experience to bear on the seamers or the Pro50 wooden spoon will have Rhinos carved on it well before the end of the competition

Looks as though tomorrow is likely to be another big test, fingers crossed we'll be able to show Logan form rather than Pro50 form and get back on track, we really do seem to have a long tail though and losing a couple of early wickets could spell big trouble, it would be an ideal boost if Graeme Cremer was ready to make a return, please ........

[Train Driver]

Right down to the wire against Eagles then, the sort of enjoyable game of cricket that's to be enjoyed as long as you don't have a weak heart

Great performance again by Gary Ballance with big efforts from Solomon Mire and Riki Wessels with the bat and Mike Chinouya and Ed Rainsford with the ball, i reckon everyone deserves congratulations for the 2nd innings fielding effort though. We are a very weak batting side without the national players though, Steve Marillier is definitely one that needs some form

It seems a great shame that a game like this only results in one point after the effort both side have put in, i'm not in favour of the current bonus point system but it's the same for everyone of course

I shall be missing for the next three weeks and won't be aware of any scores until mid november, so hopefully i'll return to some good Rhino news

Brilliant performances at national level from Brendan Taylor and Malcolm Waller while Vusi Sibanda needs a good knock in the A match to get back into the swing

[zimfan1]

Thought it may be worth digging up. Found out today that Douggie Hondo will be replacing Grant Flower as head coach and that Brad Wadlan will be returning to play as the overseas pro.

Training is due to start tomorrow for all the franchises with contracts expected to be handed out this week.

[SpitfiresKent]

Brad Wadlan will be returning to play as the overseas pro.

Oh does this mean that it's 1 OP per franchise this season?

Training is due to start tomorrow for all the franchises with contracts expected to be handed out this week.

Cool, so potentially could we find out the squads next week?

[gargamel]

Can anyone confirm if Roy Kaia is going to play for the Rhinos