Reverse Sweep: The return of legendary John Ward

[ZIMDOGGY]

with regards to Masakadza, if you had asked me a year ago-id say he was our best behind Taylor...but that recent run of no form has got me really worried, i just dont know how to rate him at the moment.


and with williams, i know he is pretty weak, but when he is out in the middle, he looks very good. he is similar to ervine, but ervine does alot of play and misses-especially early on.....he scares me alot does craig, however sean looks very calm out there.

taibu looks jittery, hamilton has a few technical flaws, sibanda never does anything and coventrys a joke. havent seen enough of the up n comers.

[Maweni]

Wow, Zimdoggy, when you're against someone you're really against them, you don't even acknowledge it when they do something good. This is re Vusimuzi who, accoding to you, "never does anything" and you even take the piss out of in your signature thing. What's he ever done to you? Did he score with your daughter or something? There's a reason why he's where he is, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that when Zim line up for that first Test in Harare, he will be playing.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Simple answer maweni,
Like alot of fans, as a cricketer.he frustrates me no end.

He should be one of our best. He should be on the same level of Murray Goodwin. He has the talent. just doesn't do anything. Ever. He's been useless internationally.

I want him to sort it out - I think him and Williams need to re visit the same shrink.

I think its all in his head. He needs to put some cement in his coffee, to harden up.


When he does, I'll be the first to eat my words and congratulate him.

And don't worry about the sig - I mean, can you really say you know what I'm talking about?

[Maweni]

Haha no, I really cannot, but it is taking the piss out of him, is it not?
His psychological problems are of a different nature to those of Williams, warranting not a shrink, but confidence and support.

[hhm]

Conant from that angle your arguments make perfect sense. I think we all have our opinion of who is the best and everyone is more than capable of subtantiating their claim. You say Hamilton, I wouldn't disagree really - I say Taibu and I don't think you really disagree with that either. Why Taibu instead of Hamilton for me? The time you refer to was when Hamilton was this humble personality whose batting was patient & calculated, driving nicely onside & occasionally offside. The Hamilton who reappeared after Varsity was/is completely different - both in his play&personality. Perhaps something drastic happened to him during his time in SA and has permanently altered him. As you know the setting in SA is completely different to what he was accustomed to back home as a teen. Away from parents in a more socially &morally hostile environment he was understandably transformed. Hence the present Hamilton is one who is agressive, looks to dominate opposition bowlers, hooks&pulls more, and has lost the semblance of a batsmen who has aesthetic value. His renewed attitude modelled the way he went about his business against our domestic bowlers and the Kenyans. And with great success. The feeble nature of these attacks made it possible. His showing against better opposition, on the other hand, proved that his transition was far from complete. Hence he came short. So what many translated into a loss of form I attribute to a flawed change in attitude and style of play. He's slowly coming to grips with his new self, but will never be as good as he would have been had he remained close to the Hamilton we all got acquainted to (I am concerned the same is slowly creeping into Brendan). Taibu on the other hand, has like Hamilton produced the goods. The only difference is you can see him growing from strength to strength while most either stagnate or stop short of fulfilling their potential.

[eugene]

Simple answer maweni,
Like alot of fans, as a cricketer.he frustrates me no end.

He should be one of our best. He should be on the same level of Murray Goodwin. He has the talent. just doesn't do anything. Ever. He's been useless internationally.

I want him to sort it out - I think him and Williams need to re visit the same shrink.

I think its all in his head. He needs to put some cement in his coffee, to harden up.


When he does, I'll be the first to eat my words and congratulate him.

And don't worry about the sig - I mean, can you really say you know what I'm talking about?

Zimdoggy is correct with his assessment. Sibanda looks good but fails to deliver. He comes out looking like a deer in the headlights, somehow overcomes his nerves to play one glorious stroke and then gets out and returns to the pavilion. There has to be something psychological going on with him.

[jward]

Sorry to have been out of touch for a few days, but the server became so weak that it was unusable apart from the most basic of work - and since it was the holiday weekend nobody bothered to fix it! Anyway, I don't seem to have missed any direct questions.

Overall I think Hamilton is our best batsmen, but it's a close-run thing - Tatenda, Vusi, Brendan are all very close behind, and Williams appears to be in the same category once he gets himself sorted out.

Vusi is a mystery. At the start of his career he was quite unable to build an innings, and was unwisely plunged into international cricket when still unabl to do so and with a first-class career average of about 20. Now he remains inconsistent. But when he is on song, not even Hamilton can look as classy. We cannot afford to dump talent of that magnitude - I just hope he really fulfils his potential before we have to do that.

I spoke to Tatenda at the start of the season and told him he was only scoring half the runs he should be doing, and he agreed. I challenged him to become Zimbabwe's batsman of the season and he said he would go for it - but if he does win that award (or Player of the Season) it will be largely through the failures of others, as he is still not batting up to potential. Those who know him well always praise his professionalism and how well he prepares, but he gets himself out far too often, usually (speaking from memory) to extravagant sweeps or reverse-sweeps.

Taylor is unchallenged as an opener, but even he gives his wicket away rather too often, perhaps over-ambitious in his strokes. I haven't seen much of Williams (which is perhaps a reason why he isn't in my starting line-up, though he would be my first reserve and likely to come into my team very soon - other issues permitting.

Crag Ervine doesn't have the flair of his prodigal brother, but is more of a worker - and guess which of the two has the higher career batting average in first-class cricket?!

[jward]

By the way, I put down that I support Mid-West Rhinos because I was forced to make a choice, but actually I ALSO support Matabeleland, Mountaineers and Southerns, and it's very hard to choose between them! I put down Mid-West because they were the first franchise to give me one of their shirts, but I am happy to say I now have a complimentary shirt from each of the other three (and a second one from Mid-West!). It's good to have so many favourite teams as I can be happy with the success of each of them!

[maehara]

By the way, I put down that I support Mid-West Rhinos because I was forced to make a choice, but actually I ALSO support Matabeleland, Mountaineers and Southerns, and it's very hard to choose between them!

Wot, no love for Eagles?

[eugene]

Mr. Ward,

I was wondering what thoughts you have on Charles Coventry( surely Zimbabwe's most frustrating cricketer) - and if he still has a future representing Zimbabwe.