Patience Please

[sloandog]

I've been thinking about some of the flack our lads have been getting in the recent games against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

I'm calling for some patience to be shown for the younger crop.

Players I'm referring to:
Burl
Murray
Musakanda
Moor
Muzarabani

I myself was pretty tough on a lot of these lads but, having sat back and thought about it, I think we've all been slightly unfair.
They're facing very good bowlers; I don't care how we butter this up. Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran are very good cricketers (Khan being the best ODI bowler in the world) and do require a certain amount of respect.

Moor has been around for longer, granted, but how many times has he had to come in towards the end of an innings, or into a sticky situation at number 7 when the top order has failed..? Additionally, he is always having to face spin, on tracks which notoriously grip.

Burl is a top order batter, period. He is a very good player of pace and has a solid technique. It simply does not make sense to play him so low down, facing the spinners in condisitions he is not used to. If Mire wants to sweep and sweep and sweep some more, then I would rather he do it in the middle to lower order when the ball is slightly older; not when it's new and skidding on. I'd like to See Burl opening with Hmamie, Mire down the order and one of Moor or Tari to come in for the helpless Waller.

Now we could argue that the sign of a good batter is to be able to adapt to certain conditions and to specific bowlers/situations. However you need some experience and know how. Burl, Tari and Moor (whether we like it or not) have been thrown in the deep and expected to swim. The sad thing is that Moor hasn't coped well and is already been put in the 'useless' catagory, which isn't fair. I'd rather see him up top, utalising his ability to clear the ropes. I think he'd be slightly more measured in his apprach than Mire, who evidently loves to sweep.

Blessing clearly has a lot to work with and i can already see he's running in better; was also averging 84mph in the last game, at only 19 years old. So again, patience.

[tawac]

Sadly we have been there before and patience didn't pay off. We expected good things to come from:
Vusi Sibanda
Elton Chigumbura
Stuart Matsikinyere

Expected good things out of these players but not much came out at the end of it. No matter how many chances they were given. Vastly talented more so them the current crop.

Burl, Tari and Moor (whether we like it or not) have been thrown in the deep and expected to swim

Not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying they were not ready for international cricket? I would say having a fresh faced 18 year old Masakadza facing the might of the Windies is the proper deep end. Burl and Tari are still to show us if they are up to it or not but Moor has been given as many chances as one can get. That might prove to be another Waller story that. I would say if they really cant swim we may as well move on to the next lot. We have guys like Mutombodzi, Zhuwao, Kasuza, NWaller who haven't been given a chance. I was looking at the SA T20 squad, a couple of 31 year olds being given a go on the back of go domestic performances. We need to expand our player pool. Its pointless selecting players to the national squad and not giving them a go despite the incumbents not being any better.

[Black Mamba]

I've been thinking about some of the flack our lads have been getting in the recent games against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

I'm calling for some patience to be shown for the younger crop.

Players I'm referring to:
Burl
Murray
Musakanda
Moor
Muzarabani

I myself was pretty tough on a lot of these lads but, having sat back and thought about it, I think we've all been slightly unfair.
They're facing very good bowlers; I don't care how we butter this up. Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran are very good cricketers (Khan being the best ODI bowler in the world) and do require a certain amount of respect.

Moor has been around for longer, granted, but how many times has he had to come in towards the end of an innings, or into a sticky situation at number 7 when the top order has failed..? Additionally, he is always having to face spin, on tracks which notoriously grip.

Burl is a top order batter, period. He is a very good player of pace and has a solid technique. It simply does not make sense to play him so low down, facing the spinners in condisitions he is not used to. If Mire wants to sweep and sweep and sweep some more, then I would rather he do it in the middle to lower order when the ball is slightly older; not when it's new and skidding on. I'd like to See Burl opening with Hmamie, Mire down the order and one of Moor or Tari to come in for the helpless Waller.

Now we could argue that the sign of a good batter is to be able to adapt to certain conditions and to specific bowlers/situations. However you need some experience and know how. Burl, Tari and Moor (whether we like it or not) have been thrown in the deep and expected to swim. The sad thing is that Moor hasn't coped well and is already been put in the 'useless' catagory, which isn't fair. I'd rather see him up top, utalising his ability to clear the ropes. I think he'd be slightly more measured in his apprach than Mire, who evidently loves to sweep.

Blessing clearly has a lot to work with and i can already see he's running in better; was also averging 84mph in the last game, at only 19 years old. So again, patience.

Facing best bowlers in the world, doesn't mean, everytime he would be given few wickets or a five wicket hauls. Zimbabwe also plays for wining games, if they can't give fight against the oponnents with an excuse that they have world best bowler, then its tough for Zimbabwe to win games.

Peter Handscomb, Australian young batsman will face world best fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, few days later, that doesn't mean he will gift his wicket to him, instead he will give a counter attack.

