[Series Thread] Zimbabwe Under 19's v Pakistan Under 19's

[maehara]

A little urgency with the scoring would be nice. I hope they've not gone for the old Curran tactic of trying to bat out the innings instead of trying to, y'know, win...

[zimfan1]

A little urgency with the scoring would be nice. I hope they've not gone for the old Curran tactic of trying to bat out the innings instead of trying to, y'know, win...

Little harsh on Curren me think Maehara

but also a fair point, he will never get rid of his tag lol

[maehara]

Wicket: G Chirimuta (c Hammad Azam b Raza Hasan) 22. Zim U19 37/4 (17.1 overs).

Little harsh on Curren me think Maehara
but also a fair point, he will never get rid of his tag lol

Armchair management ftw.
...but I seriously can't think of a match against a Full Member in the Curran era where we went for the jugular. It was always the safety-first approach...

[Train Driver]

It's looking pretty sad at the moment, 37-4 and barely keeping to 2 runs an over, the lads are just piling pressure on themselves by not keeping the scoreboard ticking over, even if it means taking a few risks you can't allow the bowlers to get this much on top, i really hope that Kevin Curran isn't teaching them to play in a negative way this early in their careers.

43-4 after 19 overs and the required run rate is up to 5.5 already.

[zimfan1]

5 down now not look great

BUt we need to bare in mind these are the first top class bowlers that they have ever really face apart from a couple opf domestic bowlers. Nearly all the Pakistan players have played first class cricket in Pakistan so the experiance levels are miles apart.

The problem with the last couple of under 19 world cups have been that the boys were not used to this kind of bowling but now with 11 matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh the boys will be a lot better prepard when it comes to the world cup.

[maehara]

A Lindsay (lbw b Raza Hasan) 6. Zim U19 45/5 (21.1 overs).

i really hope that Kevin Curran isn't teaching them to play in a negative way this early in their careers

This is what worries me - they need to be learning how to play a positive, aggressive game and to believe that they can win matches. Just ticking over in the crease and preserving your wicket in the face of a hopeless required run-rate serves no purpose - doesn't help the players develop, and is as dull as anything for fans to watch (or read, as the case may be!).

That said, it's just one match, and I've no proof one way or the other as to what tactics Curran's instructed them to use. But based on his past history with the national side, I worry...

BUt we need to bare in mind these are the first top class bowlers that they have ever really face apart from a couple opf domestic bowlers. Nearly all the Pakistan players have played first class cricket in Pakistan so the experiance levels are miles apart.

None of use are expecting miracles from them - I'd be happy with one or two wins out of the series, but where they lose I'd much rather see them go down fighting. Hard to tell without a commentary, but they don't seem to be doing that at the moment...

[maehara]

N Waller (c Kaleem Sana b Hammad Azam) 2. Zim U19 47/6 (22.5 overs).

[Train Driver]

I take your point zimfan1, the Zim lads are certainly an inexperienced bunch compared to the Pakistanis.

What i hate to see though are batsmen who seem content to play dot ball after dot ball, all they are doing is allowing the bowler to gain in confidence with every delivery while destroying their own confidence at the same time, regular ones and twos will keep the batsman hyped up and let the bowler know he's not in charge, at the worst, when the last wicket falls, you should have a reasonable score on the board rather than a soul destroying 60 all out or so.

Although he's had a terrible Championship season this year, Murray Goodwin normally shows how to control the bowlers, he'll always be looking to keep the scoreboard moving and before you know it he's in the 20's or 30's, it gives him confidence, his team mates confidence and slowly but surely puts the fielding side onto the back foot, a defeat is a defeat of course, but i'd much rather lose by 30 runs than 90 and know that i'd made the effort.

50 up now, only 161 more to win .......

[maehara]

Looks like Mushangwe's found some fighting spirit, at least (& at last)..!

[maehara]

Wicket: N Mushangwe (st Anop Santosh b Shahzaib Ahmed) 19. Zim U19 71/7 (30.1 overs).

I hear a fat lady singing..