"After" the 1st round of Logan Cup fixtures
Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 9:09 pm
One has to ask the question, why was a rookie team allowed to be in the Logan Cup, and to be part of the 1st round of fixtures ahead of arguably the headline side of the competition - the Mountaineers? In under 10 days, some of the players might have to go into camp for the next incoming tours, which takes away from the rare high levels of the competition.
If Jarvis and Panyangara had the new ball against these Rising Stars, I doubt Cremer would have had anything left to bowl at. Even then he would have piled on more misery. The sad fact of the matter is, them being part of the country's premier FC competition was a disaster.
No doubt the fixture list was deliberate, and the Rhinos were the most fortunate of the other 3 sides in acion.
Still players still had to put up their hands, and they did. Little known quantity Bruce James didn't let himself down against the his fellow rookies. Mire was woeful with bat and ball, but he never was an opener, nor a bowler of FC quality. On the other side, Nathan Waller, though free of having to open the batting, was likewise reminded he's not a bowler of FC quallity. The same applied to Prince Masvaure, so it was a bad start for Zimbabwe's "allrounders".
This is why William Mashinge, is the stand-out cricketer of the opening round(Taffy Mupariwa's 33 off 130 in the 2nd innings worth a mention). With a better-thinking captain he might have left a few more dents with bat and ball against a decent Rhinos outfit. Poor captaincy didn't rear its ugly head there only, but Tuskers set a needlessly huge target for the Eagles with just one day of play available to to bowl out a decent Eagles unit. Lacking one good spinner and a specialist spinner, it's pretty obvious the preference was to give batting practice to some internationals considering the situation allowed it, but unless Mutumbami can prove that this was poor captaincy.
Personally he shined in both innings with the bat, and if the Eagles had brought their first choice attack, his knock would have counted towards something. Alas, he remains behind Chakabva in the selection stakes. His sole consolation will be a non-keeping Moor's unconvincing display against rookies. Then again Mutizwa still has to bat, and in this phase where keepers have been disappointing, he'll be motivated to perform.
Centurions in Craig, Sean, Raza and Taylor will please ZIM batting coach Lance Klusener, no matter the quality of the bowling. Likewise Cremer's bowling exploits will please Streak. 5 of the likely XI members confirming their presence. Like Raza, Chamu had taken to dropping himself down the order which is how he earned his place back in the ODI and Test sides he's continued to do so for ZIM A. Clearly he's keen on staking a claim in the Test team as an opener. It;s safe to say he's just about the only cricketer in the country who's prepared to earn his place the hard way. Musakanda might argue that he's the other one because he did what those 4 batsmen probably wouldn't have done if they were Rising Stars captains. He made himself bat at first drop, and I can bet everything I have they none of them would have batted higher than 4! As poor as his captaincy was, Musakanda quickly learned by opening with Mashinge in the next innings.
Burl got a couple of half-centuries, the seniors Chapungu and Zhuwao impressed unexpectedly, while another soon-to-be-senior Mutombodzi will be looking to do the same.
Career under-performing bowlers of Eagles let themselves down, as well as the youngsters bowling around them. It's in such situations when one wonders if a youngsters like Musoko wouldn't have been better off learning from a Panyangara whom the Rhinos deemed surplus to requirements. Perhaps this alone proves just how much is wrong in Zimbabwe cricket. Junk bowling all around in the opening fixtures, yet pretty much the best bowler in the country, who was available, with his team in action, was not even allowed onto the pitch.
Anyway the Eagles - Tuskers game is still to finish but already we've gleaned much so far. It was great to see Mpofu do well, as always in the Logan Cup. but will he spoil a potentailly cracking and historic Eagle response in the final day?
All in all, I think guys should wait until the Mountaineers bat against these bowling line-ups doing the rounds. I don't see them getting through all of Hami, Mawoyo, Vusi, Maruma, Mutizwa, Kasuza and Innocent. Equally, I don't see any batting line-up getting close to 400 against Shingi, Chatara, Tiripano, Wellington/M'shangwe. On average 230 all-out is most likely. So before we reach any conclusions, I think we should consider that fact.
