Zimbabwe Vs Sri Lanka | T20I Tri-Series | 20th Nov

[Andy31]

Really clinical win.

Raza is fantastic for us but i feel he gets a lot man of the match awards, when others have been better. Brad probably a little stiff. The fact i guess is you cant keep Raza out of the game.

We need a few more to come to the party when batting. Burl looked like he was finding some form again. We desperately need the domestic 20/20 to be longer. I just don't get why we continue to play people in 20/20s that would be best suited to other forms of the game. We could pick the top 10-15 batters in the country and most on this forum would be able to tell you who is a test, ODI or 20/20 batter or a combination of them.

[TapsC2]

Evans and Bennett have been real game changers for us. Just that little bit extra fire power we needed in both departments to make us more competitive. Maphosa is another good find and Raza did well to give him 3 overs upfront because he is still learning how to finish games.

The speed gun has shown all 3 fast bowlers peaking at about 135kph. Evans seems to have gained a few kph. Maphosa looks like with more training he could get faster. He is Bennett's age. Would really have loved to see Newman's speed but I doubt they will change this combination. Got a feeling he peaks around 138.

[sam_ahm]

Any update on Blessing's injury?

[Googly]

The issue here... Is that 6/7 are very niche roles in a T20 side.

They're basically never going to score 50s. If they're averaging over 20, they're probably not playing the role properly. Musekiwa's 11 off 7 today is more or less what he's in the team for. Specialist bat at 7 in a T20 side is a thankless task.

Top order players like Curran and Welch would not be queueing up to have a go at that gig.

In reality, what you want in those roles is the 2 guys you think have the most chance of getting 18 off 7 balls at the end of an innings. The guys most likely to hit a long ball from ball 1, and least likely to nudge it because they're scared over getting out for single figures. Rightly or wrongly, they've gone with Munyonga and Musekiwa for those roles. They may or may not be the best players for that role, but just suggesting people who have scored top order runs isn't a fair comparison. There is so little domestic T20, and it is of a sufficiently low standard, that there are no viable stats that could be used as worthwhile evidence for replacements.

[Googly]

The issue here... Is that 6/7 are very niche roles in a T20 side.

They're basically never going to score 50s. If they're averaging over 20, they're probably not playing the role properly. Musekiwa's 11 off 7 today is more or less what he's in the team for. Specialist bat at 7 in a T20 side is a thankless task.

Top order players like Curran and Welch would not be queueing up to have a go at that gig.

In reality, what you want in those roles is the 2 guys you think have the most chance of getting 18 off 7 balls at the end of an innings. The guys most likely to hit a long ball from ball 1, and least likely to nudge it because they're scared over getting out for single figures. Rightly or wrongly, they've gone with Munyonga and Musekiwa for those roles. They may or may not be the best players for that role, but just suggesting people who have scored top order runs isn't a fair comparison. There is so little domestic T20, and it is of a sufficiently low standard, that there are no viable stats that could be used as worthwhile evidence for replacements.

Thats a reasonable assessment, but I have a slightly different opinion.
Welch and Curran would attempt any role dangled in front of them because they're much better players and have been left in the cold. There's world cup appearances on the line and they've gifted them to lesser players. Thats bad enuf, but they're denying players with a higher ceiling to make our team better now and in the future. If you sit a guy out for two years for lesser players you're killing off the guy with a higher ceiling, he's not catching up either. You destroy the guy who can't make, destroy the guy who can, and your team keeps losing, and losing badly.

One can only talk in hypotheticals here, but if the expectation is for Musekiwa and Munyonga to score 11 off 7 or thereabouts thats only going to work if Evans and Maphosa also weigh in with similar strike rates. That would be 44 runs off 28 for the last 4 recognized batters. That would almost be acceptable if it was a regular occurrence, which it isnt. It's a low bar though.
Marumani's good innings against quality opposition is the exception and not the rule. His string of 50's against average opposition has given him a long leash, which is fair, he needs to get some good innings under his belt against the good teams though. Whilst he keeps trying to help it round the corner when he gets tight he's swimming upstream. His learning curve is worrying.

The old debate of where Burl and Raza should bat will always be up for discussion.
Firstly is Burl better than Musekiwa and Munyonga as a finisher. Thats a yes as far as Tony is concerned. Musekiwa has potential for sure and Burl is pretty erratic and his place in the team is secure and I'm not sure why, especially when he's not bowling well.
In the absence of a couple of other front line batters Raza probably should be up the order a couple of spots. Its worked out in the last couple of games, but there have been periods where it hasn't. He is one of of the only guys we have that can have a couple of sighters and then go. That definitely means we are missing out on a batter or two up the order.
There's a very slim argument to stay with Musekiwa on potential, but T20 is not Tony's game at this level, but hey give him another 30 internationals.

Is Taylor just going to hang around and fuck up other people's careers? We've seen enuf that it's almost time for him to introspect, but he's going to hang around until this world cup at least. Both Welch and Curran are better than him in T20 at this level. Its almost getting farcical. A lot of people were rooting for him but now they're not. He's holding up a white guy's spot.

