[Match Thread]: 2018 Tri-Series Match 2 | Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka

[sloandog]

Finally some positive cricket.

Bowling & fielding needs more improvement. Muzarabani will be differant if he hits the Zym regularly.Still Musakanda & Williams are needed in this team.

I agree. Muzarabani must be looked after. The lad can at least bowl 83mph on a consistent basis (well he did today anyway) and he's only what, 20? 21?Still, I think it's time we add another spinner for the next game. Chisoro perhaps, or a wild card selection in Brandon Mavuta. Either way, we have options and that's only a good thing. Cremer needs to bring himself on earlier as he's easily one of the best spinners in the tournament if not THE best.
Williams just, simply put, has to be there Against spin as well.

[eugene]

I just wonder if the best time to blood Muzarabani would have been after the Qualifiers. I guess Streak feels Muzarabani can make a difference right away and help us get to the CWC.

Too bad we aren't facing Sri Lanka in the qualifiers, I fear the Windies and Afghanistan more at this point.

[Kriterion_BD]

This was a very important win. 2018 is important for teams to build form (which --> confidence) ahead of the 2019 WC and also to find your best combination and the unique style by which you will go about playing your cricket. Even more so for the sides that will be playing the WCQ in a few weeks time.

This was a solid performance. Good batting and the bowling just had to show up when you have that many runs to defend.

SL are now going to look to come back hard at BD on Friday.

[zimfan1]

Hoping for a Bangladesh win against Sri Lanka on Friday. That would mean the we would have to win against either Bangladesh or Sri Lanka to qualify for the final.

[Kriterion_BD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... byUizZaMmc

Raza is becoming my fave ZIM player now. I didn't rate him when he first came on, but now I think he has amongst the highest averages of the current bunch in both formats. Also has a decent technique as well. I admire his fighting spirit - he almost always plays according to the needs of whatever hour he comes in to bat.

[Mueddie28]

You guys are some of the most fickle blokes I've ever come across.
Ervine to sit out the next game..? Not the force he used to be..? You need to relax. He's just got out for a couple of low scores.
You're as bad as our selectors.

On a more positive note, 161-3 with another 18 to go is a healthy situation to be in for sure. Lets hope we can build on it.

whats wrong with replacing Murray for one over Craig Ervine
competition breeds success

[Andybligzz]

Great win by the boys was to late for me in Aus to watch the finish , we really have the wood over Sri Lanka now. Great permfomances by hammy Raza and Chatara ! The confidence boost we needed it , we really can be a dangerous. Team in 50 overs .good to see the boys get up !! Really missing Williams though

[zimbos_05]

Just watched the highlights. How did Sri Lanka lose that game??

1) Taylor needs to cut the sweep out of his game.
2) Our boys could get some big scores if they moved their feet and played with a straighter bat.
3) Raza is active at the crease. At times is beautiful, other times its hair pulling stuff. Fun to watch.
4) Bowling upfront needs to be better. That could have gotten ugly.

I'm not sure I like Cremer as captain. I've mentioned before about his decisions and choices. Not really sure he is cut out for the role. Hammy did well up front to prove me wrong. Let's see how consistent he can be.

I would love to spend a week in camp just watching what happens in our training sessions.

[jaybro]

Watched the entire match but decided to stay off the forum so I could enjoy it, looking back at the comments now Im glad I did ! So many negative comments from certain people Im not sure if they really see things in that way or if they're trying to push their agendas ??

I was confident throughout the whole match and actually thought our bowling unit did really well and was surprised to see so many negative comments about KJ, Cremer, Blessing and Malcolm. I think people forget it was a 290-300 pitch you're going to have a few guys go for over 6 an over especially if they're bowling in the Powerplays.

I also thought Cremer handled his bowling changes really well ( in contrast to what most the comments indicated ).

He kept Blessing away from Kusal in the PP

He didn't bowl anyone out early to give himself options at the end

He got Waller to bowl a few sneaky ones to give himself flexibility at the end

He resisted bringing back Chatara early to save him for the end which turned out to be a winning play.

Was brave enough to bowl his spinners in the last 10

Found it funny how people were hammering KJ even suggesting he should be dropped after 2 games
I think are forgetting we have zero seam bowling depth it's not like he's keeping out a Kagiso Rabada or something. People also seem to forget the pain of watching Panayangara gor for 12 an over in the death overs or watching Mpofu and tiripano got wicketless match after match lol. KJ got 2 important wickets yes he did go for a few runs but he bowled 5 overs in the PP against Kusal who was going @ a strike rate of 200 !!!!

The comments about Ervine n ot being a good No.3 amused me the most
2 x un-beaten match winning hundreds and a 90 odd in the tie against WI batting @3. but yeah I guess it doesn't suit him lol. He's clearly out of form but it's foolish to say 3 doesn't suit him.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Yeah, the captaincy was mostly spot on in terms of bowler management, but the field placements especially with the tailenders was not inspiring. We got a bit lucky as the SL lower order idiotically kept hoisting them within the 30 yard circle / outfield to get out. We were helped in large parts by their lack of common sense, but we did see good quality bowling by Chatara, Raza and Blessing under pressure, and by Cremer in his all important last over.

Ervine has 108 runs from the last 8 international innings with an average of 13.5. Significantly low compared to the high standards he has set for himself over the last 2 years. In pretty much all of those innings, he was beaten by pace, bounce and seam movement. Basically this is a chink in his armour that has come out and he needs to work on it. Else, teams will quickly exploit it regularly and he'll soon be in a bigger rut. This did not get exposed when he was batting at 4 of late, but at 3, he has nowhere to hide. Quick solution is to swap Taylor and Ervine in this ODI series and see how it goes. Things would have been ideal if Tari had continued at 3 as in SL.

As for Jarvis, there was something clearly amiss in his delivery stride. It was as if he arrived at the crease, then walked into the last couple of strides to deliver the ball. Not sure if it is an injury scare or he was being extra cautious to ensure line and length. Blessing does not have a great run up either - he was treading very carefully as he approached the stumps. Probably trying to ensure no no-balls and wides. But credit to him for those two overs he bowled when Thisara was at the crease. Did well to control and was very disciplined. In fact, if the match had gone to the 50th over, I was hoping Cremer would go for Blessing to bowl that instead of Jarvis. Blessing was clearly the more confident of the two yesterday. But thank god we had a fit and firing Chatara to finish things off.

Given that we won the match yesterday, we may not change the winning combination if not for injury - but this is definitely no the best combination we can put out there. Hamilton was off the field for the last few overs, hope there are no major injury scares there.

The guys were pretty slow in the field though even as the wickets kept falling. There was lack of energy and enthusiasm at times I thought, but we were not really punished for it as SL was even more foolish with their approach. Was it due to some high humidity (can't be at this time of the year in BD) or something that the guys were tired? Moor gave away a lot of 2s and looked jaded. Ervine and Waller too. Only Mire and Raza were the live wires in the field and Mavuta too, coming on as substitute. Taylor was very vigilant in trying to regularly take stock of the situation from behind the stumps as the match went into nile-biting stages.