Zimbabwe vs India 2022 Second One day International

[secretzimbo]

Saw some highlights and looks like we bowled pretty well at least. Lol @ Chivanga's celebration/roar when he finally took a wicket. You really wouldn’t want to upset that fella! Maybe they are too scared to drop him It’s good to see him cranking it up over 140+ - definitely the quickest guy in the country but if his radar is consistently shit and he’s bowling three wides per over then I’m not sure what the point of him is. I think he’s pretty average. At least he tries. Some of our other guys should have his attitude.
Hopefully Ngarava is back for the final match, maybe even Blessing?! Now they’ve won the series I think India will challenge themselves to bat first even if they win the toss.

I only watched the first hour this morning before I had to go, but it’s disappointing to see Kaia didn’t stay in longer. He actually looked pretty comfortable in difficult conditions early on. Siraj opening spell was beautiful but Kaia looked okay with it. I think Innocent has a future, it would be interesting to see him in Tests too.
Kaitano can’t buy a run, and Madhevere should be nowhere near the ODI team at the moment. They are the two positions that really need improvement.
Chakabva has looked better at 6, so why suddenly move him back up to 4? Weird.

It’s not necessarily the end of the world if guys are struggling against this world class opposition at this point though. Remember we are playing India! We are most likely going to get tonked in Australia next week too, but as we know we are sadly unlikely to play teams of this quality again in the next five years. The first step, for the immediate short-term, is to consistently beat the minnows like Bangladesh - the last series was great, let’s make sure we do it time and time again. Afghanistan are coming back yet again in December, should be a good measure of our progress. I think we’ve got mostly a good team to do that but it’s those two batting positions we need to sort. I’m not sure what the solutions are really, they could try bringing Shumba back in, or switching around the batting order or something. They could look at Kasuza or someone next year but he hasn’t played for two months so you can’t bring him in now.

[secretzimbo]

If they want to maximise the crowds you play Friday and Sunday, surely?
Monday!! FFS

Probably India's decision for whatever reason. Their diary is relentless at the moment.

[slcricfan1]

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/zim- ... le-1330022

[Googly]

That writer just needed to produce an article for a deadline.
If you've only got two batters consistently performing you bat them 4-6 to protect them from the new ball. It's not rocket science. Whether they invariably have to come in at 30-3 or not and have to do damage control is irrelevant.

What will be interesting is if Ballance does appear. You still have the same problem, can't risk him opening either. At a push you could put him at 3.

Ideally we need Ballance plus another 2 batters, that's the harsh reality. The musical chairs thing will go on ad nauseum and i dont think there will be resolution to it. Kaia currently edges the pack for me, there's something about him. As I said, Burl is the guy with the technique and ability and belief to bat at 3 or 4 for now. He's been wasted where he's been batting.

By the look of Evans he should perhaps be one ahead of Jongwe in the line-up. But if Jongwe comes ahead of him and smacks a few around that's OK as well. You have to be pretty decent to smack high quality bowlers around though, they don't like it

The dilemma comes when Ngarava and Muzarabani are back because then there's probably only room for one of Jongwe or Evans. That choice is currently Jongwe, but if you gave Evans the new ball and maybe batted him slightly higher up there's a fair chance he'd be better than Jongwe. Currently there's not much in it and the gap is closing. My personal opinion is that Evans has a higher ceiling. Its a good tussle and hopefully they both push each other to a point where there's room for two. Jongwe will only impress me when he drops a few kilo. Look at Ngidi now. He knows there's some white boys breathing down his neck and he's had to stop visiting the fast food outlets.
I don't think Evans will ever get a long enough chance at trying to prove he can open and bat higher up, he might get a couple of goes and he's going to have to grab them. Then he can toi-toi in front of the guys who've held him back.
The one think Jongwe has been gifted with is a golden arm. He takes wickets from what are often innocuous looking deliveries and he can hit a long ball. In T20 there's room for both perhaps?

