Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
He has started bowling more though, seemed for the longest time either he wasn’t needed or wasn’t trusted.
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
I think Burl can up his game, he's a talented guy.
His direct like for like is surely Campbell who just keeps improving.
But Zolsky has said that Campbell is now a no 4, so his competition, from his own mouth is Raza, Myers and Welch. It doesn't take long for these blokes to contradict themselves.
Ervine is due a score. He's captain as we know and that's not his strong suit. Im not sure why he is captain ahead of Raza.
I wouldnt know which one is better. Actually Williams is probably the best captain, but clearly doesnt tow the ZC line. They've said Dion is the next captain so they had may as well hand the reins over now surely? I think Taruvinga will be the guy that breaks Graeme Smith's record as the youngest captain, it has to be in their sights.
The undroppable once a generational gem talent with the Spirit of Lobengula will bite every time. As they utter it I just feel sorry for the guy it's aimed at, unless he's stupid enough to believe it!
Purple patch is another. Again a big score is another.
Say nothing to get the attention of the Cricketing Gods because they can be mean. Just be humble and practice hard and take nothing for granted.
His direct like for like is surely Campbell who just keeps improving.
But Zolsky has said that Campbell is now a no 4, so his competition, from his own mouth is Raza, Myers and Welch. It doesn't take long for these blokes to contradict themselves.
Ervine is due a score. He's captain as we know and that's not his strong suit. Im not sure why he is captain ahead of Raza.
I wouldnt know which one is better. Actually Williams is probably the best captain, but clearly doesnt tow the ZC line. They've said Dion is the next captain so they had may as well hand the reins over now surely? I think Taruvinga will be the guy that breaks Graeme Smith's record as the youngest captain, it has to be in their sights.
The undroppable once a generational gem talent with the Spirit of Lobengula will bite every time. As they utter it I just feel sorry for the guy it's aimed at, unless he's stupid enough to believe it!
Purple patch is another. Again a big score is another.
Say nothing to get the attention of the Cricketing Gods because they can be mean. Just be humble and practice hard and take nothing for granted.
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
Neither
Ervine is ultra conservative and formulaic. Raza flys by the seat of his pants and probably doesn’t even have a plan.
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
Burl or Wellington could be captain
Young enough to be the future but old and experienced enough to really be senior guys in the side. I wouldn’t be burdening any of these generational talents with it any time soon, they can focus on their game.
This is where if things had panned out differently for Wez, he’d be in the conversation.
Young enough to be the future but old and experienced enough to really be senior guys in the side. I wouldn’t be burdening any of these generational talents with it any time soon, they can focus on their game.
This is where if things had panned out differently for Wez, he’d be in the conversation.
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
I don't mind Newman Nyamhuri being in the squad. He may only play a game but still a good learning experience.
This may be a dumb question but is ICC mandatory to have squads of 15?
This may be a dumb question but is ICC mandatory to have squads of 15?
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
Very excited Nyamhuri is getting a run. Kohl Eksteen and Nyamhuri looked brilliant in the U19 World Cup, I'm hoping they're both hanging around for the long run.
Kaitano in the T20 squad and not the ODI squad is annoying. He's an opener, so it doesn't make sense to have him as a 'swap' for Clive being injured. I rate him big time, but I hate that they're pushing him to be a short form player in this series. He should also be playing test with Gumbie. Campbell not being selected is an unsurprising blow, it's pathetic he's not at least in the squad when Musekiwa is there and not being bowled.
I know we flag the terror of NW again not being selected, but question when we should starting turning eyes to MW instead? If Nick is in the ZC Board bad books for whatever reason, is it likely NW will be shunned as well?
Kaitano in the T20 squad and not the ODI squad is annoying. He's an opener, so it doesn't make sense to have him as a 'swap' for Clive being injured. I rate him big time, but I hate that they're pushing him to be a short form player in this series. He should also be playing test with Gumbie. Campbell not being selected is an unsurprising blow, it's pathetic he's not at least in the squad when Musekiwa is there and not being bowled.
