Zimbabwe Vs West Indies | 1st Test | 4-8 Feb 2023 | Bulawayo

[secretzimbo]

Why are people wanting to put square pegs in round holes?

Ervine is a number 3 and Ballance is a number 4. Bat them in their normal positions!!!!

Williams at his usual 5. and in an ideal world if he can be bothered with Tests then Burl at 6 and a keeper at 7.

[mnelson68]

Why are people wanting to put square pegs in round holes?

Ervine is a number 3 and Ballance is a number 4. Bat them in their normal positions!!!!

Williams at his usual 5. and in an ideal world if he can be bothered with Tests then Burl at 6 and a keeper at 7.

Ideal world is from 3 to 7 Ervine Ballance Williams Raza Burl

[Xlife]

I actually thought Evans was going to bat at 6. This is the first time I have to say DH and co have gotten it completely wrong in my opinion. Even with injuries this is still the wrong team

You're smoking some good weed if you ever think Brad Evans can bat successfully at 6 in test cricket

Why? He's work in progress with plenty of ability and great hands.

He's the equivalent of Jongwe and Tiripano. To bat at 6, you either need to be a genuine batsman or genuine all-rounder and he is far from either currently, especially at test level.

[Googly]

Well who do you suggest?

[Googly]

It was clear in the World Cup and has been clear in most of our series, our batting is our weak point. Matsi is stealing a living and we really need to get someone new in the role. He is clearly not cut out for it.

Our bowling hasnt been better.

Its simply the quality in teams and the pitch.

Everytime we pile on runs in a batting pitch we say the bowling isnt up to scratch and vice versa.

We definitely do need a new bat coach, didnt even realise Matsi is still there.

Our bowling has been better than our batting for sure. I haven't watched much of this test so can't talk about this test, but in the last few months for sure, it's been our stronger asset.

It's not so much the quality of the teams, because when you refer back to the World Cup, we struggled against the likes of Netherlands and Bangladesh. The West Indies struggled to trouble the Aussies big time - and I know the Aussies are a different level - but we are making a meal of this. I don't think this pitch is as bad as our scorecard suggest.

Well this test showed that our seamers are pedestrian.
Our full strength side looks tidier at batting than bowling.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Without Raza & Burl plus Wes totally out of form, I’d be happy enough for Ballance to bat @ 3 next test, plus Makoni did pretty well all things considered.

Kaia
Makoni
Ballance
Ervine
Williams

Acceptable ONLY because Makoni held his own.

But again, why the general allergy to opening for Ballance?

We need him up top to get 200* one day

As I said in my first line, without the other options to bat in the middle order I’d be hesitant to open with Ballance, especially since Makoni did a good job.

With everyone on deck I’m happy for Ballance to open or No.3

Yeah I know you agree and I agreed with you, but more so the second party was aimed at everyone as the general sentiment with alot of peeps here seems to support him in the middle order.

[secretzimbo]

You're smoking some good weed if you ever think Brad Evans can bat successfully at 6 in test cricket

Why? He's work in progress with plenty of ability and great hands.

He's the equivalent of Jongwe and Tiripano. To bat at 6, you either need to be a genuine batsman or genuine all-rounder and he is far from either currently, especially at test level.

I see your point. Evans has had a bad game.
But Jongwe obviously isn’t in contention in this format due to his fitness and Tiripano is less than useless so Evans is still a better investment. Although he has underwhelmed for sure

[ZIMDOGGY]

Why are people wanting to put square pegs in round holes?

Ervine is a number 3 and Ballance is a number 4. Bat them in their normal positions!!!!

Williams at his usual 5. and in an ideal world if he can be bothered with Tests then Burl at 6 and a keeper at 7.

Ideal world is from 3 to 7 Ervine Ballance Williams Raza Burl

No!
Ideal world is opening Ballance, then Ervine/Willo/Raza

[Xlife]

It was clear in the World Cup and has been clear in most of our series, our batting is our weak point. Matsi is stealing a living and we really need to get someone new in the role. He is clearly not cut out for it.

Our bowling hasnt been better.

Its simply the quality in teams and the pitch.

Everytime we pile on runs in a batting pitch we say the bowling isnt up to scratch and vice versa.

We definitely do need a new bat coach, didnt even realise Matsi is still there.

Our bowling has been better than our batting for sure. I haven't watched much of this test so can't talk about this test, but in the last few months for sure, it's been our stronger asset.

It's not so much the quality of the teams, because when you refer back to the World Cup, we struggled against the likes of Netherlands and Bangladesh. The West Indies struggled to trouble the Aussies big time - and I know the Aussies are a different level - but we are making a meal of this. I don't think this pitch is as bad as our scorecard suggest.

Bowling is indeed our strength, especially in T20s as Zim had the best run rate in 2022 out of all countries

[ZIMDOGGY]

Why are people wanting to put square pegs in round holes?

Ervine is a number 3 and Ballance is a number 4. Bat them in their normal positions!!!!

Williams at his usual 5. and in an ideal world if he can be bothered with Tests then Burl at 6 and a keeper at 7.

Ballance is a natural opener/3.