Madhevere is a big problem, as is Shumba and Myers and the Jongwe of old. They got red carpet treatment and never earned the right. It's not their fault, we are short of players, but it doesn't do the players any favors. In my view, unless you're a freak you need to earn your stripes with some time in domestic where they need to do well.
He's clearly talented and with the shortage of options and ZC's determination to prove our "pathways" work, or whatever motivates them to keep pumping him up, they're going to persevere with him. He hasn't set List A or FC alight either.
They can't keep damaging this poor guy up the order. Either bring him in lower down the order or bench him. That's high risk stuff just keeping him at 3. You need rhino skin to not get scarred. I don't know the guy, maybe he's still brimming with confidence, but that's unlikely.

[sam_ahm]

That writer just needed to produce an article for a deadline.
If you've only got two batters consistently performing you bat them 4-6 to protect them from the new ball. It's not rocket science. Whether they invariably have to come in at 30-3 or not and have to do damage control is irrelevant.

What will be interesting is if Ballance does appear. You still have the same problem, can't risk him opening either. At a push you could put him at 3.

Ideally we need Ballance plus another 2 batters, that's the harsh reality. The musical chairs thing will go on ad nauseum and i dont think there will be resolution to it. Kaia currently edges the pack for me, there's something about him. As I said, Burl is the guy with the technique and ability and belief to bat at 3 or 4 for now. He's been wasted where he's been batting.

By the look of Evans he should perhaps be one ahead of Jongwe in the line-up. But if Jongwe comes ahead of him and smacks a few around that's OK as well. You have to be pretty decent to smack high quality bowlers around though, they don't like it

The dilemma comes when Ngarava and Muzarabani are back because then there's probably only room for one of Jongwe or Evans. That choice is currently Jongwe, but if you gave Evans the new ball and maybe batted him slightly higher up there's a fair chance he'd be better than Jongwe. Currently there's not much in it and the gap is closing. My personal opinion is that Evans has a higher ceiling. Its a good tussle and hopefully they both push each other to a point where there's room for two. Jongwe will only impress me when he drops a few kilo. Look at Ngidi now. He knows there's some white boys breathing down his neck and he's had to stop visiting the fast food outlets.
I don't think Evans will ever get a long enough chance at trying to prove he can open and bat higher up, he might get a couple of goes and he's going to have to grab them. Then he can toi-toi in front of the guys who've held him back.
The one think Jongwe has been gifted with is a golden arm. He takes wickets from what are often innocuous looking deliveries and he can hit a long ball. In T20 there's room for both perhaps?

Madhevere is a big problem, as is Shumba and Myers and the Jongwe of old. They got red carpet treatment and never earned the right. It's not their fault, we are short of players, but it doesn't do the players any favors. In my view, unless you're a freak you need to earn your stripes with some time in domestic where they need to do well.
He's clearly talented and with the shortage of options and ZC's determination to prove our "pathways" work, or whatever motivates them to keep pumping him up, they're going to persevere with him. He hasn't set List A or FC alight either.
They can't keep damaging this poor guy up the order. Either bring him in lower down the order or bench him. That's high risk stuff just keeping him at 3. You need rhino skin to not get scarred. I don't know the guy, maybe he's still brimming with confidence, but that's unlikely.

It is a fact that Zimbabwe needs at least two proper batsmen to be added to the side (Ballance and Welch?) to be able to compete with top teams, it will also be good for the current crop as it will increase competition. I have a strong feeling that both Dave and ZC will do something to add them before the WCQ because even they know with the current team WCQ is next to impossible. (If WI win tonight, then RSA will almost certainly be playing the Qualifiers, along with most likely SL, so good luck beating those two and Ireland are ever improving).

Evans is better than Jongwe although Jongwe has the knack of getting some wickets out of nowhere, may be he is better than what we think but still he just doesn't come across as someone who can have a big impact, he always remains a proper bits and pieces cricketer.

What Zimbabwe desperately needs is an Andy Blignaut type hard hitting proper all rounder lower down at No. 7 or 8. Currently I see no one capable of matching even Blignaut's ability.

