ZCF obsessions

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I think the Afghan league would have recruited anyone crazy enough to go there.

But otherwise I agree wholeheartedly, many of those players could have (and probably should have) put their finger to the wind and predicted which way things were heading - and used the Zim national team as a stepping stone to IPL and other leagues. Taibu and Price got IPL contracts on their reputation alone, guys like Blignaut absolutely would have as well.

[Andybligzz]

I think the Afghan league would have recruited anyone crazy enough to go there.

But otherwise I agree wholeheartedly, many of those players could have (and probably should have) put their finger to the wind and predicted which way things were heading - and used the Zim national team as a stepping stone to IPL and other leagues. Taibu and Price got IPL contracts on their reputation alone, guys like Blignaut absolutely would have as well.

I know this sounds crazy but even someone like cremer would be getting looked at in the aussie big bash , the teams are always signing spinner up and leg Spinners seem to be the fruit of this summer around the world . If zim continues to grow and the his results as well as the team I would not be surprised if someone like adelaide or the Sixers were interested .

[pariah]

I think the Afghan league would have recruited anyone crazy enough to go there.

But otherwise I agree wholeheartedly, many of those players could have (and probably should have) put their finger to the wind and predicted which way things were heading - and used the Zim national team as a stepping stone to IPL and other leagues. Taibu and Price got IPL contracts on their reputation alone, guys like Blignaut absolutely would have as well.

I know this sounds crazy but even someone like cremer would be getting looked at in the aussie big bash , the teams are always signing spinner up and leg Spinners seem to be the fruit of this summer around the world . If zim continues to grow and the his results as well as the team I would not be surprised if someone like adelaide or the Sixers were interested .

Cremer is a world class T20 bowler.

He should just retire from Tests and become an LOI specialist and go hopping from T20 league to T20 League.

He is pretty much the only ZIM player good enough to get bought for decent money based on experience and stats at the CPL, T20Blast, Big Bash and IPL.

One would think that after all that time on the couch he would have at least realised that playing Tests and continuing to be this poor would put off buyers. Being captain and all that time away means there would be no value in buying a player who would be unavailable, even with ZIM's drought of games at times.

Bottomline, he's not thinking straight!

[foreignfield]

Cremer is a world class T20 bowler.

He should just retire from Tests and become an LOI specialist and go hopping from T20 league to T20 League.

He is pretty much the only ZIM player good enough to get bought for decent money based on experience and stats at the CPL, T20Blast, Big Bash and IPL.

We have a word in German for which there is no equivalent in English I believe: "wegloben"--it means "to heap praise on someone to get rid of him, especially in a professional enviroment"

[pariah]

Cremer is a world class T20 bowler.

He should just retire from Tests and become an LOI specialist and go hopping from T20 league to T20 League.

He is pretty much the only ZIM player good enough to get bought for decent money based on experience and stats at the CPL, T20Blast, Big Bash and IPL.

We have a word in German for which there is no equivalent in English I believe: "wegloben"--it means "to heap praise on someone to get rid of him, especially in a professional enviroment"

Except I've been saying this for a long time, with evidence. Nothing new. No need for praise. Just facts.

Dane Piedt, Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer being better Test bowlers than Tahir doesn't mean Tahir isn't a world class T20(and ODI) bowler. Ashwin being brilliant in Tests doesn't mean the same applies to ODIs where other spinners are rated higher. Likewise with Lyon for AUS in ODIs and T20s, and Narine for WI regarding Tests. That''s no slight on a particular player or Cremer.

Right now Cremer isn't going forward in any format, and he'll regret it. At the end of the day we're talking hundreds of thousands of us$ lost. No one will confidently buy a spinner who routinely gets smashed in Tests and hides from the new ball in LOIs. Better managed he'd be a player who fetches a high price.

As things stand, all of Wellington, Chisoro, Nyumbu and even Raza have upstaged him with the new ball in LOIs, and he isn't exactly ripping through sides, no matter the qualit of the pitch in favour of spin. Just 4 wickets in 5 expensive ODIs against SL in SL (inc 2 wicketless matches) is embarassing. Just a few years ago both Mutombodzi and Mushangwe were picked ahead of him in WI ODIs - on merit, and did well. Forumites were not happy but the decision was justified. The most wickets Cremer has got against a top side in ODIs is 3 vs WI 8 years ago, and NZ 2 years ago in a career filled with his 10 over quota far from utilised. He's a 4 over bowler and on good days when he's not lazy and cowardly, a decent ODI one as well! Never was a Test bowler.

[watermelon]

watermelon here,

Cremer is garbage, I have been saying this for a long time, glad to see Mr Pariah has finally seen past the hype.

I refer you to this captivating post here from over a year ago:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12275&hilit=waterme ... mer#p96039

One thing on this forum that always shocks me, and there is a lot of poor knowledge about cricket on this forum, is how many think Graeme Cremer is a worldclass spinner. He is no good at all and is probably only our fourth of fifth best spinner.

After 13 tests, over a ten year period Cremer has picked up 26 wickets at an average of 57.23!!! Only once has he picked up more than 3 wickets in an innings, and that was when he cleaned up a weak Bangladeshi tail in 2013 in the second innings when the game was already lost for the tourists. If you take out his outlying efforts against Bangladesh his average becomes an abominable 86.61 with just 13 wickets from 9 matches.

It is time to move on from crappy Cremer and give one of the young black spinners more chances. Nyumbu, Kamungozi, M'Shangwe, even Maruma are all better bowlers. We even saw how Guptill was more effective as a bowler than Cremer in the second test.