Zimbabwe vs India 2022 First One day International

[Googly]

Last time we had a decent opener post the Rebel crisis was when Hami and Vusi and Mawoyo were opening, even when they did open the middle order would always let us down and fail to finish with a sensible total.

I think for most of our cricketers it’s a Mindset issue, I would say let Shumba and Madhevere open for us going forward and they should continue with them, we need a positive start the middle order is loaded with experience from Williams Raza, Ervine. Burl Chakabva.

The issue that we need immediate attention is the bowling, we have. No idea how to bowl in our own conditions, the Indians
Showed us how to do so.

Everyone in the bowling attack apart from Jongwe have issue hitting Straight Yorkers on a Harare morning pitch.

We need a new bowling coach.

Vusi's stats don't back that statement. Certainly good to watch but he rarely delivered.
You surely can't just say let's stick with Madhevere and Shumba at the top of the order? How long do you suggest?
The current hype is that we've turned a corner and we all expect better results. Opening is the toughest gig in cricket.
There are always deliveries with your name on them.
Personally I'd give Marumani and Kaia the next two games, you can't drop your openers after one shit game.

If Ballance does eventually arrive would he open? Would you risk your best batsman against the new ball? You surely want him to come in when it's a bit easier so he can capitalise?

[sloandog]

Ballance comes in at number 4 for me, where your best batter should bat

[sloandog]

I honestly can't believe I'm talking in the context of Gary Ballance playing for Zimbabwe. It's absolutely insane

[sloandog]

Do we think he'd be put through a full season of Logan Cup cricket before getting selected for the national side?

[Googly]

If he really is arriving then he's already on a package. Maybe a few games because he hasn't played for a long time and then he would be in. The dilemma would be if he didn't make any runs domestically . Cricket can bite u in the ass.

[Googly]

Again if the elusive Mr Ballance is going to make an appearance it will likely be in October when other overseas cricketers are supposedly arriving. It will certainly be easier to blend in, because there will undoubtedly be a bit of awkwardness.

[Googly]

Like dropping your kid off at kindergarten on his first day and he clings onto your trouser leg screaming for his mum awkwardness

[secretzimbo]

Not sure why people are doubting the significance of the pitch or the conditions on the previous page. Admittedly I didn't watch Live yesterday, but I'm not surprised by people saying the conditions were extreme. It's very typical. I don't think it can be downplayed.

It always nips about in the morning there, but at this time of year it is particularly bad. Also the games start very early in the morning. It's pretty extreme. It's always been the same - especially in winter - , except often it has been balanced out by slow pitches that are slow and take spin in the afternoon. But these pitches at the moment are excellent, very very batter friendly. So once the first hour or two are gone and the conditions improve, the pitches are a batters dream. Not ideal, because it really does give a lot of importance to the toss.

Morning conditions are like this at most grounds in the country in winter, but again balanced out by usually quite low quality pitches that ensure challenges remain (in different ways) for batters throughout the day.

The current HSC conditions remind me of when I used to play at Kadoma back in the day. Great place to bat, but you had to get through the first hour. Pitch was unbelievably flat so you could really capitalise as long as you got past the early morning quite extreme swing/seam. If you were 50-0 from 20 overs, you could probably still end up on 200-250 from 50 overs (a good score in the old days!).


Of course it's not the be all and end all in the current series. we are Zimbabwe, they are India. There is a massive gulf in class and talent, obviously. I wouldn't put money on us winning even if we bowled first. But would like to think we'd at least take a few wickets and score a few more runs and make half a game of it maybe. We'll see.

[zimlover]

Last time we had a decent opener post the Rebel crisis was when Hami and Vusi and Mawoyo were opening, even when they did open the middle order would always let us down and fail to finish with a sensible total.

I think for most of our cricketers it’s a Mindset issue, I would say let Shumba and Madhevere open for us going forward and they should continue with them, we need a positive start the middle order is loaded with experience from Williams Raza, Ervine. Burl Chakabva.

The issue that we need immediate attention is the bowling, we have. No idea how to bowl in our own conditions, the Indians
Showed us how to do so.

Everyone in the bowling attack apart from Jongwe have issue hitting Straight Yorkers on a Harare morning pitch.

We need a new bowling coach.

Vusi's stats don't back that statement. Certainly good to watch but he rarely delivered.
You surely can't just say let's stick with Madhevere and Shumba at the top of the order? How long do you suggest?
The current hype is that we've turned a corner and we all expect better results. Opening is the toughest gig in cricket.
There are always deliveries with your name on them.
Personally I'd give Marumani and Kaia the next two games, you can't drop your openers after one shit game.

If Ballance does eventually arrive would he open? Would you risk your best batsman against the new ball? You surely want him to come in when it's a bit easier so he can capitalise?

Vusi, Masakadza and Mawoyo actually did the opening job very well, they would spend time on the pitch and face as many balls and blunt the attack, their strike rate was poor, but they helped lay the platform for Taylor ,Ervine,Williams,Waller,Chigumbura.

Our scores during that period were not magnificent but they actually took the shine off the new ball. In most circumstances Vusi would play a 30 of 80 balls, Hami would also play a 30 of 90 balls and Tino pretty much 20 of 70 balls.

Very often we would find ourselves on 3/80 inside 35 overs and we would struggle to get to 260 in a ODI, their main problem was strike rate and rotating the strike.

If you compare that to what we have now it’s more of a 2/26 runs inside 10 overs.
We were used to 2/70 inside 30 overs.

So yes I think they did the opening job better than our current lot.

And yes I think Wes and Shumba should open because there is no point hiding them in the middle of the batting line up which is stacked with Ervine,Williams,Raza,Chakabva, Burl. The only issue with this middle order sit up is non of them are comfortable facing a new ball.

Which is what an opening partnership needs to do take the shine off the new ball.

Wes and Shumba are the future at the Moment so they should be persisted with in opening the slot, as some of the guys in the middle order retire then they can slide in to the middle order as they would have at least gained valuable experience required by facing the new ball.

[TapsC2]

Let's just put it this way. Winning the toss was the equaliser for us against Bangladesh. It gave us a 50/50 chance especially without Shakib. We still needed 4 miracle performances to win some of those games.

India are just too good. It doesn't matter if they bat first or not. Winning the toss will give us a 20% chance at most.