Zimbabwe XI to Play South Africa "A"

[Kriterion_BD]

Top effort from the Shumbster. Looks like he's got something about him.

[jward]

No man. U can't call light with one over to go. Not seen that before. Who complained? I'm assuming the Zim side? Someone has to complain
Didn't come from the batsmen, must have been a message from upstairs. I don't like this at all. It's an A side game.

I totally agree, our umpires being far too finicky and legalistic again. Such a victory will take some of the gloss off the victory for Zimbabwe, South Africa obviously won't be happy as they could still have won, and all of us watching or following the game in one way or another were robbed of an exciting finish. Bad show, the umpires! They are there to keep the game flowing, not to barge in and flout their authority where it's not asked for. Such a finish does the game no good.

[CalZim]

Still in shock from todays performance, it was really bizarre.

The wicket looked great for seamers this morning, but I thought as soon as the openers got settled they were going post something massive.

Then Tiripano steps up to bowl and I’m thinking, this isn’t going end well……his first spell was awesome, he was moving it loads off the seam. The odd wayward delivery but a decent spell to pick up 3 key wickets.

The game then went a little flat, the spinners did nothing and got carted around. It was unusual to see such a poor performance from Wellington. Raza bowled okay though just not that threatening.

Tiripanos next spell was the trash he has been bowling all season and he got slapped around a bit.

Chivanga did the usual, moan about the pitch and pretend he is injured to get some sympathy points. Other than that he bowled okay.

At the halfway point I though no chance chasing that total. Especially after the golden from Kaitano.

Masvaures innings was solid but he just never pushed on. It did work though as it meant we didn’t have a collapse so I’m pretty happy with it.

Madhevere looked good but played 1 shot too many. Raza played the usual innings. Scoring at a positive rate, he looked great but couldn’t get us over the line.

Shumba was brilliant yet again, supported well by Tiripano who was lucky with his edges but they worked out in our favour.

The ending was a joke, we would have won it anyway so they should have just carried on especially as there are no neutral umpires this series, it just looked really dodgy.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the result, shocked that we performed so well with this squad. SA will come back strong though.

[Googly]

Well I'm a little curious about the umpires' decision. I'd think that's a first calling bad light with 6 deliveries to go.
The quick guy was Coetzee and Williams who would have bowled the final over is slower, plus usually they give the bowling side the option to bowl a spinner, which they emphatically would have taken. It's not a good look.

[Googly]

Prince Masvaure has a lot to offer. I know that was yet another slow start from him, but that was a stern test from those two openers, he did well.

[secretzimbo]

What's with the 9.15 scheduled start time though? Who starts cricket matches at 15 mins past the hour?! Surely they have to move the start times forward to 9 for the remaining matches now after that debacle today.

As for the decision itself, it's hard for us to really know without being at the ground. Maybe it was genuinely really really dark. Even if both sets of players want to continue, I assume there is some absolute low point on the light metre that stops play from continuing at all?

[Googly]

It was really dark. But if the batters and the fielding side are willing to continue why should the umpires have anything to do with it.
The time these umpires spend conferring about bad light is a joke as well. They always waddle over to the middle of rhe pitch and then have a long rambling conversation that takes at least 5 minutes, which in this instance was the time it takes to bowl an over.

[lobsang]

Zim have got four very promising players in Shumba, Muzarabani, Madhevere and Ngarava who all are in early 20s. Then Marumani, a possible comeback of Myers, and a promising all-rounder in Evans, and Burl who is in late 20s. And Madande who also seems to have the goods to be successful at the highest level. The future is not that bleak. Hopefully Zim can hold onto some of the upcoming under-19 kids.

[Mr Twig]

It was really dark. But if the batters and the fielding side are willing to continue why should the umpires have anything to do with it.
The time these umpires spend conferring about bad light is a joke as well. They always waddle over to the middle of rhe pitch and then have a long rambling conversation that takes at least 5 minutes, which in this instance was the time it takes to bowl an over.

the batting team would probably have not wanted to continue as they were ahead on DLS.

It has happened before. I remember that victory against Pakistan in 2015 under similar circumstances. There were 12 balls left with Pakistan needing 20 with 2 wickets left.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/pak ... -scorecard

[TapsC2]

Prince Masvaure has a lot to offer. I know that was yet another slow start from him, but that was a stern test from those two openers, he did well.

We would have collapsed if he hadn't played that knock. He is 33 but he might do a Chakabva on us and add some value to the overall squad. Those SA opening bowlers have some serious quality. They were not easy to face.

For me the match was lost for SA when they gave Coetzee and Williams too many overs in the middle and only 5 overs at the end. If they had come in around maybe over number 42 the game would have been very different. I credit Wes and Prince for that. Prince was still in and Wes was very proactive. They had to do something (which did get Wes out) but it came back to haunt them in the end.