I know we flag the terror of NW again not being selected, but question when we should starting turning eyes to MW instead? If Nick is in the ZC Board bad books for whatever reason, is it likely NW will be shunned as well?
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
Eksteen must be at uni? He hasn't played any cricket locally that I'm aware of. He had some good spells at u19 and bowled really good line and length, but didn't have any pace.
I was disappointed in his batting. I know he put in some effort as a junior. People don't usually just walk away from that. Hopefully we will see him back here during his breaks playing some club cricket.
Nyamhuri looked the more promising of the two. You just can't beat left arm in-swinging seam.
They keep mentioning NW's failure in Namibia, but bear in mind most people failed, hence the non qualification. He wasn't selected for that dreaded Uganda game, which was an error. Some stats from that series would be revealing.
Also they played on those doctored wet pitches that the Namibians deliberately set up and were used to them and they had two really good spinners. Nearly all the games were very low scoring affairs. How they can produce such a strong team from such a miniscule pool is just crazy. They do something right that we don't.
There were two guys that succumbed to pressure there- Kaia and Ervine. They sat out a couple of games for some very minor injuries. They're mentally scarred.
Actually I don't mind Kaitano being selected for T20. When he feels he's got time he bats too slowly when he's under pressure. This may actually free the mental shackles a bit. He's got real skills and can hit the ball damned hard. He's a prime example of a really good player that suddenly struggles against international bowling simply because we get nothing like that in our domestic. There's no way around this major issue except some serious net prep. They tried with the Pakistani imports, which was a good idea, but we need mystery spinners as well. There must be loads around in the sub-continent. A few merlins would help
Have I mentioned that?
I'm sure we will see MW at some point. Our issue is nearly everyone struggles to make the step up. We know most of the reasons. The main one being our domestic bowling doesn't prepare players for international cricket. It means practically everyone we see will start poorly and very few will figure it out. Firstly you probably need a good run at it. Ideally don't want to debut against mystery spinners. Did I mention we need a Merlin??? Ideally we can't have 10 month breaks between ODI's and tests. How the hell can anyone improve with such long breaks between games? MW is absolutely our most fluent stroke maker besides Williams. He's young and makes a few mental errors, but he's pretty much our best stroke-maker. Ask any top player that has batted with him. They all say- what the hell are we watching here? It only gets you so far though, you need to play against better bowlers and you need the mental game.
I also think the new guys don't get enuf prep before playing international cricket. Guys like Houghton, Brent and BT would be so ideal for this role. You have to mentally prepare a guy, then he has to get some high class throw downs for hours and he has to survive and make a plan.
The fact that ZC want nothing to do with these guys is a serious indictment on them. Whilst there are repeated calls for some players, this is just as big of an issue, maybe more so. These guys could work with our better players and then say- so and so is ready! The problem is ZC fear they will recommend a white guy. What else could it be? Maybe they fear they will be too successful and show up other coaches? That bird has flown, we know they're better.
Say what you like but Houghton was our most successful coach in a while.
Having Brent and Houghton doing nothing and presumably wanting to contribute is a terrible state of affairs. Zolsky needs to answer why, before making any other excuses.
The first thing they could fix is Dion's poor sweeping. Dangle that carrot.
I was disappointed in his batting. I know he put in some effort as a junior. People don't usually just walk away from that. Hopefully we will see him back here during his breaks playing some club cricket.
Nyamhuri looked the more promising of the two. You just can't beat left arm in-swinging seam.
They keep mentioning NW's failure in Namibia, but bear in mind most people failed, hence the non qualification. He wasn't selected for that dreaded Uganda game, which was an error. Some stats from that series would be revealing.
Also they played on those doctored wet pitches that the Namibians deliberately set up and were used to them and they had two really good spinners. Nearly all the games were very low scoring affairs. How they can produce such a strong team from such a miniscule pool is just crazy. They do something right that we don't.
There were two guys that succumbed to pressure there- Kaia and Ervine. They sat out a couple of games for some very minor injuries. They're mentally scarred.
