Series thread - MTN Domestic Championship

[Maraicha]

Well at least we did give it our all and I am sure nest year we will win this tourney. But do you guys think we are ready for test cricket? I honestly think we are

[Train Driver]

If India do visit in may, and Zim return to test cricket against them, then I have to admit that I would be a bit worried about the outcome.

With Taylor, Masakadza, Williams, Taibu, Chigumbura, Sibanda and Matsikenyeri in form, then I think the side could put some reasonable scores on the board. If the wickets were spin friendly then Price and Utseya would probably hold their own, but what about the seam attack ?. India are a brilliant batting unit and i'm afraid that a selection from Brent, Mupariwa, Mpofu, Rainsford, Mahwire, and maybe Garwe, would be in big trouble.

The big fly in the ointment is the IPL, as their fixtures take place between april 18th and june 1st.

Is the tour likely to go ahead in May ?, if it does then the only loss to Zim will be Taibu, virtually the entire Indian side, maybe all the Indian side, will be taking part in the IPL meaning that India will have to either cancel the tour or send an A team.

I wonder when an announcement will be made.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Well at least we did give it our all and I am sure nest year we will win this tourney. But do you guys think we are ready for test cricket? I honestly think we are

We aren't ready to play Test's again, if you look at it from a "will we be competitive" point of view.

Having said that, given the choice of playing 2 Test's against India in May, of course you say yes. Zimbabwe won't get stronger by playing and beating a weak SA Composite XI. And it's demoralising to lose to the SA domestic teams.

Today, I think the best XI we can play is as follows:

1. Sibanda
2. Taylor
3. Williams
4. Utseya (c)
5. Taibu (wk)
6. Masakadza
7. Chigumbura
8. Cremer
9. Price
10. Brent
11. Mupariwa

Cremer deserves his place. He was our first choice Test spinner in 2005, he stayed loyal to Zimbabwe, and let's not forget he absolutely tore apart the SAA competition. I mean, damn, he took 35 wickets in 6 matches at 17.6 with an economy under 2.8! Personally, in a Test setting I don't think Prosper Utseya is any better than Graeme Cremer as a spin bowler. The First Class bowling averages of each pretty much accentuate that, but there is no way Utseya will be dropped (and rightly so too, he deserves his spot!).

[Train Driver]

Whoops , I forgot all about Graeme Cremer.

Having 3 spinners to select from does cause a problem of course, but if Utseya and Cremer can continue with their batting progress then that helps an enormous amount with the overall balance of the side.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

It certainly does. Ever since Utseya's century in the SAC XI match I've been calling for him to be promoted to number 4 (FC matches only). After Maruma made 70 odd in an SAA game, if I remember correctly, they promoted him to 6 and then into the top order. If Maruma can do it, I see no reason why Utseya (who almost scored a half century on his Test debut) can't either.

[aydee]

I think Zim's batsmen would probably not be embarassed in test cricket at the moment. I would really fear about bowling at Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Dhoni at the moment though...

[brmtaylor.com admin]

That's true, unless we open the bowling with Ray Price

[zulu]

Sorry but dissaggree with some of you I think Zim will be ready for test cricket in may next yr i mean this team has been together for a good while now and are developing into a good side, the expierience is growing because this current sqaud has played a alot of matches including 4 day games together so expierience isnt really an excuse anymore. We have 3 expierienced players back in the side ( Brent Taibu and Price) which 2 of them are world class. We have a developed a good batting line up capable of getting a decent test score and certainly if Bangladesh are playing test cricket then zim should also be. I think that playing india for the first test is going to be very tough (weel probably get hammerd) it would be a much better idea to play bangladesh first and i think that zim have a better side then bangladesh and are easily capable of beating them.

My test lineup would be:

1.H.Masakadza
2.B.Taylor
3.T.Taibu
4.S.Williams
5.V.Sibanda
6.S.Matsikenyeri
7.E.Chigumbura
8.P.Utseya
9.G.Brent
10.R.Price
11.C.Mpofu

I think this lineup will be best for the first game because it is a expierienced and many of the players have already played test cricket. Id play Mpofu at test level because i feel that he has a little more pace and bounce than the other zim seamers and thats what you need from a strike bowler...

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Sorry but dissaggree with some of you I think Zim will be ready for test cricket in may next yr ...

We are talking about May this year (ie. in 2 months)

[Kopje]

Sorry but dissaggree with some of you I think Zim will be ready for test cricket in may next yr ...

We are talking about May this year (ie. in 2 months)

I think a 4 day match against Bangladesh or an East African Select would do. Though we still going to be hammered by India.

I predict South Africa 's record of partnership runs broken in our test against India (Indian innings)