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Here is an unbelievable article in - you know where - Cricinfo.

It talks about Taibu's last minute exclusion from the first class match. It also has this outrageous statement towards the end:

Ray Price is another absentee, but sources close to the board suggest that he has been told he is not part of future plans.

To top it all, here's the optimism from the board's side:

Wilfred Mukondiwa, the deputy managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket, said he hoped that including the four-day match will help the country stake a claim for a return to Test level. "The four-day game that begins at the Queens Sports Club on Wednesday might not be that important to Sri Lanka, but is of significance to us as it is part of our programme to give our maturing side more exposure to the longer version of the game in preparation for our resumption of Tests."

What maturity?

God I hope not. We need all the experienced players that we can get at the moment. Wonder what ZC board are thinking, Perhaps along the lines of price's inclusion is stemying the rise of people like Maruma and kamungozi, If this is true then that is absolute rubbish. You dont become a world beater overnight and we certainly need our best/experienced players to give experience and be a role model to the younger players. So after wins over australia and west indies it looks like ZC has gone for the punk rock attitude. ' to destroy is to create'. Absolutely gutted beyond words

If this is true, then ZC are complete and utter muppets

And zimbabwe are bowled out for 159 in the tour match. Sri lanka 50-0.

Why maruma as an opener? Has he done that consistently at first class level and scored stcks of runs?

That Price quote is truely ridiculous. He's not remotely old by spinner standards.

The thing that seems to confuse me about the Zim system is that selectors and players seem to think that the national first XI is the only side. If a player isn't selected, they seem to abandon the game, and a young player can't learn unless he is picked for the national side. This isn't sustainable, Zim need a domestic system where fringe and young players get regular games, and are sufficiently well paid. Otherwise there is never going to be any depth whatsoever.

I'm afraid I'm starting to be very pessimistic about the future of cricket in Zimbabwe. It is constantly, 1 step forward, 2 steps back. There is simply not enough quality for ZC to replace the continual stream of premature retirees. If Maruma is a Test class opener, then I'm a Dutchman! And no offence to Matsikenyeri but he is not a Test Match no.4, he seems much more of a one day player. I think the seam attack will perennially struggle to put teams under pressure. Thats not to denigrate the current players, more to sympathise with their situation. ZC should get a reality check and then get on the phone and beg Williams and Taylor to come back .

I didnt infer that ray price was old, More so I was trying to get into the heads of ZC board as to their reasons for droppin him. At the moment you have quite a number of quality spinners in utseya,price,cremer,maruma and kamungozi. They all cant fit into the first 11. I wont go into the whole politics thing of ZC but all ZC's decisions arent based on a meritocracy now are they?
Im gutted that price is dropped as much as anyone he has years left in him, Hopefully steven price or whoever in cricinfo is corresponding has got it wrong in terms of his long term future, The problem is that price is a proven performer at test level and at worsteshire county cricket club. He has stacks of first class wickets, It makes no sense to rest him

Welcome to the forum andrewn9, I don't think I've seen you post before?

It appears Maruma was selected for his batting alone... he hasn't bowled a single ball in 112 overs in the field.

Let's try and look at the positives.

- Mendis, while taking wickets, was also Sri Lanka's most expensive and least economical bowler
- Masakadza is turning into an imposing batsman. 26 runs off 34 balls with 2 fours and a six is a good effort
- Chigumbura's 33 off 105 shows that he has the technique to stay out there and grind an innings rather than hitting his way out of a situation
- a lot of the wickets were caught, only Chakabva (inexperience) and Dabengwa (can't bat) had the defense beaten clean bowled. A lot of caughts shows that either the batsmen are playing at balls they shouldn't be (maybe a mindset thing, can be fixed) or trying to hit big (likewise). It's hardly as if Fernando would have been bowling unplayable balls
- only 7 extras conceded from the bowlers
- just 1 wide from Mpofu, who has a tendency to be inaccurate
- no bowler has taken an absolute hammering
- Shingirai Masakadza on debut (of sorts) is the most economical bowler
- Neither Utseya or Cremer are as expensive as Jason Krezja

It would be nice to have more guys bowling in the 2.5 - 3.5 economy bracket rather than the 3.5 - 4.0 economy bracket, but at least our main bowlers aren't going for 5 or 6 an over. If Ray Price was bowling, and probably Tawanda Mupariwa as well, Sri Lanka would probably have about 50 runs less than what they do.

Obviously our batting let us down quite a bit. We needed someone to at least score 60 or 70 or else we had no hope of getting a respectable total. The next innings should have a focus on building a massive score. We can't win, so I'd like to see the batsmen try and bat out the rest of the match. Even if it means a run rate of 1-2 an over, show the rest of the world that we can keep wickets in hand. We need a "wall" like Rahul Dravid (well, the Dravid of a few years ago ). We have to accept that we don't have the man power to even come close to winning, but why couldn't we draw a game? Bat through 150-180 overs overs (easier said than done though) and get 300 odd - it's a score, and hey it might even cause the opposition to make a sporting declaration in the hope of a result.

For day 3, the bowlers need to focus on doing the basics. I would get Chigumbura and Mpofu on at the beginning of the day (for a few overs) and let them bowl some short stuff. At 130-135 they are not all that quick, but Shane Watson is of a similar speed and caught some of the batsmen in India off guard by bowling short of a length. Cremer and Utseya in tandem seem to be restricting the runs a bit more than Chigumbura and Mpofu, so hopefully they can continue what they are doing. It would be great if Cremer could snare a few wickets.