The greatest positive from Zimbabwean Cricket perspective in the recently concluded One Day series with Bangladesh was the discovery of a Batsman of immense talent and skill by the name of Charles Coventry who hit the World Headlines by scoring a masterful 194 thereby equaling a 12 years record by Saeed Anwar (one of my all time Pakistani favorite cricketer ) and one of the finest Openers of all times.
It was a fantastic innings of aggression patience, endurance and never say die attitude that saw fours and sixes fly from his bat like a torrential rain.
An unconquered innings of 194 was achieved in only 156 balls that contained 16 glorious fours and 7 majestic sixes with an incredible SR of 124.35
His contribution of 194 out of team total of 312 out of which 17 were extras. So in essence he has scored 194 of 295 that came out of Zimbabwean batsmen’s bat ie 66%.
The next highest was Matsikenyeri with 37.
Bangladesh bowlers had no clue as how to bowl to him . Its is unfortunate that he was unable to score a double century that he richly deserved.
Coventry proved to the Cricket world that if you have talent and skill you need not have to be a part of Heavyweights of Cricket (Australia, South Africa, India) or Middleweights of Cricket (England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) to score a superlative knock as he has done.
It may be pointed out here that in the process of scoring 194* Coventry also broke another record of scoring the highest One day run in a losing cause beating the previous best of Matthew Hayden’s 181.
By virtue of his invauab194 his One day average zoomed to a healthy 35.35 which by all means is a good one for someone who has only played 15 One day matches.
Undoubtedly he is now a VIP of the Zimbabwe squad and should be handled with utmost care and attention.
With the kind of performance he has shown in the series he would also be able to blast way in T20 matches.
IPL scouts don’t miss this Diamond . We all love to see Coventry Magic in the next IPL edition.
Bravo Coventry! You have made us all proud.
Charles Coventry - Birth of a Zimbabwean Superstar
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Charles Coventry - Birth of a Zimbabwean Superstar
Last edited by bullseye28 on Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Charles Coventry - Birth of a Zimbabwean Superstar
I guess,Coventry will be definitely in the next IPL auction after his World record. To pick him or not, it's up to the IPL franchise owners. I reckon, if Coventry shows consistency with big hitting in the upcoming matches, I don't see any reason of his missing out.
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Re: Charles Coventry - Birth of a Zimbabwean Superstar
No doubt Coventry's knock was the main highlight of this series for us, lets hope he gets a few more big scores to prove that it wasn't just a once off thing.. As for him getting a franchise in the next IPL i agree with Detective he has to be consistent, one good knock might not be enough to get him in but he has to build on this solid platform to get a reputation of big aggressive scores just like what Albie Morkel did. Albie consistently demolished opponents in the batting power play and it was difficult for him to be ignored.
12.4 Odhiambo to Vermeulen, FOUR, that's an appalling long hop, Vermulen had plenty of time to get into position, drink a cup of tea, and pull the ball towards the long leg boundary- his first boundary today
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Re: Charles Coventry - Birth of a Zimbabwean Superstar
Recently there was an article posted in CricInfo features and analysis about the world record innings of 194* by Charles Coventry. Click here to read it.
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Re: Charles Coventry - Birth of a Zimbabwean Superstar
Good one!Thanks!Detective RDS wrote:Recently there was an article posted in CricInfo features and analysis about the world record innings of 194* by Charles Coventry. Click here to read it.