[Discussion]: International career of Vusimuzi Sibanda

[Detective RDS]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe/co ... 55787.html

Vusimuzi Sibanda, a holder of ZCU scholarship and a former student of CFX academy. It can be said that he did show glimpses of his talent but never really lived up to the expectation. Debuted in 2003 as an opener. He started off his one day career with a 50 against West Indies. When he is on song, he looks very pleasing to the eyes, specially his cover drives.

13 years after his debut, he is yet to establish himself in the test side. He did play well against India in the last ODI series of Zimabwe batting in the middle order. But the down side, while playing for Zimbabwe A in the recently concluded list A series against Pakistan A, he managed to score 22, 0, 17, 1 while opening the batting. A much more is expected from him.

But not all is lost. He has a healthy FC record averaging 33 and averages 25 in List A. His experience is valuable in domestic cricket where he may very well be worth for a captaincy shout. If he can pile up runs then who knows what the future holds !

What's your view on the international career of Vusimuzi Sibanda and where to from here ? Feel free to discuss.

[rusty17]

I say put him in a domestic side full of rookies where he will really need to stand up and be a leader as he is one of the most experienced cricketers around and see how he performs.

[ZIMDOGGY]

I reckon every official and coach in the Courtney would like to discard him, or be in a position to discard him.

However reality dictates that they cannot. As the alternatives aren't better. The taps turned off

[CrimsonAvenger]

Must be treated like Dabengwa from now on. "Contribute towards domestic depth, help youngsters build careers, but please don't stake a claim for the national duty again, we have seen enough and know for sure that you can't step up as much as required for the rigors" must be the message from the powers that be.

Chigumbura will meet this fate in another 6 months even from limited overs stuff (and he must already be out of contention from tests forever), and sadly even Hamiton if he doesn't show a significant step up.

[TapsC]

he has the natural ability for sure but he has never ever been consistent. a real shame in the end.. he gets a few scores here and there. I think he was the only player to register a 50 at the t20 world cup.I think he also played well in 1 of the ODIs against India but to be honest there come a time in life where u have to move on. its time for us to invest in the future with the likes of musakanda mumba nyauchi burl moor wellington Madziva and co deserving their chance.

the biggest mistake we make is always thinking the like of Masakadza Elton and co will come good one day. other countries play their youngsters. look at the west indies calling up the u19 pace bowler, the youngster who picked up 5 wickets against England for Bangladesh..that's the approach we need to have.. one thing u can't buy is passion.the kids have it.look at how much heart someone like Madziva puts into his game.u can't buy that and it has gotten us over the line a few times. these older guys don't care anymore.

for me Vusi Elton and Hami must stick to the t20 format.

[STONEMAN]

Sibanda made debut in 2003, 13 years gone still finding form & rythm and now become a big rock to climb for the young players with good talents.

He is finished now, doesnt have anything to give to Zimbabwe Cricket and should retire from the game as soon as possible to be followed by E.Chigumburra, Tim Mowayo,H.Masakadza, Jhon Nyumbhu, C.Mpofu

[Jemisi]

We totally need Vusi in the domestic setup. The competition needs players in their 30s to keep the talent pool up and test the youngsters. He has 22 career hundreds and whilst only two have been international ones he certainly needs to play a role domestically for a while yet.

[foreignfield]

Whatever the stats and whatever his international future, which is probably over, Vusi has given me some of the best memories of watching Zim play. Some of his pull shots are among the best cricket shots I've ever seen. I'l keep that memory and will cherish it.

There are of course those other memories too: of someone too mentally fragile for the rigours of the game, the uneasiness of mind which seems to seep through the screen. I always had the deepest sympathy for Vusi in those moments when you could sense that he thought he didn't belong, when his self-confidence was down, when he simply looked scared. It's easy to say 'He isn't up to it'/'He's weak' etc., but overall I think his career has'nt been managed the way it should have been. Some of that was his own fault, no doubt, such as walking away to Australia when he was in the form of his life, but admins/selectors and coaches are also to blame somewhat.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

My lasting memory of Sibanda is his 23 off 15 during that T20 win in 2007.
Taylor got the accolades, quite rightly, that day but it was Sibanda that got us off to a rollicking start. Instrumental in that win.

Definitely a better player than his low-20s average suggests, probably in Mohammed Ashraful territory in that respect. Both wildly inconsistent players, the difference was though that Ashraful at his best was a match winner.

[eugene]

Sibanda is representative of Zimbabwe's problems over the last 10-15 years. Has glimpses of promise, offers some hope, but is ultimately not up to international standard. What is scary is that Sibanda is seemingly much more talented than most of younger batsmen at the moment.