[Match Thread] Zimbabweans v New Zealanders: 3-day Tour Game

[CricketGuru]

I don't know where the selectors have been sleeping either, I understand Taurai has been in the team based on his performance in Zims practice matches where he always gets the wicket of Masakadza or Chibaba or Sibanda or Maruma which makes me wonder do these guys have some kind of agreement to be soft on each other so they get selected all the time?

A recent espn thread questioned the A teams selection and suggested in the end they doing a wild experiment to determine the starting 11, but if you look at the guys they selected were ordinary first class players whose recent performance doesn't even deserve them a chance in their own clubs but somehow they made it to the National side.

And now that Chatara has been outperformed by Aliseni and Nyauchi, are these suspicious selectors now going to change the bowling attack in the squad? I also amazes me how they selected only one spinner on a slow wicket, and now a high school coach whose been ansent for two years. Then drop tried and tested spinners like Welly and Chisoro?

It's pretty clear that selection is based not on performance but like how any corrupt co. hires people, npt based on who is more qualified for the job but based on who you know and like and I'm very disappointed in Taibu.

If ZC want to see any fans whatsoever at Queens, do something about the squad now or we'll tell Evan to start a #ThisCricketTeam campaign

[TapsC]

is Aliseni really that quick?he has really been hyped up and if it is true he should be in the main squad.Nyauchi also bowled well.1 for the future.never seen him play but his stats are very consistent

[Flakeman]

Aliseni is nippy. But not nearly as quick as Rupeni says. He can probably get it upto 135km in matches. Needs to slim down alot more.

[Detective RDS]

Mawoyo is retired hurt. Any info on that anyone ?

[tawac]

Chakabva is badly out of form.

[eugene]

I have no confidence in Taibu, these selections are just mates selecting mates.

[Conant]

Eish, to complain so bitterly about Vusi's inclusion and have him record a duck less than a day later, with the whole team getting rolled out for 114?! Seems many of our bowlers cant handle quality pace even at the insipid Queens Sports Club! Thank God we not playing at Harare, home advantage would have meant squat all there, maybe even a handicap.

In Bulawayo, we are expecting something that's going to be slow and not a heck of a lot of bounce, so taking 20 wickets will be a challenge," Hesson said after the team's arrival in Harare, where they are currently playing a three-day warm-up match before heading to Bulawayo. "Zimbabwe's bowling attack is very disciplined, so from a batting point of view, it's about committing to your plans over a long period of time.

Zimbabwe's ace could be the element of surprise in their personnel. Only four in their current squad played in the 2011 Test against New Zealand: Tino Mawoyo, Hamilton Masakadza, Regis Chakabva and Njabulo Ncube. A further four - Prince Masvaure, Chamu Chibhabha, Peter Moor and Taurai Muzarabani - are uncapped at the Test level.

That, and a stubborn surface, has prompted Hesson to urge his charges not to take Zimbabwe lightly as they open their African adventure. "Some of the Zimbabwe players we don't know very well, we don't have a lot of footage of them, so we are going to have to deal with that when we arrive. But we certainly won't be underestimating Zimbabwe in their own conditions

In fact, Mike Hesson might be surprised at how hugely he has overestimated his opponents.

...Taibu is clueless as a selector.. How do you pick someone (Ncube) who's been coaching primary school cricket in South Africa and hasn't played cricket since 2011/12 straight into the National Team? Worse he couldn't pick up a wicket in Bulawayo vs SA A.. What a complete joke!!!

I have no confidence in Taibu, these selections are just mates selecting mates.

Come on guys, have some faith or at least give the man the benefit of doubt. We clearly don't know the full story as to the inclusion of Njabulo Ncube, for all we know he might have been playing some club cricket on weekends is SA, some of which is nearly as competitive as the Logan Cup. Hammy was only playing Varsity cricket before his return to Zim in 2004, as I recall he didn't do too badly either in his return innings, a 63 in an ODI against England. In any case, Tatenda Taibu doesn't strike me as the kind of man who would just doll out favours to friends, not even Stuey.

What I think might have happened is they realised they were in a mini crisis when it became evident that Panyangara would not make it; and if truth be told our fast bowling stocks are diminished right now: Panyangara out, Vitori suspended till recently, Chatara half fit, Shingi discarded, and that guy Muzarabani who nobody here seems to want, and the rest without any discernible First Class experience. Three years ago we were nearly as good as most attacks in world cricket.

So I don't get the incendiary reaction on Taibu so quickly, he is a thinking man despite leaving us for ministry, lets give him a chance see.

[tawac]

Stumps – Day 2: New Zealanders lead by 385 runs with six wickets remaining
The New Zealanders continued to take easy middle-wicket practice against a disappointing Zimbabwe A team at Harare Sports Club, and by the close of the second day they led by 385 runs with six wickets in their second innings remaining.
There was little really competitive cricket on display with the disparity between the teams so great.
For the tourists it was just light-hearted practice, but the local players for the most part seemed overawed by their international opponents and quite failed to demonstrate their true ability.
The tourists declared at their overnight score of 345 for seven wickets, so the day opened with Zimbabwe A beginning their first innings.
That meant that Gerald Aliseni finished with the best bowling figures of two for 31 in the New Zealand innings, and they indeed rated him the best of the bowlers they faced.
Zimbabwe A suffered an appalling start. The fourth ball, bowled by Tim Southee, rapped Tino Mawoyo so painfully on the fingers that he had to retire hurt.
Two balls later his replacement, Vusi Sibanda, pulled a ball straight to midwicket, and from the first ball of the next over, bowled by Trent Boult, the other opener, Nkosana Mpofu, edged a catch into the slips.
After seven balls Zimbabwe A were zero for two wickets, with their captain retired hurt.
The first runs did not come until the end of the third over, when Sean Williams and then Sikandar Raza hit boundaries.
Using all their experience and determination, they dug in, waited for the balls they could hit, and were still there at lunch, when the score was a less humiliating 68 for two wickets, Raza on 27 and Williams 39.
After lunch the New Zealanders targeted Raza, who succumbed to a catch at the wicket off Southee for 29, making the score 75 for three.
Williams soon reached an admirable fifty off 102 balls, but did not survive much longer, driving a catch into the covers off Doug Bracewell for 53.
Regis Chakabva scored a painful nine off 52 balls, remaining virtually strokeless.
The rest of the Zimbabwe A innings was also doomed to failure.
There were flickers of resistance from Joylord Gumbie, with 10, and Shingi Masakadza, five not out, but the last three wickets fell ignominiously in five balls of an over from the leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, and the team was swept away for 114 at tea.
Sodhi finished with four wickets for 18, and there were two each for Southee and Bracewell.
In such a match, victory is second to match practice, although the New Zealanders are likely to achieve both, so there was doubtless no thought of making Zimbabwe A follow on, 231 runs behind.
They batted again, and this time Mitchell Santner went in first with Tom Latham.
Again the batsmen found it easy. Latham retired when on 24; Santner raced to 51 off 49 balls and then retired for the second time in the match.
Tapiwa Mufudza picked up a genuine wicket when he trapped Neil Wagner lbw for nine, and later on Raza removed Southee for 29.
The spectators did have the pleasure of seeing Kane Williamson, one of the world’s finest batsmen, in action in this innings, and he finished the day on 37 not out, with the total 154 for four wickets.

http://www.zimcricket.org/index.php?opt ... Itemid=150

[Robbo]

farcical

[Conant]

There is a John Ward article for those who've been asking about him. Unmistakable from his style, he will no doubt tell us more about Aliseni, et al in his question and answer segment.