zimbabwe vs pakistan

[jw2]

Can't believe I'm saying this but I now LOVE those yellow jerseys... we should keep that colour permanently!

Yellow can be a dangerous colour to wear in Zimbabwe these days ...!

[Googly]

Missed the live game, thank goodness or I would have had a pumpy.
Ngarava has changed his game with that ball that nips back into the right hander, but he either didn't use it in his second spell or it just didn't come out. Great 3 overs then did his best to bottle it , anyway all good.
Evans kicked off the last over with 2 half volleys, but somehow saved the day. Brilliant stuff. Batted well too.
Big call to give him the last over when he hasn't even played yet. He surely has to start in the next games.
Reggie nearly bottled it by missing the throw. Great stumping, he kept well, can't buy a run though.
Raza's smorgasbord of deliveries, don't ever do much, but the batters expect them to which is just as good. He bowled good length today and once again two critical wickets.

Interesting stat about the Pakistani bowling. 47% of their deliveries are 145 plus. The next quickest team is about 25% and we were 1%.
Only Madhevere looks comfortable at that pace. Its becoming clear that hes going to be a good player. He's very good outside off, but does not like it at him, he's got some work to do because the opposition now know hes lethal thru off and iffy against back of a length middle and leg. Everyone else struggled against the Pakistani quicks and resorted to dabbing it down to third man. Its just not a good look, and won't get us past 150 too often, but not sure what the solution is.
The opening partnership contributed to that win, we need to stay with that combo, even if Ervine continues with his run a ball stuff. We continue to struggle in the batting dept big time. Raza really didn't enjoy that pace, nobody does, but his innings was obvious because he's done so well against the 130-138 bowlers. Obviously the pitch made it even more difficult today and nobody did well against the seamers bowling a heavy length.

Pakistan have a very long tail, they struggled. We bowled well but the pressure on the Pakistani batters flattered our bowlers a little. Basically they choked a little, but all credit to our lads for fighting to the last. Our spinners bowled a lot of leg stump deliveries to cramp them and I was very surprised not to see them sweep. The long boundaries probably made most batters put away the slog sweep.

Absorbing game and one of our biggest wins ever I reckon.
Still couldn't get Houghton to look remotely excited, what will it take?

[Donald]

Ervine and madhevere batted lovely in first 3 overs fair play.
Williams has come into form sort of. 30 was priceless on this pitch.

[Kriterion_BD]

Zimbabwe must surely be favorites against Bangladesh on Saturday/Sunday. Gabba pitch has some bounce too from what I hear.

[Donald]

Zimbabwe must surely be favorites against Bangladesh on Saturday/Sunday. Gabba pitch has some bounce too from what I hear.

I would change Jongwe with munyonga. Give him a chance. Jongwe has barely bowled past few games.
Evans ngarava and muzurabani to lead pace attack.
This is gonna be tasty.
Bangladesh are still a good side though. Zim will have momentum coming into this game however

[Donald]

Missed the live game, thank goodness or I would have had a pumpy.
Ngarava has changed his game with that ball that nips back into the right hander, but he either didn't use it in his second spell or it just didn't come out. Great 3 overs then did his best to bottle it , anyway all good.
Evans kicked off the last over with 2 half volleys, but somehow saved the day. Brilliant stuff. Batted well too.
Big call to give him the last over when he hasn't even played yet. He surely has to start in the next games.
Reggie nearly bottled it by missing the throw. Great stumping, he kept well, can't buy a run though.
Raza's smorgasbord of deliveries, don't ever do much, but the batters expect them to which is just as good. He bowled good length today and once again two critical wickets.

Interesting stat about the Pakistani bowling. 47% of their deliveries are 145 plus. The next quickest team is about 25% and we were 1%.
Only Madhevere looks comfortable at that pace. Its becoming clear that hes going to be a good player. He's very good outside off, but does not like it at him, he's got some work to do because the opposition now know hes lethal thru off and iffy against back of a length middle and leg. Everyone else struggled against the Pakistani quicks and resorted to dabbing it down to third man. Its just not a good look, and won't get us past 150 too often, but not sure what the solution is.
The opening partnership contributed to that win, we need to stay with that combo, even if Ervine continues with his run a ball stuff. We continue to struggle in the batting dept big time. Raza really didn't enjoy that pace, nobody does, but his innings was obvious because he's done so well against the 130-138 bowlers. Obviously the pitch made it even more difficult today and nobody did well against the seamers bowling a heavy length.

Pakistan have a very long tail, they struggled. We bowled well but the pressure on the Pakistani batters flattered our bowlers a little. Basically they choked a little, but all credit to our lads for fighting to the last. Our spinners bowled a lot of leg stump deliveries to cramp them and I was very surprised not to see them sweep. The long boundaries probably made most batters put away the slog sweep.

Absorbing game and one of our biggest wins ever I reckon.
Still couldn't get Houghton to look remotely excited, what will it take?

A semi final place googly what else??

[sscricket]

Zimbabwe must surely be favorites against Bangladesh on Saturday/Sunday. Gabba pitch has some bounce too from what I hear.

I would change Jongwe with munyonga. Give him a chance. Jongwe has barely bowled past few games.
Evans ngarava and muzurabani to lead pace attack.
This is gonna be tasty.
Bangladesh are still a good side though. Zim will have momentum coming into this game however

I would not.jongwe can provide valuable runs.munyonga is not at this level yet.fish out of water.seems to have no answer to any type of fast bowling..

[secretzimbo]

A word for Steve Kirby. Houghton rightly gets the credit for the utterly ridiculous job he is dong/has done over the past few months, but it's clear that Kirby has had an instant impact with the bowlers already. Defending 130 on a good batting deck - wow. Ngarava in particular looks a better bowler already. Massive credit to Steve and the work he's doing.

I also love that he sings the anthem, and he seems to be front and centre of all the team celebrations as well Clearly enjoying himelf!

[zimbos_05]

Couldn't watch the game live. Watched the replay this morning.

Batting: Great start from Wes and Ervine. They were not trying to overhit the ball or hit too hard. Wes played some great punches and straight drives without over hitting. Just used the pace. It's exactly what I've been talking about. We got off to a good start, but then we faltered. Could easily have scored more than 130. We need to be better all around with the bat, not just have the one or two. Not really sure what Reggie and Jongwe add to the team at this point. Ervines wicket was a perfect example of our hook discussion yesterday. That was too high to hook, so drop the head and let it go. A dot is better than a wicket.

Bowling: All the superlatives have already been said about this area. Not sure if Kirby gets all the credit, but the lads are coming into their own. I don't see how you play Chatara over Evans. For me, Jongwe is the one you drop for Chatara if you want to bring him in.

Overall, did not expect the win, so to win and to win in that manner is insane. Puts us in a good position and we need to capitalise on that. We can definitely beat Bangladesh and Netherlands, and we really should beat them. If we can get some consistency and all around contribution with the bat, we should be ood.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Not really sure what Reggie and Jongwe add to the team at this point.

That's pretty harsh. Yes he is woefully out of form with the bat in needs to score some runs. But he has to take a lot of credit for that brilliant stumping and the runout at the end yesterday. And he comes across as an astute thinker and Ervine for sure leans on him for decisions as well on field. He needs runs for sure but asking what he adds to the team is taking it too far.