Zimbabwe Vs West Indies | 1st Test | 4-8 Feb 2023 | Bulawayo

[sam_ahm]

I agree that Evans has been disappointing. He is a good red ball bowler than a white ball bowler but hasn't done enough.

[Donald]

Jeez the west indians really struggled with leg spin didnt they.
Makes me alnost tempted to chuck in masekesa or chesa next match to partner with mavuta and chivanga and blessing the lone bowlers lol.

[jw2]

Langton Rusere & Paul Reiffel Officiating.

Chabi as tv umpire.

Doubt there will be any speed guns or ball tracking for this series, so at least both umpires are decent.

Paul Reiffel is the umpire that gave 20 bad decisions against Zimbabwe in the 2016 Test Series v NZ

He has had 7 years to improve…..

And his sawing-off of Innocent Kaia today doesn't suggest much progress!

[sscricket]

Ballance,s defence is so good. Like I said earlier harshly treated by eng. Looks much better than likes of Crawley brook pope burns compton Ali butler Roy Hales I can go on and on.must be politiks. Also balance technique against spin is picture perfect.more attacking than defensive...

[Donald]

Any highlights packages from day 4 doing the rounds?

[jaybro]

Ballance,s defence is so good. Like I said earlier harshly treated by eng. Looks much better than likes of Crawley brook pope burns compton Ali butler Roy Hales I can go on and on.must be politiks. Also balance technique against spin is picture perfect.more attacking than defensive...

I feel like I’ve rolling this line out a lot the past few days, but at the risk of sounding like a repetitive old man I’ve always said for guys like Ballance, Kevin Pietersen, Strauss etc when they’re doing well it’s “Yorkshire batsman Ballance scores magnificent century for England” whilst when you’re not doing well it’s “Zimbabwean born batsman Ballance”

Some of these guys throwing in their lot with England really need to have a look at how the likes of Ballance & KP have new treated before making their decisions.

[secretzimbo]

To be fair, Pietersen is one of the biggest dicks of all time - probably deserved whatever he got (one of my favourite players on the field though).


But ya when the Yorkshire racism thing broke all the UK media stressed; 'Zimbabwean Gary Ballance', or 'Ballance, who was born in Zimbabwe', or 'the former England player only moved to the country as a teenager' etc.

Meanwhile more than half the BBC article on his achievment today is about his 'scandal' than his actual performance. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/64556653

[zimbos_05]

Ballance proving his quality. I did not expect to wake up and see that score. I also did not expect us to declare and try and force a result. Proactive. I like it.

I still think our batting is our weak link. I know we can improve in our bowling, especially in our depth, but if our batting was solid and strong, we could make up for a slightly weaker bowling. If your batting is weak, you can't make up for that with an above average bowling.

[jaybro]

I still think our batting is our weak link. I know we can improve in our bowling, especially in our depth, but if our batting was solid and strong, we could make up for a slightly weaker bowling. If your batting is weak, you can't make up for that with an above average bowling.

I not convinced the batting is weaker than the bowling to be honest, I think it depends on the pitch and the conditions to where the team performs the best. On a flat deck the bowling really really struggles, yet we've seen the batting line-up do quite well in places like Pakistan &Sri Lanka where the decks are flat.

Even during the Ireland series, the batting was actually pretty good, but the likes of Balbirnie and Tector scored runs at ease against the Zim bowlers. I know Dave thinks the bowling is strong and the batting is the weak point, he knows more than me but that's just my opinion.

[jaybro]

The weather forecast is looking better now, no rain expected till the afternoon from what I can see.

If the Windies decide to have a crack this morning, we might see an exciting final days play