[Match Thread] Zimbabwe v New Zealand: 2nd Test

[foreignfield]

I'm not watching anymore, but here's the next one:

67.5 Guptill to Cremer, OUT, tossed up outside off, Cremer comes forward and smashes one into his pad. Umpire Reiffel has another shocker

I think we should just declare now!

[foreignfield]

68.2 Sodhi to Masvaure, OUT, given. One more. How though? Flat delivery on leg, Masvaure gets forward and looks to defend. The ball beats the inside edge and hits Masvaure in front of leg. But was that sliding down leg? Yes, it was. But he has been given out caught. The ball lobbed up off the pad and taken by Taylor at slip. Another bad decision, the ball did not hit the inside edge.

This is getting farcical. Do the umpires have a plane to catch?

[SpitfiresKent]

Some really dodgy dismissals today.

[maehara]

Match 'won' for NZ by the umpires more than by NZ's own players, I'd say.

[TapsC]

shocking stuff. 4 bad decisions in 1 innings..surely these guys can't get another game after this..

[Jemisi]

We are crap, sure. But the number of bad decisions against both front line batsmen and tailenders in this series has been terrible. It has had a massive impact upon our opportunity to fight against a good test team.

[Kriterion_BD]

The guy is a plain idiot. He wasn't any better as a player too. We lost many moments due to Reiffel's umpiring. Kriterion, your theory of umpires being more sensible when teams are showing fight just goes straight out of the window. Reiffel killed us today.

Today's umpiring was shocking. I was just about to say "umps did a pretty good job in the first 4 days" but looks like they went blind overnight. Perhaps Zim should launch a formal complaint for todays decisions.

[gargamel]

shockers today. Really disheartening for the lads considering the work put in.Im taking the positives from this series Ervine has shown he belongs , Williams proved a point ,PJ justified the Hype despite a school boy error in gulping a long hop, Chinouya got his break through, Nyumbu proved that he needs to work on his skills , Tiripano showed his fight , Masvaure needs to work more to settlle, Raza may not be a right fit for this format may need more games. My concern is whether our bowlers are learning to bowl in local conditions or taking advantage of the flat pitches that we are tailor making for these series.

[foreignfield]

What's so frustrating about these decisions is that, even without hawkeye and hot spot, there was enough technology available to overturn five of the six howlers in this match: a simple replay would have been enough to see that in the first innings Chamu didn't inside edge it (the one decision which went against NZ) and the ball to Tiripano pitched outside leg, that Ervine and Masvaure didn't hit it but Cremer did. The one decision which probably would have stood was the lbw against Tiripano, even if the ball was clearly missing leg.

[Kriterion_BD]

Zimbabwe showed a good amount of fight. Obviously the umpiring calls is a major issue because ZIM get victimized in practically every match they play. Normally it has no bearing on the outcome of the game, but in this match had Tiripano and Ervine continued batting for another 15 overs, this match could easily been drawn. The last hour (15 overs) can be skipped if ZIM were only 5-6 wickets down and Williamson thought that there is little chance of nipping them out in that time. Although a ZIM collapse is never far.

As disappointing as it was, this shows that ZIM can potentially draw Tests against fancied attacks. The bowling remains a big concern, but the batting isn't as poor as expected. Ervine and Williams are obviously the engine room and Chamu, Mawoyo, and TIripano showed they have the fighting spirit. Tiripano would be an excellent #8-all rounder time guy. If Shingi, Chatara take the 2 specialist seamer slots, you have a decent lineup forming as follows:

1) Mawoyo
2) Chamu
3) Hamilton
4) Ervine
5) Williams
6) Chakabva
7) Moor
8) Tiripano
9) Shingirai
10) Cremer
11) Chatara

The only weak link there is Chakabva and Hamilton. That is not bad at all IMO. You bat all the way down to 9, and even the 10 can hold the bat. You really can't ask for more. Cremer, Shingi, and Chatara are all strike bowlers. Williams and Tiripano will bowl the rest of the overs. Oh and Chamu can bowl too.