ODI Series v South Africa in review

[eugene]

Brendan Taylor
Undoubtedly the best Zimbabwean in the series. His 145* was a magnificent innings, albeit in a losing cause. With an average of 91.00 and a strike rate of 101.11 this was Taylor at his best. He and Hamilton Masakadza have cemented themselves as Zimbabwe's first choice opening pair. 8/10

Hamilton Masakadza
A somewhat disappointing tour for Hamilton, although he only played 2 of the 3 ODIs for reasons only known to the genius selectors. 35 runs in 2 innings isn't bad, but his form has dipped of late which is a bit concerning. He has plenty of time before the World Cup to rectify things however. He also picked up a wicket with his bowling which gains him extra brownie points. 4/10

Sean Williams
Woefully out of form with 10 runs in two innings at a strike rate 38.46. His innings in the 1st ODI pretty much derailed our run chase and lost us all momentum. It was one of the most painful batting performances I have ever seen. 1/10

Tatenda Taibu
Scored 119 runs at an average 39.66 with a strike rate of 87.50. Some useful innings from Taibu (he was the only player other than Taylor to cross 50 runs in an innings), although he needs to step up and be a leader in pressure situations. The Taibu of old is still not evident. He needs to cut back on the soft dismissals. 6/10

Chamu Chibhabha
45 runs at a strike rate of 68.18 is a rather ordinary return from a player who looked great in the T20s. His batting looked promising, but in the end he failed to deliver in any of the matches. His bowling is not even club level, let alone ODI level. He should fake an injury whenever called upon to bowl. If he focuses solely on his batting he has the potential to be a useful contributer to the batting lineup in the future. 3/10

Grant Flower
Nothing to suggest that the player/coach role is going to work. He looked much better in the second ODI with a solid 22 after shedding some of the rust in the first ODI. His experience should hopefully come in useful at the World Cup as will his bowling given the state of our seamers. 3/10

Craig Ervine
51 runs over two matches was a solid return for Craig Ervine, who continues to show that he has enough potential to justify his squad selection. With Grant Flower back in the side it is hard to find a place for him the middle order but he should certainly be in the squad. 4/10

Elton Chigumbura
Poor captaincy, poor batting, and even worse bowling. Chigumbura was the most disappointing performer on tour. If he weren't the captain his place in the side would be in real jeopardy. His role of the allrounder brought balance to the side, but now it seems he doesn't even consider himself a bowler having bowled only 16 overs in the series at an economy rate of 8.06. He really needs to have the captaincy removed so he can focus on his own game. 2/10

Prosper Utseya
Our best bowler by far with series figures of 29-170-1 with an economy rate of 5.86. His economy rate was respectable by any standard, but magnificent in comparison with our other 'bowlers'. He had the usual problem of not being able to take wickets but his bowling for the most part looked pretty good. His batting was an added bonus (especially given his poor batting over the last few seasons), scoring 68 runs in 3 innings. 6/10

Keith Dabengwa
Why is this man in the team? He doesn't even have age on his side. His bowling offers nothing special (he certainly can't be considered a full time bowling option) and he bats too far down the order to offer anything useful other than a few cameo innings. We have plenty of batsmen who can bowl as well or better than him so I really I don't see where he fits into the side. Dabengwa's time is up, except maybe for T20. 2/10

Graeme Cremer
Disappointing tour with series bowling figures of 20-138-0 with an economy rate of 6.90. His economy rate wasn't bad in context of the series but no wickets in three matches is disappointing. In his defence he usually came on when the batsmen were already in form thanks to our seamers. 2/10

Shingirai Masakadza
Series bowling figures were 29-244-7 with an economy rate of 8.41. 7 wickets was good, but how much of that was due to his bowling is debatable. He got plastered the whole series, as his economy rate shows. He certainly has potential, but I don't think he is really ready for international cricket yet. That being said, if we have to select one pace bowler I think he is the best candidate. Hard to rate given his 7 wickets but terrible ER so I have given him a 3/10.

Christopher Mpofu
Only played in one match, which was one match too many for Mpofu. Figures of 8-59-0. He clearly lacks confidence and has yet again failed to impress at international level. No reason for him to be selected again any time soon, other than that we may not have anyone any better. 0.5/10

Ian Nicolson
Nicolson has potential but he clearly isn't ready for international cricket. 7-74-1 at an economy rate of 10.57 is truly embarrasing, and he is hardly the most athletic fielder either. He probably needs a couple of season of domestic cricket before he should be considered. Gets a 1/10 because he picked up a wicket.