I'm a little surprised by the lack of fast bowling all rounders in Zimbabwe presently, they have a rich history of producing such... Heath Streak, Neil Johnson, Andy Blignaut, Eddo Brandes, Travis Friend, Douglas Marillier... And most of them were hard hitters.

[secretzimbo]

Evans is better than Jongwe although Jongwe has the knack of getting some wickets out of nowhere, may be he is better than what we think but still he just doesn't come across as someone who can have a big impact, he always remains a proper bits and pieces cricketer.

I don't think that's true, currently. Although Evans probably has more potential eventually.

Jongwe is hilarious because everything about him screams club bowler, and yet he has an unbelievable knack of somehow taking wickets and making stuff happen. Great asset for the team, I love the guy. He and Chakabva are two guys who I'd always vouch for. Hearts in the right place.

If Evans and Jongwe can push each other and compete over the next couple of years that will be very good for us.

[Googly]

At school and shortly thereafter, Lake was a great athlete.
Used to bowl quick, had a nice athletic run up and just looked the part. He had a really entitled pathway, went astray, is back on track, but in my view has a way to go.
Evans is a tremendous athlete and I can say with certainty that is going to improve significantly from where he's at.
Luke is the one that's going to have to pull his socks up physically. He's talented with both bat and ball, but so is Evans. It's great for our cricket. Under the right guidance they could both easily hold their spots in all formats.

[CalZim]

Jongwe is hilarious because everything about him screams club bowler, and yet he has an unbelievable knack of somehow taking wickets and making stuff happen. Great asset for the team, I love the guy. He and Chakabva are two guys who I'd always vouch for. Hearts in the right place.

If Evans and Jongwe can push each other and compete over the next couple of years that will be very good for us.

Dave Houghton keeps telling the media that Jongwe is special. I think he is one of the first players on his team sheet.

He is one of those bowlers that doesn’t look good but he seriously is. Especially in t20 cricket, he is the only bowler we have with variations.

With his batting Dave has give him the license to go in and hit the ball hard, if he can score 15-20 for us every game then I’m happy as he will do it at a pace. Getting out playing aggressive is the way he should get out.

It’s great that we have that competition now, Evans still has a lot to work on but I’m sure he will get the best out of Jongwe, Tiripano didn’t.

I think we have got a great pace bowling lineup set up for the future as everyone is young, just need one spinner to step up and replace welly.

[CalZim]

We are talking competition but I have just realised that they both should be in the 11.

What’s the point in playing a sub par spinner when our spin bowling allrounders do the same job.

Both Evans and Jongwe should be in the team full time.

When Ngarava, Muzarabani and Chatara come back it should be a fight from them 3 to take 2 places.

That’s if Ngarava doesn’t keep improving his batting, I’m sure his last couple of innings are just a fluke. Or else he would be the one to extend the batting lineup.

Houghton definitely likes a long batting lineup, playing 3 bowlers who can’t bat doesn’t suit his game.

[Googly]

Eeish I don't agree with that.
Chats swings the ball and has been a great servant of Zim cricket. Trust me he will up his game.
Ngarava and Muzarabani have such great physical attributes and they're a handful if bowling fast and well.
You can absolutely have 3 non batsmen. Ngarava can hold a bat and Blessing is not a complete rabbit.
The problem is these guys are not that accurate. You have to build pressure from both ends to induce mistakes in good batsmen. That ability to land it consistently evades most guys, it's what separates the good from the really good.

I'm not sure Jongwe has complete license to express himself either. Pretty sure that last innings won him no friends. You have to read the game and adapt. He was about 3 off 14 if I recall and not getting anything loose and took it upon himself to try and break the shackles and it didn't work. It was way too early to do that. He should have accepted they were bowling tight and reined it in.
He could actually be a very very good batsman, oodles of ability, not a lot of thought processes though. He keeps it together for a while and then a wasp enters his head