Actually I don't mind Kaitano being selected for T20. When he feels he's got time he bats too slowly when he's under pressure. This may actually free the mental shackles a bit. He's got real skills and can hit the ball damned hard. He's a prime example of a really good player that suddenly struggles against international bowling simply because we get nothing like that in our domestic. There's no way around this major issue except some serious net prep. They tried with the Pakistani imports, which was a good idea, but we need mystery spinners as well. There must be loads around in the sub-continent. A few merlins would help
Have I mentioned that?
I'm sure we will see MW at some point. Our issue is nearly everyone struggles to make the step up. We know most of the reasons. The main one being our domestic bowling doesn't prepare players for international cricket. It means practically everyone we see will start poorly and very few will figure it out. Firstly you probably need a good run at it. Ideally don't want to debut against mystery spinners. Did I mention we need a Merlin??? Ideally we can't have 10 month breaks between ODI's and tests. How the hell can anyone improve with such long breaks between games? MW is absolutely our most fluent stroke maker besides Williams. He's young and makes a few mental errors, but he's pretty much our best stroke-maker. Ask any top player that has batted with him. They all say- what the hell are we watching here? It only gets you so far though, you need to play against better bowlers and you need the mental game.
I also think the new guys don't get enuf prep before playing international cricket. Guys like Houghton, Brent and BT would be so ideal for this role. You have to mentally prepare a guy, then he has to get some high class throw downs for hours and he has to survive and make a plan.
The fact that ZC want nothing to do with these guys is a serious indictment on them. Whilst there are repeated calls for some players, this is just as big of an issue, maybe more so. These guys could work with our better players and then say- so and so is ready! The problem is ZC fear they will recommend a white guy. What else could it be? Maybe they fear they will be too successful and show up other coaches? That bird has flown, we know they're better.
Say what you like but Houghton was our most successful coach in a while.
Having Brent and Houghton doing nothing and presumably wanting to contribute is a terrible state of affairs. Zolsky needs to answer why, before making any other excuses.
The first thing they could fix is Dion's poor sweeping. Dangle that carrot.
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
Quite a good podcast on Kwirirai with Darlington Matambanadzo.
Why doesn't he interview Houghton and Brent and see what they're up to these days
For once an honest discussion about Musekiwa. He's just not ready for this quality of spin. He may be good at seam, but he didn't get the opportunity. No 7 is a pressure position for sure. Dhoni had an interesting take on the finishing role, he reckoned everywhere else was easy, foreplay so to speak.
Don't totally agree, but it has merit.
I feel for Musi, he's essentially been chucked in the deep end. It would have been a major shock experiencing that pressure and that quality of bowling. He's a talented bloke, just needs to figure some stuff out. Houghton would be perfect to help him.
I really don't get resting Blessing and Richie. Maybe rest them for the last game prior to the test. You could potentially alternate them as well. It's the tests that are really taxing, the T20's are nothing. Two by 2 over spells, c'mon!
Why doesn't he interview Houghton and Brent and see what they're up to these days
For once an honest discussion about Musekiwa. He's just not ready for this quality of spin. He may be good at seam, but he didn't get the opportunity. No 7 is a pressure position for sure. Dhoni had an interesting take on the finishing role, he reckoned everywhere else was easy, foreplay so to speak.
Don't totally agree, but it has merit.
I feel for Musi, he's essentially been chucked in the deep end. It would have been a major shock experiencing that pressure and that quality of bowling. He's a talented bloke, just needs to figure some stuff out. Houghton would be perfect to help him.
I really don't get resting Blessing and Richie. Maybe rest them for the last game prior to the test. You could potentially alternate them as well. It's the tests that are really taxing, the T20's are nothing. Two by 2 over spells, c'mon!
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
It's obvious that the Welch brothers and Campbell won't get a gig until Ervine and Williams retire . The quota system doesn't allow them all to play together.
Re: Afghanistan Tour of Zimbabwe Thread
Agreed. Campbell and N Welch would be in if Ervine and Williams retire. It's Colour to Colour replacement, not talent to talent.
No wonder Zimbabwe are now reduced to playing the likes of Gambia and Rwanda.