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Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:53 am
by pariah
Regarding the best centuries for Zimbabwe since Test resumption:

1. Tino Mawoyo vs Pakistan in Bulawayo (2011) - 453 balls faced and 650 minutes for crying out loud!!! Carried bat.
2. Daylight
3. Hamilton Masakadza 104 vs BD in Harare Only Test (2011) - 1st ton for Zim on return. Dominated his partnerships with Vusi & Taylor. Vitori did rest
4. Hamilton Masakadza 158 vs BD in Khulna 2nd Test (2014) - Away. Massive! Extremely impressive ton. Survived a good chance. BD taken aback.
5. Regis Chakabva 101 vs BD in Khulna 2nd Test (2014) - Deserves to be higher to be higher than Hami but would be a little unfair.
6. Graeme Cremer 102* vs SL in Harare 1st Test (2016) - This century had absolutely everything! Maturity, excellence, mediocrity andsurprise.
7. Brendan Taylor 171 vs BD in Harare 1st Test (2013) - Bangladesh were back, angry and prepared. Impressive but like Hami in Khulna very fortunate.
8. Craig Ervine 160 vs SL in Colombo Only Test (2017) - Poor Sri Lankan bowling, dead unhelpful pitch, but classy towards the end. ZIM out without it.
9. Hamilton Masakadza 111* vs BD in Harare 2nd Test (2013) - Virtually carried bat(sorry Regis).
10. Sikander Raza 127 vs SL in Colombo Only Test (2017). Sri Lanka their own worst enemies on this absolute road. Good enough to be above Sean Williams’s ton though.

Best knock overall (centuries included) since Tests resumption?
Hamilton Masakadza 75 vs Pakistan on an unplayable Harare wicket in Harare (2013). Mawoyo was out first ball I think. Hami came in to joining Vusi and they saw off the new ball. When Vusi fell Hami carried on dominating, probably scoring about 40 runs before Taylor even completed 5 runs(I'll have to confirm that :D ) and Zimbabwe were well on their way to completing their greatest ever Test win. I personally don't think we've witnessed a greater spell of batting from ANY Zimbabwean batsman in its Test history. I also don't think there's been a more thrilling period of cricket for Zimbabwe either and I've watched plenty ball-by-ball. If Zimbabwe were a top four team and SkySports/Channel 9/FoxSports screened this(did they?), it should have been rated one of the best Test moments that year. Junaid never bowled better in his life but Hami outlasted him. Ajmal and Rehman were well matched. This was a riveting contest.

Hami should have been the man of the match, and many argued that he should have been captain on that day as well. He almost managed to bat just as well in the 2nd innings, but add in his bowling and that run out he might feel a little bit hard done by not getting that MoM.

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:56 am
by brmtaylor.com admin
Taylor's 102* against Bangladesh in 2011, and his swashbuckling century in that losing effort against NZ in Bulawayo right up there too.

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:27 am
by pariah
brmtaylor.com admin wrote:
Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:56 am
Taylor's 102* against Bangladesh in 2011, and his swashbuckling century in that losing effort against NZ in Bulawayo right up there too.
Did consider them, but felt the 102* was not really necessary because ZIM had more than enough already, plus I remember plenty guys here wanted him to declare much much earlier. In NZ's case that was a poor attack. Horrible actually - same as this ZIM attack in this game vs SL, plus Vusi's knock was arguably better than Taylor's excellent but carefree ton. Even if Vusi had converted that into a ton, the NZ bowling was so poor that it would've made at most a generous number #10.

I hear an Italian magazine voted a spell during QPR vs Man City (1993) the worst 20 seconds of football ever watched. That irresponsible batting from NZ coupled with poor fielding from Zimbabwe must be ranked the worst visiting Test innings ever played in Zimbabwe, and maybe takes a shine off Taylor's ton which follwoed that comedy.

It was good but I think Sean Williams was sick when he made his and didn't expect to play. Like Raza was under huge pressure before this series. So those get the nod. But we all rate them differently for various reasons.

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:08 pm
by eugene
You are no better than the Zim selectors - putting all the black guys at the top of the order.

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:34 pm
by reverbinstinct
pariah wrote:
Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:53 am
8. Craig Ervine 160 vs SL in Colombo Only Test (2017) - Poor Sri Lankan bowling, dead unhelpful pitch, but classy towards the end. ZIM out without it.
10. Sikander Raza 127 vs SL in Colombo Only Test (2017).Sri Lanka their own worst enemies on this absolute road. Good enough to be above Sean Williams’s ton though.
No need to force it,might have as well called those out as flukes.Wouldnt have made any difference.

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:02 am
by Jemisi
eugene wrote:
Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:08 pm
You are no better than the Zim selectors - putting all the black guys at the top of the order.
:lol:

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:17 am
by Conant
Jemisi wrote:
Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:02 am
eugene wrote:
Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:08 pm
You are no better than the Zim selectors - putting all the black guys at the top of the order.
:lol:

:D :D :)

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:32 am
by Kriterion_BD
Ervine and Raza from this match would be near the top of the list with only Taylor's knock vs NZ being comparable.

Hamilton's 75 vs PAK was also a top knock, but was the pitch unplayable or was it just two poor batting teams struggling on a usually sporting HSC track?

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:41 am
by jaybro
Kriterion_BD wrote:
Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:32 am
Ervine and Raza from this match would be near the top of the list with only Taylor's knock vs NZ being comparable.

Hamilton's 75 vs PAK was also a top knock, but was the pitch unplayable or was it just two poor batting teams struggling on a usually sporting HSC track?
Unplayable is an overstatement by our friend Hhm, I actually thought it was a great pitch real even battle between bat & ball ......

Re: Best ZImbabwe Test Centuries since Test resumption.

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 6:02 am
by Kriterion_BD
jaybro wrote:
Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:41 am

Unplayable is an overstatement by our friend Hhm, I actually thought it was a great pitch real even battle between bat & ball ......
Harare usually dishes out good sporting tracks. Even that time we were bundled out twice for under 150, the pitch was actually very decent (ZIM had scored 390 odd).