Zimbabwe thread

May as well.

While we can rule out any possibility of a positive result we can hope that there might be one or two good performances. At least beat the Associates.

I have tickets to two Zim games, v SA in Hamilton and v India in Auckland. All I want from those games is someone to put their hand up and score some runs or take a few wickets. But you have to fear for various records at those grounds.

The only positive could be Dav Whatmore and giving Solomon Mire a good shot at international cricket. Make no mistake, this is likely to be a very depressing campaign indeed.

Rushed in a lot of past players after they went down to Bangladesh,i consider this patching up,I mean Matsikinyeri really.

brockley said:

Rushed in a lot of past players after they went down to Bangladesh

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Well this isn't really true. The other players you could say this applied to were Matsikenyeri, Chibhabha and Mupariwa, and the only reason Matsikenyeri wasn't in the squad against Bangladesh was the fact that he'd only just come out of retirement (which he did in domestic cricket of his own volition; he wasn't wooed).

I like the squad. More of less the best they could've come up with I think. I would've liked to see another fast bowler in for Chibhabha or Matsikenyeri but that's more a squad balance thing than a personnel gripe. I suppose I'd have picked either Vermeulen or Sibanda ahead of whichever of Chibhabha and Matsikenyeri didn't get cut for a fast bowler as well but that's a minor thing really.

Any idea why Brian Vitori wasn't picked?

anil1405 said:

Any idea why Brian Vitori wasn't picked?

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Not as good as the fast bowlers selected.

Chubb may disagree (I know he certainly used to) but I'll absolutely back the selectors on that one. I'd have probably considered Shingi ahead of him too even another fast bowler was to be selected.

Ahh ok. Haven't seen much of him lately but in few games i've seen of him in his initial stages he looked more than decent.

The problem with Vitori is that there's such a wild difference between his best and his worst. Zimbabwe only tend to pick him when he's at his best which is why he has a decent enough record but at his worst he's not even good enough for Zimbabwean domestic cricket. The difference really is as stark as someone who swings the ball late with decent control in the mid 130s to someone who bowls 115km/hr and sprays it around to the extent of an average over having at least two wides in it. There was a lot of hope for him early on because we thought he'd just improved dramatically, but he yo-yos.

Banking on him to be in good rhythm was definitely too much of a gamble when they'd decided to only pick three frontline seamers in the squad.

Fair enough if thats the case.

Overall squad looks decent with a mixture of youth and experience.

On form do these new/old players deserve a call up,just strikes me of a gut reaction to the squad going to Bangladesh and being smashed.
I am surprised they didn't recall David Houghton to the side.

I was surprised to see them leave Vusi Spudbanda out entirely, to be honest. He's a spud, but he isn't a hack like a few of the other players.

New Zimbabwe regime aims high | Cricket News | ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 | ESPN Cricinfo

Lot of promise in this article, hope it is put into practice

Prince EWS said:

I like the squad. More of less the best they could've come up with I think. I would've liked to see another fast bowler in for Chibhabha or Matsikenyeri but that's more a squad balance thing than a personnel gripe. I suppose I'd have picked either Vermeulen or Sibanda ahead of whichever of Chibhabha and Matsikenyeri didn't get cut for a fast bowler as well but that's a minor thing really.

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Yeah agree with this.

I also don't think Utseya should be playing while he's banned from bowling offies.

Julian87 said:

Yeah agree with this.

I also don't think Utseya should be playing while he's banned from bowling offies.

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Yeah I'm inclined to agree with that too but I'm willing to see what he actually sends down before judging that decision. I've tried to no avail to get some footage of it.

Well I'm of the opinion you sort of get banned from bowling until you rectify it, not just a bowling style.

Julian87 said:

Well I'm of the opinion you sort of get banned from bowling until you rectify it, not just a bowling style.

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The deliveries he plans on bowling have all been cleared specifically apparently.

Prince EWS said:

The deliveries he plans on bowling have all been cleared specifically apparently.

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Don't the tests require that the action you use in testing replicate the footage they have of you bowling in a match?

If the deliveries he has planned on bowling are deliveries that there is no match footage of, how could the testers be sure that he was replicating his in-match bowling action while in testing?

Basically he could amble in at 70% and bowl rubbish dobblers in testing with a clean action, have no match footage to be compared against, get cleared to bowl that, and then rock up to the WC and bowl with more effort behind the ball and exceed the limits.

If you deliberately cheat like that you can actually be banned, like Shabbir.

Well they should probably gamble on him and use Williams (and Raza) as spinners anyway. Use Chigumbura and Mire as 3rd and 4th seamers.

Masakadza
Raza
Ervine
Taylor
Williams
Chigumbura
Mire
Chakabva/Matsikenyeri
Utseya
Chatara
Mupariwa

Panyangara should probably play ahead of Mupariwa IMO, but otherwise I agree. Relies on Chigumbura being in good rhythm though.. they seem to have figured out when he is and when isn't well enough before each game now but when he's not they'd probably need an extra bowler.

Zimbabwe have been playing some Warm Up games against a Northern Distritcs second XI for those that are interested:

NORTHERN DISTRICTS XI vs ZIMBABWE
NORTHERN DISTRICTS XI vs ZIMBABWE

With another game happening today.