what would your world cup 15 man squad be .

[aydee]

@Conant: Hmm i don't agree with the fact that you think Nicholson is far from a game

In general, this "only speed" centric look is too narrow minded. We are not looking at variations, diversity in terms of our pace attack.

Word.

Think of Vaas, Bracken, Praveen Kumar, Pollock at the end of his career, etc. These guys were/are millitary, yet pretty successful...

[Conant]

Two extra batsmen: The options:

Regis Chakabva[/b] - Seems to have overtaken Mutizwa in the battle of the 'keeper batsmen with some hard hitting big scores, but can he straightaway take up the lower order power hitter role in the national team?

At this stage, I would go for Ervine and Chakabva, with Ervine as cover for Williams' possible injury bad lucks. Extremely hard to leave our Mutizwa, but a couple more failures of Ervine would bring him right back into contention.

@Crimson am extremely furious you chose Ervine over Mtizwa. Lol!

But seriously I don't know what the man has to do to get selected, he averages 47 in First Class cricket and has strike rate 97 in one day. Having never seen him bat myself I can only imagine it is his technique that's not quite right. (Still the sheer weight of his runs protest loudly against his exclusion).

As an aside as well, Regis Chakabva is not exactly a power hitter, he's very unorthodox rather with his shots, but curiously beautiful to watch: sometimes he caresses and sometimes he lifts balls full from off stump to deep midwicket.

Would you gamble on Charles Coventry? And leave out who, seeing about eight batman slots are literally cast in stone now?

[sloandog]

How can you compare Mupariwa with somebody like Vaas or Pollock. Even towards the end of their careers they still bowled around 82-83mph. Mupariwa bowls 72-73 and doesn't really move the ball....

[aydee]

How can you compare Mupariwa with somebody like Vaas or Pollock. Even towards the end of their careers they still bowled around 82-83mph. Mupariwa bowls 72-73 and doesn't really move the ball....

Where did I compare Mupariwa to them?

I merely said that this obsession with speed in the last decade, since the advent of the speed gun, is not healthy. The best seam bowlers are the ones who take most wickets and go for least runs, period.

[sloandog]

And Mupariwa isn't a good seam bowler. He's not of international class

[Conant]

This is how you can conpare the three. In 35 ODIs Mpariwa has taken 55 wickets at an average of 26 and a stike rate of 32. (Economy 4.8)
That compares reasonably well with Nathan Bracken (117 matches, 174 wickets at an average of 24 and strike rate 33), and Praveen Kumar (45 matches, 56 wickets av 32, strike rate 38

[sloandog]

Mupariwa bowled against lower rank sides throughout 2006/07, so we shouldn't even be comparing him to Bracken or Praveen Kumar

[aydee]

I wasn't even talking about Mupariwa at all... Just the general way in which the speed gun alters perceptions.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Yup, I agree this is the right time to start thinking about this.

Sean Williams - Needs to somehow contribute to winning causes. It may sound ridiculous, but most of his top knocks have come in losing causes, where he has ensured respectbility of the total. Needs to value his wicket a little more, and the management MUST use his bowling abilitles more often.


Next set later...

This.......is actually a very interesting observation.
Kudos

[CrimsonAvenger]

As an aside as well, Regis Chakabva is not exactly a power hitter, he's very unorthodox rather with his shots, but curiously beautiful to watch: sometimes he caresses and sometimes he lifts balls full from off stump to deep midwicket.

Yeah, power hitting is not the word I should have used. Cheeky, but mighty effective. Since he seems to be brimming with confidence - and hope he continues to - it would not be a bad idea to unleash him at the big stage, giving him full freedom to go berserk. But yes, Mutizwa could bring in more power into his shots.