Reverse Sweep: The return of legendary John Ward

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

I see the newest member of the forum is a certain jward

Yeah, he mailed me that he will join today. Over to him now

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

Welcome John!

You support Rhinos not Tuskers

[hhm]

I too remember ZCO online and indeed the great Dr Situ who used to ask salient questions weekly. I also submitted questions and communicated with John via email. He is a great man and I also think the preeminant Zimbabwe cricket journalist (with respect to liamb!). It is wonderful that he is "with us" here. He always answered questions with honesty and took time to write. It was very kind...

Q.3 Anyway, my question for John is a split one (sneaky) - Who does he think should be in the starting XI for our next Test?

John Ward:
If the Test were being played right now, I think I would go for -

Taylor,
Ervine (could he open?),
Masakadza,
Sibanda,
Taibu,
Chigumbura,
Cremer,
Meth,
Price,
Rainsford,
Mpofu.

Assuming all are fit.
Ervine to open is rather a desperation move, unless Masakadza is willing, despite his bad run in internationals this year.
Mawoyo is perhaps the best of the other Zimbabwe-qualified openers in the country at present; did well against New Zealand A but disappointing in Logan Cup.
Chigumbura on current form is not worth a place, but at this stage changing the captain is scarcely advisable and he is a potential matchwinner.
Utseya is not a wicket-taker in the longer game, and to pick him would be a defensive move.
I would hope for a pitch with a bit of pace and life to help our three seamers.
Others pushing hard but for the most part insufficiently tested at international level are Williams, Waller, Maruma and Chatara.
Since there are matches against Australia A and South Africa A planned for July, before Bangladesh come in August, the starting line-up could be rather different, depending on form shown then.

Welcome to the forum John. Thanks Situ, and thanks for posing the question Zimfan. Yourself & I are pretty much in agreement on this one John. 80% to be exact. You've given me a lot to think about though. But if Katich can open when he's been a middle order bat all his FC career then maybe Craig can too(Watto is a disaster waiting to happen). At least you maintained the LR-hand opening combination. But I'll go for Duffin in his place. Cremer will fetch runs but I'm sure he'll pick up some wickets. We need batting depth, so unless the conditions call for two specialists spinners, it's either him or Price for me. There's no way I'm leaving out Williams. With three seamers in there already I'm going for the best batting allrounder(spinner) we have - EWING, Elton can go and sort himslef out, Taibu will hit the ground running as Captain of the side so I'm sticking to this:
Taylor
Duffin/Ervine
Hamilton
Williams
Vusi
Ewing[vc](If u don't fancy him then Ervine can slot in here. no nd 2 square off w Duffin)
Taibu[c]
Meth
Price
Rainsford
Mpofu

I'm not sure if John's internet blues will allow him to see this and respond soon so Situ/Administrators my question to him is: What do you think about Ewing and why have you excluded him?

[ZIMDOGGY]

I'm going to be the first to say it.

I don't like that lineup. I'm all for creativity and thinking outside the box but having erv instead of Hamilton taibu sibanda??
U serious?


And you want to leave out our 2nd best batter in my opinion in Williams ? what makes sibanda better than him. Don't say experience because vusi has never did anything in tests

[hhm]

I'm going to be the first to say it.

I don't like that lineup. I'm all for creativity and thinking outside the box but having erv instead of Hamilton taibu sibanda??
U serious?


And you want to leave out our 2nd best batter in my opinion in Williams ? what makes sibanda better than him. Don't say experience because vusi has never did anything in tests

The tone could be a bit relaxed don't you think. He did say it's a line up foor 'right now' and acknowledged (as we all should) that the visiting XI matches might justifiably alter the resulting line up that they stick with.(beyond what we all individually wish for, I must add)

[ZIMDOGGY]

I'm going to be the first to say it.

I don't like that lineup. I'm all for creativity and thinking outside the box but having erv instead of Hamilton taibu sibanda??
U serious?


And you want to leave out our 2nd best batter in my opinion in Williams ? what makes sibanda better than him. Don't say experience because vusi has never did anything in tests

The tone could be a bit relaxed don't you think. He did say it's a line up foor 'right now' and acknowledged (as we all should) that the visiting XI matches might justifiably alter the resulting line up that they stick with.(beyond what we all individually wish for, I must add)

whether it be a line up for right now, yesterday or tomorrow, no way in hell I'd leave out Williams got sibanda.