If Jarvis and Panyangara had the new ball against these Rising Stars, I doubt Cremer would have had anything left to bowl at. Even then he would have piled on more misery. The sad fact of the matter is, them being part of the country's premier FC competition was a disaster.
No doubt the fixture list was deliberate, and the Rhinos were the most fortunate of the other 3 sides in acion.
Still players still had to put up their hands, and they did. Little known quantity Bruce James didn't let himself down against the his fellow rookies. Mire was woeful with bat and ball, but he never was an opener, nor a bowler of FC quality. On the other side, Nathan Waller, though free of having to open the batting, was likewise reminded he's not a bowler of FC quallity. The same applied to Prince Masvaure, so it was a bad start for Zimbabwe's "allrounders".
This is why William Mashinge, is the stand-out cricketer of the opening round(Taffy Mupariwa's 33 off 130 in the 2nd innings worth a mention). With a better-thinking captain he might have left a few more dents with bat and ball against a decent Rhinos outfit. Poor captaincy didn't rear its ugly head there only, but Tuskers set a needlessly huge target for the Eagles with just one day of play available to to bowl out a decent Eagles unit. Lacking one good spinner and a specialist spinner, it's pretty obvious the preference was to give batting practice to some internationals considering the situation allowed it, but unless Mutumbami can prove that this was poor captaincy.
Personally he shined in both innings with the bat, and if the Eagles had brought their first choice attack, his knock would have counted towards something. Alas, he remains behind Chakabva in the selection stakes. His sole consolation will be a non-keeping Moor's unconvincing display against rookies. Then again Mutizwa still has to bat, and in this phase where keepers have been disappointing, he'll be motivated to perform.
Centurions in Craig, Sean, Raza and Taylor will please ZIM batting coach Lance Klusener, no matter the quality of the bowling. Likewise Cremer's bowling exploits will please Streak. 5 of the likely XI members confirming their presence. Like Raza, Chamu had taken to dropping himself down the order which is how he earned his place back in the ODI and Test sides he's continued to do so for ZIM A. Clearly he's keen on staking a claim in the Test team as an opener. It;s safe to say he's just about the only cricketer in the country who's prepared to earn his place the hard way. Musakanda might argue that he's the other one because he did what those 4 batsmen probably wouldn't have done if they were Rising Stars captains. He made himself bat at first drop, and I can bet everything I have they none of them would have batted higher than 4! As poor as his captaincy was, Musakanda quickly learned by opening with Mashinge in the next innings.
Burl got a couple of half-centuries, the seniors Chapungu and Zhuwao impressed unexpectedly, while another soon-to-be-senior Mutombodzi will be looking to do the same.
Career under-performing bowlers of Eagles let themselves down, as well as the youngsters bowling around them. It's in such situations when one wonders if a youngsters like Musoko wouldn't have been better off learning from a Panyangara whom the Rhinos deemed surplus to requirements. Perhaps this alone proves just how much is wrong in Zimbabwe cricket. Junk bowling all around in the opening fixtures, yet pretty much the best bowler in the country, who was available, with his team in action, was not even allowed onto the pitch.
Anyway the Eagles - Tuskers game is still to finish but already we've gleaned much so far. It was great to see Mpofu do well, as always in the Logan Cup. but will he spoil a potentailly cracking and historic Eagle response in the final day?
All in all, I think guys should wait until the Mountaineers bat against these bowling line-ups doing the rounds. I don't see them getting through all of Hami, Mawoyo, Vusi, Maruma, Mutizwa, Kasuza and Innocent. Equally, I don't see any batting line-up getting close to 400 against Shingi, Chatara, Tiripano, Wellington/M'shangwe. On average 230 all-out is most likely. So before we reach any conclusions, I think we should consider that fact.