Same can be said for Myers. Decent enuf, part of future plans, but Curran and Welch are both better at this level.
The double glove slap is always when they let Madande onto the park. He is not an international caliber player. Never ever will be. You can keep giving a guy endless caps but at some point someone has to recognize that the guy has hit his ceiling way back. If a guy is ranked 600th at tennis for 3 years, there aint much getting him into the top 20 if he plays another 10 years. Your God given ability doesnt change.
They'll revisit Madhevere as well. A light year ahead of Madande, and decent enuf, but not in this format.
I'll take Myers over Madhevere all day. Combative, smart, not totally shell shocked just yet and prepared to practice for hours a day. Musekiwa looks mentally resilient as well.

Cremer impressed this last game, bowled really well. Got some assistance from the wicket. I wonder if he will get the next game?

[andrea lanzoni]

The issue here... Is that 6/7 are very niche roles in a T20 side.

They're basically never going to score 50s. If they're averaging over 20, they're probably not playing the role properly. Musekiwa's 11 off 7 today is more or less what he's in the team for. Specialist bat at 7 in a T20 side is a thankless task.

Top order players like Curran and Welch would not be queueing up to have a go at that gig.

In reality, what you want in those roles is the 2 guys you think have the most chance of getting 18 off 7 balls at the end of an innings. The guys most likely to hit a long ball from ball 1, and least likely to nudge it because they're scared over getting out for single figures. Rightly or wrongly, they've gone with Munyonga and Musekiwa for those roles. They may or may not be the best players for that role, but just suggesting people who have scored top order runs isn't a fair comparison. There is so little domestic T20, and it is of a sufficiently low standard, that there are no viable stats that could be used as worthwhile evidence for replacements.

Thats a reasonable assessment, but I have a slightly different opinion.
Welch and Curran would attempt any role dangled in front of them because they're much better players and have been left in the cold. There's world cup appearances on the line and they've gifted them to lesser players. Thats bad enuf, but they're denying players with a higher ceiling to make our team better now and in the future. If you sit a guy out for two years for lesser players you're killing off the guy with a higher ceiling, he's not catching up either. You destroy the guy who can't make, destroy the guy who can, and your team keeps losing, and losing badly.

One can only talk in hypotheticals here, but if the expectation is for Musekiwa and Munyonga to score 11 off 7 or thereabouts thats only going to work if Evans and Maphosa also weigh in with similar strike rates. That would be 44 runs off 28 for the last 4 recognized batters. That would almost be acceptable if it was a regular occurrence, which it isnt. It's a low bar though.
Marumani's good innings against quality opposition is the exception and not the rule. His string of 50's against average opposition has given him a long leash, which is fair, he needs to get some good innings under his belt against the good teams though. Whilst he keeps trying to help it round the corner when he gets tight he's swimming upstream. His learning curve is worrying.

The old debate of where Burl and Raza should bat will always be up for discussion.
Firstly is Burl better than Musekiwa and Munyonga as a finisher. Thats a yes as far as Tony is concerned. Musekiwa has potential for sure and Burl is pretty erratic and his place in the team is secure and I'm not sure why, especially when he's not bowling well.
In the absence of a couple of other front line batters Raza probably should be up the order a couple of spots. Its worked out in the last couple of games, but there have been periods where it hasn't. He is one of of the only guys we have that can have a couple of sighters and then go. That definitely means we are missing out on a batter or two up the order.
There's a very slim argument to stay with Musekiwa on potential, but T20 is not Tony's game at this level, but hey give him another 30 internationals.

Is Taylor just going to hang around and fuck up other people's careers? We've seen enuf that it's almost time for him to introspect, but he's going to hang around until this world cup at least. Both Welch and Curran are better than him in T20 at this level. Its almost getting farcical. A lot of people were rooting for him but now they're not. He's holding up a white guy's spot.

Same can be said for Myers. Decent enuf, part of future plans, but Curran and Welch are both better at this level.
The double glove slap is always when they let Madande onto the park. He is not an international caliber player. Never ever will be. You can keep giving a guy endless caps but at some point someone has to recognize that the guy has hit his ceiling way back. If a guy is ranked 600th at tennis for 3 years, there aint much getting him into the top 20 if he plays another 10 years. Your God given ability doesnt change.
They'll revisit Madhevere as well. A light year ahead of Madande, and decent enuf, but not in this format.
I'll take Myers over Madhevere all day. Combative, smart, not totally shell shocked just yet and prepared to practice for hours a day. Musekiwa looks mentally resilient as well.

Cremer impressed this last game, bowled really well. Got some assistance from the wicket. I wonder if he will get the next game?

Both Taylor and Tsiga are pretty good wicket keepers. Both of them are (presently) underperforming batsmen.

Who would you suggest as wicket keeper for next World T20?

[Googly]

Well Tsiga is more capable than people realize at other formats.
There's Panashe Taravinga that looks promising.
There's Welch Jr, who hasnt had a good time of it of late but he's also good.

[Googly]

I would always take the guy that practices 5 days a week.