[Conant]

I'm going to be the first to say it.

I don't like that lineup. I'm all for creativity and thinking outside the box but having erv instead of Hamilton taibu sibanda??
U serious?


And you want to leave out our 2nd best batter in my opinion in Williams ? what makes sibanda better than him. Don't say experience because vusi has never did anything in tests

So who's our best batter, zimdoggy? In a test side

[eugene]

What's with this sudden obsession with Vusi? Is he sending cheques in the mail to people or something?

[Conant]

I too remember ZCO online and indeed the great Dr Situ who used to ask salient questions weekly. I also submitted questions and communicated with John via email. He is a great man and I also think the preeminant Zimbabwe cricket journalist (with respect to liamb!). It is wonderful that he is "with us" here. He always answered questions with honesty and took time to write. It was very kind...

Q.3 Anyway, my question for John is a split one (sneaky) - Who does he think should be in the starting XI for our next Test?

John Ward:
If the Test were being played right now, I think I would go for -

Taylor,
Ervine (could he open?),
Masakadza,
Sibanda,
Taibu,
Chigumbura,
Cremer,
Meth,
Price,
Rainsford,
Mpofu.

Assuming all are fit.
Ervine to open is rather a desperation move, unless Masakadza is willing, despite his bad run in internationals this year.
Mawoyo is perhaps the best of the other Zimbabwe-qualified openers in the country at present; did well against New Zealand A but disappointing in Logan Cup.
Chigumbura on current form is not worth a place, but at this stage changing the captain is scarcely advisable and he is a potential matchwinner.
Utseya is not a wicket-taker in the longer game, and to pick him would be a defensive move.
I would hope for a pitch with a bit of pace and life to help our three seamers.
Others pushing hard but for the most part insufficiently tested at international level are Williams, Waller, Maruma and Chatara.
Since there are matches against Australia A and South Africa A planned for July, before Bangladesh come in August, the starting line-up could be rather different, depending on form shown then.

I'm not sure why, if there's Vusi and Hamilton, Craig Ervine should be asked to open. But the fact that one has thrown it in as a possibility is interesting.
It does however bring to the fore unhappy proposition, whether intended or otherwise.

We know and by now most agree that Ervine is our ideal number four or five, just about nailed his mast on the door. But the fact that now he could potentially open because maybe Maskadza can’t really open or Vusi cannot be trusted to, then it might mean that Craig can do either job (batting at four or opening) better than say, Masakadza.This is perplexing is it not?

With regards to Williams, there could be many reasons why John has left him out. I am sure we will hear them soon

[eugene]

I don't think Craig Ervine should be moved around too much early in his career. We have often lacked true openers and have tried to move people around to fill the void. Players like Gavin Rennie, Craig Wishart, and more recently Charles Coventry were greatly affected by constantly being moved up and down the order - we don't want the same to happen to Craig Ervine. The opening partnership seems rather simple to me - Taylor and Masakadza with Duffin in reserve. Hamilton has opened for most of his career so I doubt he has suddenly forgotten how to do the job. If he is so badly out of form play Duffin instead. To me the bigger dilemma is how to fill the allrounder spot. Chigumbura is woefully out of form and even when he is in-form may not be a test player anyway, but then I am not really sure who to put in his place. A player with the initials of S.E. who is also the brother of one of batsmen would fill the void nicely but I won't mention his name as he is seemingly lost forever to Zimbabwean cricket.

1. Brendan Taylor
2. Hamilton Masakadza
3. Sean Williams
4. Tatenda Taibu
5. Craig Ervine
6. Elton Chigumbura
7. Prosper Utseya
8. Graeme Cremer
9. Ray Price
10. Edward Rainsford
11. Christopher Mpofu

I am a bit uneasy about the length of the tail with Utseya coming in at seven. I would be hoping that Utseya and Cremer can continue to develop their batting as none of Price, Rainsford, or Mpofu (who is perhaps even worse than NZs Chris Martin at batting) are going to contribute much with the bat. I didn't want any fewer bowlers though as we are going to need as many bowling options as possible.