[TapsC]

Problem I have with PJ is his List A average is also poor meaning that even in Zimbabwe he isn't scoring on the domestic scene. He is our backup keeper for now so he has time to fix things. Maybe move up the order.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Right, while patience in general is the only thing we can have since we don't have many up and coming players in the system, it is first of all incorrect to group a bunch of players and call for blanket patience for all of them. They all have been tested differently, and hence must be evaluated differently too.

Burl: I don't think he is anywhere near ready for international cricket with his temperament (and probably big-headedness). He also does not come across as a "team man" kind of a person willing to do whatever the team asks for - like Moor. If he is a top order player, who stopped him from staking a claim for the no. 3 slot as Ervine was finding it tough? It may be one thing not to see energy in the field from a veteran like Waller / Hamilton / Taylor, but for a youngster coming in, why doesn't he model himself on a Raza or a Tari? He looks aloof in the field most of the time. I'll eat my words if he comes up with a big knock, but he is nowhere near one at this level no matter which format. I'm not denying his talent in saying that, but he currently does not have the temperament and probably doesn't even know what his problems are, as he might be feeling a bit privileged already, having been given a run in the national side.

Moor: Those assumptions you make are wrong. He has played in top 3 13 times to average 21 at a lousy strike rate of < 59. Chamu and Vusi have better numbers there. 2 matches at 6 with an average of 30 and strike rate of 65, 8 matches at 7 with an average of 14 and strike rate of 74, and 7 matches at 8 with an average of 9.5 and strike rate of 79. Indefensible stats, basically. More damning is the fact that his List A stats don't warrant the ODI selection in the first place. lack of options might anyway mean more opportunities in future where he gets a chance to improve upon any of these numbers, but no reason to believe he won't end up as another Waller / Matsi. I'm not contesting his test place where he has shown his fighting spirit more than once.

Tari obviously has shown more ability than the others listed above, with his strike rotation ability probably better than everyone else in the team. What he needs himself is patience, which allows him to carry on for longer knocks instead of throwing his wicket away for pretty 20s and 30s like Vusi. I haven't seen anyone calling for his head. There is an excellent fielder there too.

Blessing: Yes, there is lot of talent there. He has his off-radar moments, but there is lots to work with. Much more than Ngarava for example. Definite potential to go better than Tiripano, Chinouya, Mpofu and others. Definitely have patience in him as he continues with his overall development.

Murray: He hasn't even been tried. Where is the question of not having patience about him? In fact most of us are impatient that he hasn't already been given a run

In short, there is every reason to question Burl and Moor.

[foreignfield]

Excellent observations, Crimson.

Generally patience is a good thing, and I have plenty of it ... but with the qualifiers just around the corner we need to sort the team asap.

[TapsC]

Have to agree with the assessment of Burl not being ready for international cricket. He looks like a slow grower. Kind of like Rilee Rossouw. But he doesn't deserve to be in the squad right now. If he is a top order batsman then he would have been thrown in the deep end like Tari. There is a reason why they haven't tried him up top just like they are not picking Zhuwao for reasons they know that we don't see. At number 6 or 7 he is too slow kind of like Ervine. His bowling does have potential.

Blessing has shown potential. I guess his route was tougher as the bowling has serious competition by zim standards right now.

[zimfan1]

Problem I have with PJ is his List A average is also poor meaning that even in Zimbabwe he isn't scoring on the domestic scene. He is our backup keeper for now so he has time to fix things. Maybe move up the order.

The same problem I have with Burl and Tari, their numbers in domestic cricket (Burl did have a good start) are not great.

But then again there is no domestic cricket for guys to develop. The whole system contains 20-30 players who can put in the odd decent performance, after that there is nothing.

[zimfan1]

Good observation Crimson about the difference in Burls and PJs character.

PJ does appear to on the Raza and BT spectrum in terms of being prepared to do anything for the side.

Burl appears to be more like my impression of Mire, all about the fame and ego of being an international cricketer.

Has a strut about him which so far is unwarranted.

[Googly]

We’re looking for guys with the strut. Most of our chaps look pleasantly surprised to win and resigned to failure half the time. I think being a Zim cricketer is probably being a bit like a suicide bomber. You think it probably won’t end well and more often than not you’re right. It’s a tough gig and supremely hard to remain positive, you just face so many hurdles on so many fronts.
I recall in the one u19 after a good 50 Ryan complained about the other batters not contributing and that was the last run he made that tour. Cricket is a great leveler. Something is not clicking with him, but he’s definitely one batter to persevere with. I’ve heard a few guys complain that he’s a bit arrogant/aloof, but I hardly know him.
The guy with the best attitude towards his batting and off the field is Raza, he’s not carrying that persecution gene I was talking about He’s such an upbeat friendly guy. I think I’m the past he’s been quite a good foil for any black/White issues that arose as he’s in no man’s Land in that regard. Good bloke.