[Match Thread] West Indies v Zimbabwe (Only T20I)

[Sir Mupariwa]

we need to win the first match and prove that this win was no fluke

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

We didn't take Zimbabwe for granted - Gibson

http://www.cricinfo.com/wivzim2010/cont ... #fcomments

You guys can comment on this story. I was the first one to comment

[maehara]

ZC Media Release:

Brilliant planning sees ZIM home

Zimbabwe's victory against the West Indies in the T20 international at Queen's Park Oval on Sunday was a triumph of determination and spirit but also of planning and foresight with no less than six spinners used to strangle the home side on a pitch tailor-made for the slow men.

Team meetings before the match had concentrated on the 'brand' of cricket that Zimbabwe wanted to play on the tour and the consensus amongst management and senior players was the spin - led by skipper Prosper Utseya and world number two ranked Ray Price - was the strongest weapon and should therefore provide the fulcrum of the game plan.

It took courage and belief to open the bowling with both men and even more belief in the back-up slow bowlers, including part-timer Stuart Matsikenyeri and extreme part-timer Brendan Taylor, to plan a total of 16 overs of the slow stuff.

"A lot of teams in T20 cricket believe that the cleanest hitters and fastest scoring batsmen should be loaded at the top of the order, no matter what, but in our case it was a question of using our best bowlers up front, even if they are spinners," said coach Walter Chawaguta.

It helped the tourists cause no end that the head grounds man was restricted by the hot weather and drought in the preparation of the wicket but it was equally obvious that neither he nor the West Indies players or management had predicted the 'barrage' of spin that would see Zimbabwe defend a total of just 105.

Victories should always be celebrated - and this one certainly was - but the batsmen will know that they were too tentative early on and failed to assess conditions adequately. It was only thanks to the calm assuredness of run machine Hamilton Masakadza and the delightful late flourish from Elton Chigumbura that they were able to reach three figures and allow the spinners to weave their magic.

Spirits were high and will, no doubt, remain undaunted by the 4:15am start on Monday to reach Georgetown, Guyana, venue for the first two ODIs.

[Boundary]

extreme part-timer Brendan Taylor

hee. That really made me laugh

[Flower power]

Taibu should have taken his gloves off and bowled a over .lol

[alan132]

I nearly fell off the sofa when I saw Taylor marking out his run-up . Still to concede just a single in the 17th over vindicated the decision the bowl him.

[trundler]

What a great achievement and we are back to playing "tsotsi" cricket !!! Stole the game from under their noses !!! Amazing what a bit of experience in both the playing and coaching department makes, the young players will take heart from this win and hopefully have the confidence to take it into the 50 over game and then test matches.
PLEASE LET THIS CONTINUE AND DO NOT LET THE CLOWNS AT ZC INTERFERE !!!!!!!!!!!