[Match Thread] New Zealand vs Zimbabwe, Only Test

[hhm]

Just read the report from this new guy Fernando. He sums it up very well at the beginning of his report:

Having been inserted on an unusually green Mclean Park deck, New Zealand collected 331 largely trouble-free runs for the loss of five wickets, with half-centuries to Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill helping set up a strong total.

Ross Taylor will rarely make an easier ton, as the Zimbabwe bowlers struggled to put him under pressure throughout his composed stay. The seamers were already on the wane when he arrived at the crease at 131 for two, offering boundary balls with alarming regularity while legspinner Graeme Cremer battled to find his length throughout the day. While Ross Taylor was quick to punish the abundant bad deliveries, he also accumulated at will when his opposite Brendan Taylor employed defensive fields too early and for too long.

Swing was neither prodigious, nor the pace unsettling from Jarvis and new-ball partner Brian Vitori, who at times went searching for ambitious outswing on leg-stump only to be picked through the on-side methodically by Guptill in particular. Debutant Shingi Masakadza's introduction into the attack helped haul in a New Zealand run rate that at times touched 5.5 runs an over, as Masakadza persevered outside off stump, nibbling the odd delivery away from the right-handers.

Poor seamers, poor spinner, poor captain, we all know the reputation of our batting so that must make this a poor team!

Such a pity because the real team is so much better! These silly coaches must quit trying to create fairytale story, admit they can't make better players of these due to the short series we have, and just turn to professionals!

More courageous batsmen would've put on 450 against us today! Of that I have no doubt!

[betterdays]

Betterdays I know you don't believe we should have had Hondo and Mupariwa, guys who are hardly making FC teams over Jarvis and Vitori...I didn't mean we literally had nothing, I meant we used to play only Mpofu and Chigs and 3 spinners so effectively as far as quicks go we were starting from scratch..

I'm not talking about this match - we are here out of necessity now! i don't beleive anyone back home would be making much more of an impact in their current form than these two openers are doing...injuries to Hondo and i guess Mupariwa held them back at an important time but the fact is these guys are not doing better than any of Rainsford, Hondo, Mupariwa or even Panya were doing. Zim added Mpofu to that and then Jarvis (who himself had a long lay-off) but that was not a bad attack and you have six people to select 3 from to make up your attack (which allows for injuries*) - with Elton chipping in as another option (not someone relied on to take a third of the wickets). The thing is, it takes kids (who are not prodegies) years to learn their trade at international level [Philander is an example of raw talent which was tried too soon, honed his skills for a year or two and came back a better player]. Vitori is a very good bowler at Zim FC level (which is obviously better than park cricket but not the strongest FC league) and if he could crank it up a couple of notches and work on consistency - for a few years, attend some academy maybe - i think he'd be a real handful because his good balls are very good (there just are not enough of them) and he seems to have desire.

sscricket - i am sorry you feel this is abuse. I cannot tell you how much i wish Zim does well (the diaspora creates that nonsensical sense of nationalism) ... and not just Zim, but these boys...now!!. doubly so in fact, now they've been charged with attempting to be respectable despite missing 3 of their most important players (Vusi, Pro and Mpofu) as well as other guys who'd do a job

[betterdays]

Querl (if he makes himself available) Meth, Jarvis, mpofu, tendai, and maybe mungatsi (sp?), shingi and rainsford are better [...than Vitori...].

I tend to agree - for now - but please let's not throw Querl into this list just for the sake of his FC season (and then talk of consistently performing)...i think there are problems there...

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Not a bad day of cricket in the end. Zimbabwe probably conceded about 40 runs more and took 1 wicket less than they would have liked to do share the honours, but we are missing two automatic selections in Price and Mpofu so it's not cause for concern by any means.

I thought Jarvis bowled beautifully and H Masakadza contained very well. Jarvis was unlucky not to end up with another one or two wickets; he is showing that he is Test quality and is showing the qualities of the leader of the bowling attack. Vitori didn't have a great day - not without chances, but too many stray balls. He was bowling too straight in my opinion and was punished whenever he bowled on leg stump. S Masakadza did alright on debut; he deserved his wicket but wasn't overly threatening. He bowled good lines in his first spell but fell away later (I reckon he might have hurt his shoulder based on what I saw); those half trackers, Harmison-style wides and waist height full tosses are still problems he faces which haunted him in his ODI games which makes me question his readiness for international cricket - when he gets it wrong it goes very wrong. But otherwise he was okay. Cremer toiled, Ross Taylor tore him apart whenever he was short and that ruined his stats. I saw some positives though; he was getting quite a lot of turn on a day one pitch - there is no doubt that he is the biggest spinner Zimbabwe has to offer and he will cause problems for batsmen. The more Test cricket he plays the better he will become. He has an extremely deceptive wrong-un; that ball which dismissed Vettori was pure class. Out of the hand it looks quite difficult to read and even more impressively, his wrong-un turns more than, say, an ordinary Utseya offbreak. I don't know why Cremer doesn't bowl his wrong-un more often; it's a genuine wicket taking ball.

I think it's important not to have unrealistic expectations. A lot of people here are very optimistic about the chances of the Zimbabwean bowlers which I think translates to a lot of negativity when these lofty expectations are not reached. What I don't think is unrealistic is to expect performances that we know the bowlers are capable of... ie. Vitori not getting swing today when he know he's capable of it and the conditions were conducive to it, Jarvis, Vitori and S Masakadza bowling so slowly when we have seen them bowl much quicker, Cremer bowling so many short balls when in ODIs he hasn't done so, etc.

Looking forward to day two, if NZ can be dismissed for under 420 that would be a good result.

