Dion Ebrahim eyes Zimbabwe comeback

[Detective RDS]

Link: http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/i ... m-comeback

Ebrahim eyes Zim Comeback
Thursday, 20 August 2009 20:38

BATSMAN Dion Ebrahim became the latest former Zimbabwe cricketer to enter negotiations for a possible return to the fold.

Ebrahim, currently playing league cricket in New Zealand, played 82 ODIs and 26 Tests for Zimbabwe, making his debut in both forms against Bangladesh in Harare in 2001.

He was recently in Bulawayo for talks with officials of his home franchise Matabeleland Tuskers and Zimbabwe Cricket.

He has since returned to New Zealand, from where he will continue talking to the officials, he told IndependentSport.

Right-hander Ebrahim, now 29, was one of the better fielders in the Zimbabwe team. He batted in the top-order, mostly as an opener.

He left soon after a bitter dispute with the Zimbabwe board in 2005. He initially went to England where he signed for the Stony Stratford Town club in Northamptonshire. –Staff Writer

[Sir Mupariwa]

Thats good news lets hope he comes, we need competition especially at the top. Our top order has been inconsistent so he might just walk in the team.

[tawac]

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Thats good news lets hope he comes, we need competition especially at the top. Our top order has been inconsistent so he might just walk in the team.

I dont think Ebrahim will "just walk into the team". Just like the current crop of openers we have at the moment, Ebrahim was inconsistant. And his ODI avg. of 20.61 from 82 games dont help matters. Perhaps as a more mature player now he would add some stability but I really dont think he is "our man" for the top order spot. His a great fielder no doubt. Its great to see the old player coming back into the picture.

[Train Driver]

Hopefully he, and others, are going to make themselves available in Zim cricket again, i do have doubts about the truth of some of these reports though.

What is Ebrahim doing flying in and out of New Zealand when he is currently playing for Stony Stratford in England ?

Maybe the basic facts are correct in these various player reports, but it's difficult to have too much faith in them when they have such obvious errors of fact.

[maehara]

He initially played for Stony Stratford after walking out on ZC, but hasn't been with them for quite some time. The report does indicate this, although maybe not in the clearest way:

He initially went to England where he signed for the Stony Stratford Town club in Northamptonshire.

Currently with Taranaki Cricket Club in New Zealand, where he's managed a whopping season average of... 19, from 7 innings played in the season so far (side's stats are here). If he's eyeing a return to the senior side, he's got some work to do, I think...

[CrimsonAvenger]

I dont think Ebrahim will "just walk into the team". Just like the current crop of openers we have at the moment, Ebrahim was inconsistant. And his ODI avg. of 20.61 from 82 games dont help matters.

Currently with Taranaki Cricket Club in New Zealand, where he's managed a whopping season average of... 19, from 7 innings played in the season so far (side's stats are here). If he's eyeing a return to the senior side, he's got some work to do, I think...

Agree. Dion was not the best you could have had even at the time he was playing at the highest level. I have seen umpteen times where he had created tremendous pressure for the non-strikers, like Alistair Campbell, Flower brothers, Craig Wishart and Guy Whittall, by not rotating the strike enough. Due to this, the non-strikers had to take extra risks and got out in the process some of the times. Stuart Carlisle was another batsman in the same league. They had their moments, but on a whole could not succeed to the fullest at the top level.

Guy Whittall has actually mentioned this in one of the interviews that he gave soon after his retirement:

`Wishy' opened with Dion Ebrahim, but I don't think Dion's an opening batsman. He's more for the middle order; in the modern game you need someone who's going to be able to rotate the strike and get a run a ball and hit a few boundaries. Dion's not that kind of player.

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/123839.html

If he has improved, he can prove that and force his way in. He certainly was an electric fielder and a lightening between the wickets.

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

Diön initially was a slow starter but he changed himself a lot in later stages of his career, especially when he was demoted to no.5 or 6.
Bangladesh was his all time favourite opposition whom he loved to hammer.
He also showed his liking to play spinners effectively in the Indian tour which was led by Carlisle. He played memorable tough inn of 90plus with Andy Flower at kotla.

He is an experienced player now and can replace Matsi any day in any format in my humble opinion.

[CrimsonAvenger]

He is an experienced player now and can replace Matsi any day in any format in my humble opinion.

Obviously he can replace Matsi any day. But ideally, we must be having much better options to replace Matsi in Taibu and Mutizwa.

If my memory serves me right, if Dion comes back, and Zimbabwe get the test status back, even if he is in his prime form, he cannot play the first test, as he would still be serving a ban . In the test against Srilanka, he made a funny comment about Murali's action and got himself banned for two tests. He served the ban for one test, and before he could complete ban, Zim withdrew themselves from Test cricket.

It would be an interesting quandary if the situation arises...

[Train Driver]

Well Maehara, i'm obviously not going to dispute anything, far from it, but i'm simply going by this

http://www.cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/p ... artseason=

which shows that he has been playing for Stony Stratford this season right up to August 15th

[maehara]

Well Maehara, i'm obviously not going to dispute anything, far from it, but i'm simply going by this

http://www.cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/p ... artseason=

which shows that he has been playing for Stony Stratford this season right up to August 15th

I stand corrected.

Looks like overlapping seasons - playing in England during Northern summer, NZ during Southern summer. I notice there's a press release on the Taranaki site, dated 5th August, confirming he'll be playing for them again during the coming season, "as he has done for the last 2 seasons":
http://www.taranakicricket.co.nz/senior ... a=2&id=242