*Official* Zimbabwe v Pakistan Test Series

[Rik]

Originally posted by Tim
Warne is played extremely well by 3 batsmen...Tendulkar, Craig McMillan & Cairns.

The key is that they have no fear for Warne. You see all these batsmen who go out to bat & prod & give Warne a sniff of a wicket. Tendulkar, McMillan & Cairns all attack Warne & make sure he goes to the boundary fairly often.

Do you think Trescothick rates as a good player of Warne? He really doesn't have any fear...except against Gillespie it seems...DAMN HIM! :baddevil:EVIL AUSSIE:baddevil: hehehe

 

[Rik]

Nice to see Blignaut back in the team, he really has made a difference and 8 wickets in the match and a quick 50! Although he went at nearly 4 an over...but well done anyway! Its good to see Henry Olonga back again and 6 wickets in the match with 5 in the 2nd innings hopefully will show that he's close to being back to somewhere near his best! Again 4.10 an over is expensive but then he's never been a containing bowler. These 2, with Heath Streak and Ray Price are the backbone of a Zimbabwe side which needs to work on its young batsmen like Masakadaza and Ebrahim in order for them to be competetive. Its also good to see Taibu get some runs...if he had failed again I would have been scratching my head why he was in there as Andy Flower is a good enough keeper and he's not scoring enough runs at the moment to say that it would affect his batting...anyway he's been doing the job most of the year with Essex! Travis Friend I think could still be useful and has shown he has the right attitude for Test Cricket...but Grant and Andy Flower and Campbell need to start scoring heavily again...the loss of Grant as a solid opener was both quite a shock and also a big problem for Zimbabwe as Masakazada is not an opener. I don't know what went wrong with Gran't technique but he used to be a very solid opener and now he seems to have given up opening even in Zimbabwe Club games...he did score 247* or sommit from number 3 in one of those games...but he needs to get back to opening as this is where Zimbabwe struggle.

[Edited on 11/11/2002 by Rik]

 

[Anil]

Pakistan should win from here on. Their bowling is too good to allow the Zimbabweans to score 400+ in the 4th innings.

 

[Gotchya]

On the verge...Zim 309-9 still getting more then what I think they should have.Blignaut though has impressed a lot with his bowling and batting. Flower brothers as usual coming good for their team.

 

[Anil]

Well, Pak has won at last. That should give them some relief after the hammering they got from the Aussies.

 

[Gotchya]

Yeah hopefully that will carm the nerves a bit. It was a much needed win. If Pakistan can outplay Zimbabwe on the tour than that will be extremely helpful for the teams preparation for the big one ahead.

 

[CricketGuru]

I think that thats a very good sign for Pakistan and once they get into this 'habbit' of winning than they will be confident enough to do good in the world cup 8D

 

[Rik]

Originally posted by CricketGuru
I think that thats a very good sign for Pakistan and once they get into this 'habbit' of winning than they will be confident enough to do good in the world cup 8D

They have the talent but I doubt they will do justice to it in the Final...

 

[Choora]

Yeah they cannot win the final if they ever reach it because India will surely reach the final and will win it too, just like they won the Natwest trophy.:saint:

 

[Rik]

Originally posted by Choora

Yeah they cannot win the final if they ever reach it because India will surely reach the final and will win it too, just like they won the Natwest trophy.:saint:

Not with India's bowlers at the moment...they won the Natwest trophy because of their batsmen, and could have lost it because of their bowlers...and the Natwest trophy against England and a homesick and demorilised Sri Lanka does not count as a good pointer to the World Cup...

 

[Choora]

At the moment India doesn't have Khan & Balaji, with them around India will have a one hell of an attack.

Nath and khan to open the attack
Balaji will be the first change bowler, and Harb and Bangar/Yadev will do the rest of the job!

 

[Bazza]

No room for Kumble then?

 

[Choora]

Originally posted by Bazzaroodoo
No room for Kumble then?

On SA pitches, going in with two spinners won't be a good idea.Considering Kumble's recent performance, i would prefer Harb over Kumble!

 

[Anil]

Shoaib has been found guilty of ball tampering by the umpires and the match referee and has been let off with a "severe reprimand". Not long ago, in SA, half of the Indian side were penalised and Sehwag was banned for one match for similar offenses without any conclusive evidence. Talk about inconsistencies and double standards in ICC's action!! :wow:

 

[basil]

If the referee has solid proof of ball tampering then Akhter should have been baned for a match or two and fined heavily.

 

[CaptainSaurav]

Originally posted by Choora

Originally posted by Bazzaroodoo
No room for Kumble then?

On SA pitches, going in with two spinners won't be a good idea.Considering Kumble's recent performance, i would prefer Harb over Kumble!

Kumble should be in the team, right now he's going through a bad patch but he's too good a bowler to fail for long.After he's the only spinner to have taken 300 wkts in onedayers!!

 

[Anil]

Originally posted by basil

If the referee has solid proof of ball tampering then Akhter should have been baned for a match or two and fined heavily.

They had all the proof. In fact the two umpires had talked to Waqar and Shoaib during the course of the match itself and the match referee Lloyd's statement was that the condition of the ball had been definitely altered. Sort of puts the Mike Denness affair in perspective, doesn't it? There is a middle ground between going over the top and overdoing things and just not doing enough. The ICC just doesn't seem to have found it yet.

 

[ajaagarkarajaaja]

Originally posted by CaptainSaurav

Originally posted by Choora

Originally posted by Bazzaroodoo
No room for Kumble then?

On SA pitches, going in with two spinners won't be a good idea.Considering Kumble's recent performance, i would prefer Harb over Kumble!

Kumble should be in the team, right now he's going through a bad patch but he's too good a bowler to fail for long.After he's the only spinner to have taken 300 wkts in onedayers!!

All depends on how Kartik performs, if he does well then Kumble might find it hard to retain his place in the team

 

[Rik]

Originally posted by CaptainSaurav

Originally posted by Choora

Originally posted by Bazzaroodoo
No room for Kumble then?

On SA pitches, going in with two spinners won't be a good idea.Considering Kumble's recent performance, i would prefer Harb over Kumble!

Kumble should be in the team, right now he's going through a bad patch but he's too good a bowler to fail for long.After he's the only spinner to have taken 300 wkts in onedayers!!

Murali will soon, although it will take a while if he keeps playing Tests whilst injured and then missing the ODIs, and I would say he is a far superior bowler to Kumble who often defies his discription as a "spinner"

 

[Anil]

Originally posted by Rik

Originally posted by CaptainSaurav

Originally posted by Choora

Originally posted by Bazzaroodoo
No room for Kumble then?

On SA pitches, going in with two spinners won't be a good idea.Considering Kumble's recent performance, i would prefer Harb over Kumble!

Kumble should be in the team, right now he's going through a bad patch but he's too good a bowler to fail for long.After he's the only spinner to have taken 300 wkts in onedayers!!

Murali will soon, although it will take a while if he keeps playing Tests whilst injured and then missing the ODIs, and I would say he is a far superior bowler to Kumble who often defies his discription as a "spinner"

..and last time he played against SA in SA, he was quite ineffective. His patented accuracy which used to frustrate batsmen and used to give him both economy and wickets is not there so much anymore. Also, the SA batsmen who are such bunnies against quality spin played him like a slow medium pacer who angles the ball in most of the time and they were quite successful. His lack of variety came to the fore in that situation. His best days are definitely behind him and most opposing teams have worked him out. He is still good on tracks of uneven bounce in India and elsewhere, but that's about it...