In summary this ODI series was an embarrasment for Zimbabwe. It was perhaps the worst bowling effort from a full member country in an ODI series ever. We have no pace bowlers of international calibre, and a captain who is badly out of form and out of his depth. Taibu or Price should be appointed captain and no pace bowlers should be selected for awhile it seems. The batting was solid in two of the three matches, but it is not good enough to score a total that our 'bowlers' could defend. I fear for the side should we return to test cricket.

[Conant]

Good analysis on the whole but the review on Crag Ervine sounds a bit biased and defensive. And only 6/10 for Prosper Utseya who had an economy rate of about 5.5 when evreybody else went for 8 and above, coupled with critism for not taking enough wickets?

[eugene]

Good analysis on the whole but the review on Crag Ervine sounds a bit biased and defensive. And only 6/10 for Prosper Utseya who had an economy rate of about 5.5 when evreybody else went for 8 and above, coupled with critism for not taking enough wickets?

I tried to base the rankings not just relative to the other players on the team but against an overall scaling. I think 6/10 for a bowler who took 1 wicket in three matches is fair. I am not the first to criticise Utseya for his lack of wicket taking. Still I think Utseya cemented his place in the side with his performances in this series.

[sloandog]

Still I think Utseya cemented his place in the side with his performances in this series.

I agree Eugene. Bring back the trio of Price, Cremer and Utsea. For now, that's the way forward for Zimbabwean Cricket. People around the world were beginning to recognise Zimbabwe's quality spin department, and now we've gone backwards. Alistair Campbell needs to put his foot down

[bayhaus]

yeah cool review man.

[bayhaus]

yeah cool review man.

usual problem of not being able to take wickets but his bowling

This is what usually happens to Usteya. When other bowlers are pasted around the feild, he doesnt take wickets, why because of no support! So that batsmen don't have to go at him. So he becomes more of just a container and restricter not an attacker.

Graeme Cremer Disappointing tour with series

Cremer is another who feeds off other bowlers thats why our spin tripartate (Price,Utseya and Cremer) work together well cos they create pressure and then take the wickets! And I think he was slightly low on confidence.

The supporters won though here is the review from the ground http://bit.ly/bWQKtZ

[eugene]

Yeah un defence of the spinners they tended to come into the attack once South Africa had already gained the upperhand thanks to our miserable pace bowling. When the score is 80 after 10 overs there isnt much the spinners can do.

[Boundary]

(Taibu) needs to step up and be a leader in pressure situations.

This. I like Taibu a lot, one of the few internationally recognised talents but we don't see enough match winning innings from him. Sure he gets a few runs coz he's clever, experienced and quick - not to mention keeping wicket - but he doesn't take off with enough regularity. My argument is that he needs to be bat at 3 but keeping wicket as well puts pressure mentally and physically. We need him (or Vusi Sibanda in Tests), Taylor and H. Masakadza to be counted every time, a 50 or 100 regularly at the top makes Ervine's and Chigumbura's jobs easier.

Utseya has turned my opinion since giving up the captaincy. Sure he doesn't take enough wickets but in a spin quartet his job is crucial. Price, Cremer and to a lesser extent Lamb will take the wickets but Utseya is experienced and (I have to admit) clever. I've changed my mind about Lamb, we need him back in ODIs. In fact I can see viability in having a separate T20 squad which includes the likes of Dabengwa and Chibhabha; Test squad with Sibanda and Williams and ODI with the likes of Coventry and Flower. The backbone of Taylor, Masakadza, Taibu and Chiggs must include C. Ervine.

Add me to the clamour of freeing Chiggs from the york of captaincy. Nothing against him being captain in the near future but right now we need our all-rounder back. If we pick one seamer (Masakadza Jnr) then Chigumbura needs to bowl some but the captaincy obviously distracts him and it would be better learning from the experience of Price before taking the job fulltime.

[Eshen]

Interesting read. Looking forward to see how your guys do in Bangladesh.

[bayhaus]

Interesting read. Looking forward to see how your guys do in Bangladesh.

Is there A series I do not know about at the moment? The Bang Batsmen have improved and score runs regularly so we will have to really pull up our socks to beat them. But I sure hope there is a tour organised!