Voting begins - Best First XI competition

[DinRaat]

Let Hammy, stick to opening, let Ervine bat 1 or 2 down. Ideally I want BRMT in a middle order position, his batting his too good to be slotted in at 5-6, Sikandar can consolidate if top and middle order fail.

My XI

Top
1.Hammy
2.Tino Mawoyo/Solo Mire/
3. Ervine/Brendan Taylor
4.Williams/Brendan Taylor
5.Raza
6.Regis Chakbva/Waller
8.Waller
9.Jarvis
10. Chatara
11. Panyangara/Mpofu/Mumba

[CrimsonAvenger]

This is not an argument you are going to win mate. You are right when you argue how Vusi's woefulness does not depend on him being forced to open and use stats to back it up, but you look the other way when similar stats prove the opposite (and emphatically so) in case of Hamilton.

It is still massively unclear why, after accepting the stop-start nature of Zim's test campaigns, a guy who averages an admirable 36 at no. 3 has to relinquish that position because someone else can "potentially" do better there. Especially when that other guy (who has definitely come up leaps and bounds no doubt) has other slots open for him in the lineup.

All Ervine has to do is average 25 or so and he would likely top Masakadza in any middle order position.

That is unfortunately a rhetoric and can be responded to with:
a. Then Ervine can as well even open keeping Hamilton at his proven position of 3 (and I wouldn't do that myself, but it makes sense for argument's sake)
b. There is nothing to prove that Hamilton would do worse at any other middle order position too, as with Ervine. He's just not got enough opportunities there at the highest level(And he has quality record at 3, 4 and 5 in FC).

Your inherent opinion about Hamilton is made up by seeing how he has failed at the top and how his records look ordinary (because of that), but are not willing to acknowledge that he could have flourished further at 3 and could have even had an even better record by now if given a dedicated batting slot (of a non-opener, any middle order position as you say). The disdain of comparing averages as in the statement above would not have come up if Hamilton had played all his matches at 3 and reached an average of around 40, which:

a. would have been easily achievable given that he is at 36 already even with all the moving up to open and coming down to 3 he has suffered along the way.
b. is spectacular from acorss all of pre and post rebel era.

It is a tragedy if we still can't fit him in the upper middle order in a 8-3 setup, and make him open even when BT was away, and importantly judge him for his contributions for his failings as an opener.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

The other thing to consider is that Masakadza has a pretty good record as an ODI opener (31.84). Team management may be of the belief that if he can do it in limited overs that will translate to Tests too.

I don't know why his Test opening record is poor, but just on gut feel he seems to be a better fit to open than Ervine (if it was between the two). Masakadza I feel is best positioned at number three, but for the good of the team I understand why he's opening instead of Ervine.

[DinRaat]

Off topic, what is the limit before my posts are not reviewed.

[Kriterion_BD]

Opening in tests an ODIs is different.

I am probably biased against Hami. OK, underatatement, I am for sure. If he averages 36 at 3, I would argue its either due to a small sample size or due to hammering BD a few times. Am I wrong?

The reason I think Ervine-Taylor should be at 3 and 4 is because of the generally accepted rule that your best batsmen bat in those positions and I don't believe Hami qualifies. He could bat at 5 or 6, but I think Raza and Williams are better suited there.

[zimstarr]

Position 1.2.3 are essentially opening positions so those are the positions available for Hamilton . Craig is doing well we're he is there is no need to move him to 3

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Off topic, what is the limit before my posts are not reviewed.

10 posts. If you rapid post in a couple of other topics I'll approve them all at once because you are clearly not a spammer.

[DinRaat]

Zimbabwe, needs to field a strong XI, if they can do this I can envision them steam rolling all the other teams in the WCQ, because this current zim side is no match for the WI and Afghanistan.

[eugene]

Opening in tests an ODIs is different.

I am probably biased against Hami. OK, underatatement, I am for sure. If he averages 36 at 3, I would argue its either due to a small sample size or due to hammering BD a few times. Am I wrong?

The reason I think Ervine-Taylor should be at 3 and 4 is because of the generally accepted rule that your best batsmen bat in those positions and I don't believe Hami qualifies. He could bat at 5 or 6, but I think Raza and Williams are better suited there.

If you remove Bangladesh from the equation, Hammy's average at 3 drops to 26. That being said, most Zimbabwean records are inflated by games against the Bangladeshis.

[Kriterion_BD]

If you remove Bangladesh from the equation, Hammy's average at 3 drops to 26. That being said, most Zimbabwean records are inflated by games against the Bangladeshis.

Yeah I didnt bother looking it as I assumed as much. Its probably reasonably accepted to include stats vs BD in Tests from 2013 lr 2015 onwards and ODIs from 2013 onwards.