[Match Thread] New Zealand vs Zimbabwe, Only Test

[Jemisi]

Hami is doing as good a job as we could have expected from Chigs.

[Jemisi]

Great effort by Taibu

[FlowerPower]

Morning chaps...woke up to the Taibu stumping excellent work...Cremer needs to work on his control he could be something...and Hami is understated a bit like Collingwood was I think...I'm sorry NZ looks like letting your predictions of 600 decl and batting once down hhm. Betterdays I know you don't believe we should have had Hondo and Mupariwa, guys who are hardly making FC teams over Jarvis and Vitori...I didn't mean we literally had nothing, I meant we used to play only Mpofu and Chigs and 3 spinners so effectively as far as quicks go we were starting from scratch...granted Rainsford (who was injured) deserved a call, but sitting out for Jarvis and Vitori ain't bad....so I reiterate for hhm as well, who aside Rainsford, and I don't mean just bodies, would you have brought along, it's all too easy to criticize but give us viable options....

[FlowerPower]

Don't believe I've mentioned how well Jarvis has bowled...impressed...yes a few more would have been nice but impressed by the control....Vitori could have been a bit better in terms of control...same with Shingi...

[Jemisi]

Vitori just doesn't seem to be bending his back at all. He's running in, but just putting it there.

[Jemisi]

Hami put in a professional performance. Jarvis did well and should have had another. Shingi showed something, Vitori and Cremer were a worry. Taibu did well, glad to see him with the gloves again.

[ZIMDOGGY]

i hate to make it sound like im smugly taking delight in a players ineptitude but i have to say I TOLD YOU SO re: Vitori as an international standard bowler.

Hes just not up to it. Hes above average for Logan cup standard and the best the rocks have but he isnt to international standard and is probably 4th/5th best paceman we have. Querl (if he makes himself available) Meth, Jarvis, mpofu, tendai, and maybe mungatsi (sp?), shingi and rainsford are better.

Everyone got so excited when he was ripping apart an undercooked bangladesh team. But i hoestly believe that could have been anyone bowling reasonably well as Bangladesh were that bad.

My evidence is simple.

The laws of physics simply state that you dont get BETTER at test/international cricket then you have been at first class level. Its a statistical spike, an anonamly that evens itself out over time, everytime.

If you start consistently dominating first class - and Lets be brutally honest-its park cricket- and show the attributes of a test bowler...and manage to sustain the quality and weather the harder opposition, then i respect and believe the hype.


That is why i have more faith in kyle...he LOOKS like an international bowler more often than not. But he is no superstar himself as he doesnt dominate the logan cup park cricket competition which worries me.

And i read a fe pages back hes only bowling late 120s?

I have to say 'i told you so' there as people here believed he was pushing 140s when my naked eye told me he was early 130s against the pakis, NZ and bangladesh

[sscricket]

Thank God Meth did not have to be subjected to all the abuse. Hopefully he gets the new ball in the one dayers to prove his class.

[Flower power]

Never had a look at the game today .Hopefully tonight I can burn some midnight oil and watch an over or two . At least we have five wickets and the wicket is getting flatter .Hopefully when we bat with our very short tail we can extract meaningful runs in our first innings .
I bet if we had Mpofu and Price in the runs would have been less by 80 or so runs. Just goes to show why we still need Ray Price to be bowling until Cremer gets in the groove .

[hhm]

Hes just not up to it. Hes above average for Logan cup standard and the best the rocks have but he isnt to international standard and is probably 4th/5th best paceman we have. Querl (if he makes himself available) Meth, Jarvis, mpofu, tendai, and maybe manatsa (sp?), shingi and rainsford are better.

kyle...LOOKS like an international bowler more often than not. But he is no superstar himself as he doesnt dominate the logan cup park cricket competition which worries me.

And i read a few pages back hes only bowling late 120s? I have to say 'i told you so' there as people here believed he was pushing 140s when my naked eye told me he was early 130s against the pakis, NZ and bangladesh

C'mon Zimdoggy, say it - Panyangara is better than him too! Can't imagine him stooping as low as these guys!

Yup, Vitori is poor (all we need now is for BRM to admit that)! Embarassing display of bowling for this level! With all due respect, Cremer's been just as shambolic!

There was never any doubt that all our bowlers average about 128kph. I still maintain that only Nicholson & Shingi can sustain higher speeds! If Vitori is bowling so much rubbish then there is still hope yet that Nicholson's international career can be resurrected - he can't be worse than this lot!

Jarvis is not international class as well, acceptable yes, but that's plenty of first innings overs and virtually no wickets basically! If you can't make use of the new ball then you're no good. However, I do have more faith in him than Vitori! The fact is, any batsmen worth his salt can have his way with Jarvis when he chooses, but no the other way around!

Eventually common sense will prevail, and Zim wil settle for an attack of Elton, Mpofu, Rainsford & Price, with Panyangara as standby! Hami chips in well, so he'll be fifth bowler,allowing for 7 bats incl a keeper. Batting allrounders normally bowl just 10 overs per day on average. I see he's actually bowled 16overs at better than everyone else, which is great! The other guys must just stick to FC & A games for at least two seasons! Meth on the other hand, was acknowledged as being the only one who really troubled the NZ XI batsmen, and I say that's more than just a coincidence, so bad luck permitting, he should be the one to replace Elton whenever he's unavailable! It was downright stupid to drop the more experienced Elton, after he outbowled Jarvis & Vitori in the Bangladesh Test, albeit with less wickets overall!

You're right Flower power, all round, this attack is poor enough to have conceded 80+ runs more than would the better bowlers who are ot of this Test. Funny thing is 3 of the current 4, are considered first choice by some!