***Official*** New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa 2016

[Meridio]

Seriously? Reckon it was going 3 inches over top. Howler for me.

As I posted above:

Looked out, imo, that LBW. They stopped the side-on replay at the point when the ball had risen up off the top of the pad, not where it actually hit him. He was a long way back in his crease, was hitting the top of middle pretty comfortably I reckon.

 

[Zinzan]

Looked out, imo, that LBW. They stopped the side-on replay at the point when the ball had risen up off the top of the pad, not where it actually hit him. He was a long way back in his crease, was hitting the top of middle pretty comfortably I reckon.

Thought it might have just been going over, but by less than the commentators initially made out. Not a howler.

 

[Meridio]

Southee hurling them down at a tremor-inducing 124 kph. While the pitch is slow and all, you'd hope he'd have a bit more energy than that.

 

[Zinzan]

Yeah, weird Watling was straight up to the stumps to him as well considering it was the new batsman on strike. Unless Southee warned him in advance he's only going to bowl 3-quarter pace.

 

[Prince EWS]

Southee hurling them down at a tremor-inducing 124 kph. While the pitch is slow and all, you'd hope he'd have a bit more energy than that.

Yeah as Wagner showed in the first innings, the pitch isn't so slow that you can't beat these guys for pace if you bowl properly. It's true that the pitch is even slower now and Williams is set but it's still a cop out if that's his rationale, IMO, particularly since he bowled like this in the first dig as well.

 

[Prince EWS]

FFS Coney, no-one cared about your point 10 minutes ago when you started giving all those examples from the 1980s; no-one's going to care now that you're giving examples from 1903.

 

[hendrix]

We really suck at finishing off the tail.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Really pleased for Williams.

 

[NZTailender]

One of the most least satisfying wins of recent times.

 

[Moss]

Really pleased for Williams.

Yeah. Battling illness and utter lack of resistance around him, that was a terrific knock. (He's played all of three tests? Yikes..)

Though Zimbabwe seem beyond repair, performances like this remind you they are a few returning individuals away from being a reasonable side. Sadly it's difficult to recall the last piece of good cricketing news to come from there.

 

[straw man]

So Zimbabwe were pretty terrible huh.

I didn't see Williams' century, it sounds impressive, and there were a handful of other respectable individual performances over the test (Cremer and Raza shouldered a lot of the load, Ervine a fifty, Masvaure, Tiripano and Chibhabha were all reasonable at their secondary discipline) but overall they were far from standard. No point bemoaning the players themselves though. Leaving aside the bigger problems like Zimbabwe's political and economic situation, surely the administrators can do better than having a domestic season that consists of just a handful of games per season, with half the side barely match-ready coming into this test series.

Moonda: Zimbabwe on the back foot before a ball bowled | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

Zimbabwe simply do not play enough cricket at any level and in any format to work on skills. Even the most capped member of their XI today - Hamilton Masakadza who is playing in his 30th Test - has not played a first-class in seven months. In 2015, Masakadza played just five first-class matches. This year alone, Wagner has played more than double that: 11.

The domestic structure in Zimbabwe, comprised of four franchises who each play each other twice in a season - does not allow for greater game time which only underlines the importance of organising other fixtures and then using them to develop Test cricketers. Fixtures like their unofficial Tests against South Africa A are an example.

 

[Bahnz]

Soult have become worryingly one-dimensional since the 2015 tour of England. Missing on both pace and accuracy, so that if they don't take a bagfull with the new ball they're basically useless. Really worried that Boult's been permanently compromised by his back injury. He's been 'fit' for 9 months now, so there's no reason why he should still be trundling through in the mid-120's.

 

[Athlai]

I think the speeds in general made it seem like the radar was off by a pretty solid margin.

 

[straw man]

It immediately brings to mind the end of the season past, but am not going to get too concerned until we see how they bowl in South Africa.

 

[Athlai]

It immediately brings to mind the end of the season past, but am not going to get too concerned until we see how they bowl in South Africa.

Yeah pretty much this, outside of the odd hour or two where Zimbabwe decided they may actually be able to bat a little this was the worst Test I've ever watched.

 

[Prince EWS]

Masvaure, Tiripano and Chibhabha were all reasonable at their secondary discipline

For the record, batting is actually Masvaure's primary discipline. They just went and picked eight bats for this game because a bunch of them could bowl a bit.

 

[straw man]

ok

 

[Zinzan]

I think the speeds in general made it seem like the radar was off by a pretty solid margin.

Possibly, but Bahnz's greater point that their speeds have been well down since the English tour is valid. Boult was struggling to get it through over 130 clicks in the NZ home summer also.

 

[hendrix]

The accuracy is bigger concern for me as it's also dipped. At times it's been just good club standard.

Meanwhile Henry isn't bashing the door down as he should be, Duffy still way too raw, and Milne predictable injured. Bracewell is a known quantity.

All hopes on Nuttall?

 

[Moss]

The accuracy is bigger concern for me as it's also dipped. At times it's been just good club standard.

Agree with this. I'm hoping KW puts an end to the recent BMac template of over-attacking, but for the moment it seems like teams can back themselves to hit their way out of trouble against NZ, as Ervine and Raza initially, and later Williams, showed. The 3rd seamer and the spinner aren't the most accurate around either.