Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka - ODI Series

[jimbo]

Seriously though some of the comments that utseya have made have been baffling!!. There has to be some sort of inquiry into these performances

[Train Driver]

It would seem that i blinked and missed todays game

It may well be a negative way of looking at things but what was Utseya doing electing to bat first ?

Zimbabwe is a long way from where i sit, so i have no idea of the pitch/weather conditions today. After thursdays debacle it must be obvious that it is not a wicket for Zim to bat first on, if you are outclassed from the start, which Zim certainly are against a side as strong as Sri Lanka, then you must bowl first to make a game of it if nothing else.

Williams at 7 ?, be serious.

Chingoka will never resign, not in a month of sundays, the only way he and the rest of his discredited board will go is if Mugabe and his gang go as well. They will not sack Chawaguta and bring back Brown, it's more likely Zim inflation will be 5% next week.

I feel sorry for Utseya, he stood up to be counted when asked but he simply hasn't got the captaincy gift. Who to replace him with ?, Price, never, wrong colour, Taibu ?, no longer a 'friend' of the board. The only one i can see with a chance is Hamilton Masakadza but i don't believe the board has it in them to change a decision, regardless of how long ago it was.

Maybe a new captain for the Bangladesh tour but i would be shocked if it happens earlier.

No doubt the next ODI will give SL a winning 3-0 lead and they may then bring in a couple of their reserves, i still doubt that Zim will have a chance pf preventing a 5-0 whitewash unless a few of the players really pull something out of the hat.

An embarrasing return to the Zim performances that i thought may have been left behind.

[maehara]

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/zimvsl20 ... 79248.html

Prosper Utseya issued an apology to the Zimbabwe fans after witnessing their team's fourth-lowest score of 67.

"It is always disappointing to lose in such a manner because we had come [here] to put up a competitive performance today," he said. "We still have three more matches before the end of this series and I hope by then we can make it up to the fans and still win the series."

Utseya, clearly emotional, defended his decision to bat first on a flat track after winning the toss. "I still stand by my decision to bat first due to the fact that the wicket looked nice and shiny," he said, "and if we had got a good score of 200 it was going to be defendable."

Time for apologies is past, I'm afraid - time to stand aside and let someone else do the job...

[andrewn9]

I can only think that batting Sean Williams at no.7 is a way of punishing him for his sojourn in S.A. Granted, it had no bearing on the eventual outcome but ZC's pettiness and self-defeating decisions seem to know no bounds. As for the current series, with 3 ODI's still to go, the question has to be: How bad is it gonna get?

[andy24]

you would hope the only way to go now is up.

[andrewn9]

The trouble is that confidence must now be at absolute rock bottom. Where are the quality, experienced players the young guys are gonna look to in the dressing room? Ray, Tibbly and Hamilton are fighters but they can't do it all. Murali and Mendis have a stranglehold on the batsmen but we can hope the guys show some application and try and learn from the experience.

[aydee]

I can only think that batting Sean Williams at no.7 is a way of punishing him for his sojourn in S.A. Granted, it had no bearing on the eventual outcome but ZC's pettiness and self-defeating decisions seem to know no bounds. As for the current series, with 3 ODI's still to go, the question has to be: How bad is it gonna get?

You say that, but had a player from any other country have shown that sort of apathy towards his national team, he would probably have been left out for a few months (Symonds??)...

[maehara]

Rain delay - wouldn't be surprised if today's match is called off. Which may be just as well, given that Sri Lanka are looking to heap on the humiliation:

We can bowl Zimbabwe for a much lower score because we have the capacity to do so

...sayeth Jayawardene. Wouldn't bet against it happening, either...

[zimfan1]

Match is on 28 overs a side

rainsford is in for mpofu

not sure if williams is playing

[CrimsonAvenger]

Well, Cricinfo says Rainsford for Mpofu is the only change, but we see Dabengwa in place of Williams in the playing 11 listing. They have been wrong before, so we don't know yet.