[Match Thread] 1st ODI (South Africa v Zimbabwe)

[bayhaus]

Flower needs to take Batting Lessons from Taylor. Carrying the bat

Prosper should have come in at Number 4 - Neil Johnson

[eugene]

Our batting lineup is pretty decent and compares favourably with many other international sides. Our bowling however is very poor and until some better bowlers come on the scene, or those we have dramatically improve, we will never amount to more than a somewhat competitive side with the the chance for an occasional upset victory.

[aydee]

Our batting lineup is pretty decent and compares favourably with many other international sides. Our bowling however is very poor and until some better bowlers come on the scene, or those we have dramatically improve, we will never amount to more than a somewhat competitive side with the the chance for an occasional upset victory.

Truth. This series has shown just how crucial Ray Price is...

[andybligz]

bolwing was pothetic , mpofu needs to be dropped and chigumbura should bowl himslelf more , cleary he needs confidence. I.Nicolson should come in for mpofu and chnage the batting lineup slightly here would be my starting 11. btw special mentions on taylas ton and utesya tight bowling and in a way s.masakadza 4 wickets even though he went for 86 (he can only improve !!)

bat.
1.B.taylor
2.H.masakadza
3.T.Taibu (wk)
4.C.Chibabha
5.S.williams
6.G.Flower
7.E.Chigumbura(c)
8.S.masakadza
9.G.Cremer
10P.Utesya
11.I.Nicolson

bowl.
1.S.Masakadza
2.I.Nicolson
3.P.Utesya
4.E.Chigumbura
5.G.Cremer
6.G.Flower

[bayhaus]

Our batting lineup is pretty decent and compares favourably with many other international sides.

Yeah I agree I just think maybe the actual order was for this match a bit shaky. Chasing this total after the start we had, I think Tibba should have come in at 3 and kept roatating and then after a Tibba Chibhabha come in to take on the part timers. And Tear them apart then williams, then "flower" I think Williams is lacking in confidence and shouldn't have come in so early.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I thought Utseya was the pick of the bowlers. It was a batting track, and 48 after 10 overs is not a bad effort. Cremer was better than his figures suggest, if he hadn't gone for 2 sixes off his final over he also would have finished with an economy rate around 5.

The seam bowlers just are not providing anything at all though. Mpofu looks completely out of sorts, Chigumbura has lost all confidence and pace and S Masakadza is not ready for international cricket. Despite all that, S Masakadza looks the most likely to turn it around. He has shown glimpses that he has what it takes, in between the long hops, full tosses and half volleys he'll bowl a gem like that yorker which got out Miller. And his pace is fairly reasonable by Zimbabwe standards.

His economy is atrocious though, it doesn't matter how many wickets he can take. He's conceding 9 an over... I feel he may have benefited more by playing against New Zealand A.

We are really missing Ray Price. Utseya and Cremer have both been good, but with no support from the other bowlers. Utseya probably does need to open the bowling in the 2nd ODI - we just can't afford to let South Africa get off to the sort of start they did yesterday.

Our bowling problems are pretty well documented so moving on to the positives - the batting. Even here there was only one positive, and that goes by the name of Brendan Taylor who now becomes the 9th person to have carried his bat through an ODI innings. Interestingly, Grant Flower is another. Unfortunately 350 was never going to be on. It would have required something pretty special, but Taylor carrying his bat in isolation wasn't enough. For Zimbabwe to be a chance, Masakadza and Taylor would have needed to put on in excess of 200 for the first wicket allowing Chibhabha and Chigumbura to attack in the final overs.

I think there's a bit of undue criticism for Grant Flower's performance. 13 off 24 was not great but I didn't think he looked as shaky as some have suggested. Let's see how he goes when Zimbabwe bats first, that is the real litmus test. He still looks extremely quick between the wickets, had a rock solid defence (the lbw shout aside) and has a classy array of strokes and bowled decently given the circumstances. Still too early to call.

Taylor's 145 not out is worth mentioning again, a tremendous knock in a losing cause. Didn't really put a foot wrong as I remember, the only time he came close to looking out was when he was caught off the thigh pad on 99 (and a few nervous run out chances in the first couple of overs). It's the sort of knock that will be completely overshadowed because it was in a losing cause and not as memorable as Amla's blitzkrieg and Ingram's debut hundred. It doesn't make it any less impressive though - even without Steyn and M Morkel this is still a bowling attack that would do well against most countries.

Changes for the next game? Nicolson for Mpofu. There's no point dropping half the team, but clearly something has to give in the bowling department. Rainsford is a chance I guess but 4 wickets probably allows S Masakadza to hang on to his spot. Nicolson is still an unknown quantity so hopefully he can take a few SA batsmen by surprise.

[sloandog]

I'm liking the look of our batting line up, a lot ! Taylor and Mazakadza opening the batting is a destructive move, and one that's beginning to pay off. Okay, ouyr batters may not have performed, but there was flashes of what's to come in the future.
Taylor batted superbly and just continues where he left off in the tri series. His footwork is still slightly suspect, but you can't deny his hand eye co-ordination, and his timing is immense. Some of those cut shots off the front foot he played were amazing !

Mazakadza has again got a start but failed to continue. However, he did look good for his 30.
Williams looked short on confidence, but hey, we all know what's capable of, and there's no reason why he wont come good in the 2nd and 3rd ODI's.
Chibahba was out to an unplayable delivery from Parnell. End of argument. He did nothing wrong.
Flower hasn't played international cricket for 6 years, so lets cut him some slack. I thuink he just needs to find his feet in international cricket again.

Then the lower order had no choice but to have a pop. the trio of Taibu, Chigumbura and Utsea showed there power hitting skills at the end, but overall a poor showing from Zimbabwe with the bat. Nothing a bit of hard work can't fix though.


The bowling looks awful. Again I'm very impressed with Shingrai Mazakadza. He's got some gas (Bowled 87 clicks), hits the deck and has a good slower ball. He's got the most potential out of the bowlers to become a very good fast bowler, but he has to work on his direction. I think Mazakadza is what you would call a raw fast bowler, somebody Streak can work hard and closely with.

Though Mpofu may have gone for runs, i think he bowled better than in the T20 games. He bowled a decent line and length, but the quality of the batting and wicket exploited that, and so he went for some runs early on. I'd like to see Nicholson in now, give him a shot, see what he's made of.