[bayhaus]

Finally thanks to the availability of the speed gun we can drop the term quick in reference to any of our fronline bowlers. apparently Vitori topped the speed charts with 134/136kmh.

[aydee]

Finally thanks to the availability of the speed gun we can drop the term quick in reference to any of our fronline bowlers. apparently Vitori topped the speed charts with 134/136kmh.

That doesn't have to matter though. Anderson, Philander, Kumar, Zaheer, Asif never really bowl any quicker than that, and they've all found success in international cricket recently.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Finally thanks to the availability of the speed gun we can drop the term quick in reference to any of our fronline bowlers. apparently Vitori topped the speed charts with 134/136kmh.

That doesn't have to matter though. Anderson, Philander, Kumar, Zaheer, Asif never really bowl any quicker than that, and they've all found success in international cricket recently.

I would be happy if Jarvis and Vitori's average speed was 135-137, but today that was their maximum speed - and that was really only the first session. Jarvis ended up in the 130 range while Vitori was really struggling for pace towards the end of the day, around 120.

The aim should be to have those two guys bowling their stock ball at around 135-137 with their effort balls hitting the low 140s.

[betterdays]

Everyone got so excited when he was ripping apart an undercooked bangladesh team. But i hoestly believe that could have been anyone bowling reasonably well as Bangladesh were that bad.

Well, Kyle played that game too and still only really performed in the second innings. Fact is, in that game (no matter what it goes down as a test win) we won in no small part due to Vitori's efforts in the first innnings. The boy can bowl - he's doing it consistently at FC level, he stepped up on a wicket that suited him and was brought down to earth on wickets that didn't vs opposition that are above Zim FC standard...which is why ithink he should still be learning his trade in a place which is encouraging - A games too (he didn't do badly against reasonable opposition in a couple of those A games)

The laws of physics simply state that you dont get BETTER at test/international cricket then you have been at first class level. Its a statistical spike, an anonamly that evens itself out over time, everytime.

but you do become a better player over time (see Matsi, Hammie, Vusi,.. for evidence) playing at a higher level. we don't need to give them that time though, we have a FC system that is improving and that's where they should develop - being bled in slowly over time

I think it's important not to have unrealistic expectations. A lot of people here are very optimistic about the chances of the Zimbabwean bowlers which I think translates to a lot of negativity when these lofty expectations are not reached. What I don't think is unrealistic is to expect performances that we know the bowlers are capable of... ie. Vitori not getting swing today when he know he's capable of it and the conditions were conducive to it, Jarvis, Vitori and S Masakadza bowling so slowly when we have seen them bowl much quicker, Cremer bowling so many short balls when in ODIs he hasn't done so, etc.
.

Yes, i was not expecting much but was still disappointed. Still, if they keep it below 500 and our bats use the track well then a 4th day finish is still on the cards...which is ok by me.

[hhm]

I think it's important not to have unrealistic expectations. A lot of people here are very optimistic about the chances of the Zimbabwean bowlers which I think translates to a lot of negativity when these lofty expectations are not reached. What I don't think is unrealistic is to expect performances that we know the bowlers are capable of...

What exactly, are realistic expectations and what exactly are they capable of? One or no wickets between them in the first innings. You're comfortable with that, I'm not, and I doubt any right minded selector or fan should! Expecting them to take two wickets between them per first innings is not lofty it's pathetic, and yet they can't even manage that! Get back to me when they doing with the new ball what a poor to average new ball pair in the international stage is expected to get - 4 wickets! As it stands they are barely breaking the poor-good category! To expect them to do better than what they are doing now is extremely optimistic in itself, and that's what YOU are guilty of

betterdays, if NZ are restricted to under 500, it's not due to Zim, but themselves! Interesting to note that you weren't expecting much but even those lowly targets were beyond their reach!

[aydee]

I think it's important not to have unrealistic expectations. A lot of people here are very optimistic about the chances of the Zimbabwean bowlers which I think translates to a lot of negativity when these lofty expectations are not reached. What I don't think is unrealistic is to expect performances that we know the bowlers are capable of...

What exactly, are realistic expectations and what exactly are they capable of? One or no wickets between them in the first innings. You're comfortable with that, I'm not, and I doubt any right minded selector or fan should! Expecting them to take two wickets between them per first innings is not lofty it's pathetic, and yet they can't even manage that! Get back to me when they doing with the new ball what a poor to average new ball pair in the international stage is expected to get - 4 wickets! As it stands they are barely breaking the poor-good category! To expect them to do better than what they are doing now is extremely optimistic in itself, and that's what YOU are guilty of

betterdays, if NZ are restricted to under 500, it's not due to Zim, but themselves! Interesting to note that you weren't expecting much but even those lowly targets were beyond their reach!

Sadly though, compared to most of world cricket, Zim are a poor side, with poor depth, a poor domestic structure and a small pool of poor youth talent coming through (look at U19 results!). This has always been true, and remains true now, no matter how much any of us wish it wasn't. Progress is possible and some HAS been achieved over the last couple of years. As fans we live in perpetual hope of better days to come, but there is a level of expectation management needed in the present. Zim have never won a test in NZ, and were never likely to this time. The fact that virtually all of the squad are significantly short of genuine world class shouldn't be confused with the fact that even if this is not the 100% best XI, it is certainly very close. There are almost certainly no cricketers left at home who could have made a significant difference, as they too are all well short of standard required.

What does all of this realism mean? That we should celebrate, not belittle, the successes that the team does achieve. Beating Bangladesh in test and ODI cricket. Vitori's world record start to his ODI career. Tino's marathon. Taylor's 100s vs NZ. Running NZ so close in the test. It also means that we should get behind the team, as 'supporters' of a sports team should. Not jump on the backs of our own players, who are trying as hard as possible to battle against the odds for their country...