[Match Thread] 5th ODI: SL vs ZIM

[sloandog]

I still would rather have Moor in my ODI side. He is literally one of, shall we say, 5 players? in the country who can naturally hit over the top and hit big. That's priceless. He'll come good. We aren't really in a situation to drop a player like Moor, although I agree his wicket keeping especially has been ordinary of late.

Still think he needs time, personally. But it appears that in Burl and Musakanda we have two genuine talents to slot into the side. Burl I'd like to see open, I won't lie. When Mazakadza eventually does call it a day, I think RB should be given a crack there.

There's as much chance as Anthony Ireland coming back to open the bowling for us as there is for Sean Ervine ever returning; it ain't going to happen. It wouldn't surprise me if I saw Taylor back in Zimbabwean colours again though, as he seems extremely gutted he's not part of this winning side.

[jaybro]

Great to see so much jubilation and positive talk on the forum, things can get pretty grim here but today is a great day in the history of Zimbabwean cricket well done boys

[sloandog]

Any highlights at all?

[jaybro]

In Moor's defence he's been tried as an opener and batting as a slogger down at 8, not really ideal for a middle order batsman. He's not worthy of selection in the middle order in front of our current crop but batting down at 8 he's come in and finished off a couple of innings with some 6's. the other thing to remember is our other keeper options are poor ......

[Jemisi]

Moor shouldn't stand in the way of anyone who can hold the gloves. With this spin lineup we need a bloke who won't miss stumpings. Batsmen need to be held in their crease or we will never progress. But Richie has missed more than he has taken. Regis and Mutizwa are not silky smooth either and Mayavo bats only a little better than Mpofu. Maybe a youngster can come through, with them stacking the batting the keeper can be hidden down at 9.

[eugene]

We really need to get this Murray guy in the team. He is the future saviour of Zimbabwean wicketkeeping. Get him in the team!

[jaybro]

Really since Taibu we've had issues with the keeper role, even BRMT was sloppy behind the stumps at times. I think Moor is safe because they want him to play the 'slogger' role .....

Like Waller I don't think Moor's average is worried about I think the selectors are only looking at their strike rates ...

[watermelon]

This tour just shows the importance of quotas.
The black players, such as Mire, hammy, raza and Chatara really stood up and carried their teammates.

The white contingent really failed this time round and put the whole series in jeapordy as the final game showed.
-watermelon

[Jemisi]

Ervine won us game 4. Williams and Waller were a big part of game 1.

[CrimsonAvenger]

So, we win a 5 match ODI series away from home, against a tough opposition and conditions in Sri Lanka, and Hamilton Masakadza is man of the series? I'm on Cloud 18!

Great to see the impact of a solid opening pair. At least one of the openers came good in each match. Makes a huge difference. Last time I saw this happen was way back in 1998-99 in England, prior to our most successful world cup campaign in the tri-series involving us, England and the WI. We tried out all of Neil Johnson, Grant Flower and Guy Whittall as openers and they scored handsomely at the top.

Mire's approach was stunning. Waller effectively won us the rain curtailed match with his intelligent bowling and Ervine came to the party at the right time, Raza and Masakadza, both woefully out of form before landing in SL and about to lose their place in the starting XI end up being MoM in the decider and MoS respectively!

Feels absolutely lovely to be a fan right now