Blessing Muzarabani

[TapsC]

He needs to get stronger. I have been saying they need to take him to some sort of specialist or high performance center to help him develop his game. If he can bulk up just a little bit and bowl around 144/145kph he will be a real handful in favourable conditions. If we qualify we need to give him some time to develop a couple of skills.

Mumba is tricky. We honestly didn't see enough of him to be sure he is good enough. He is quick but we need to see more and hopefully he didn't lose any pace

[Googly]

We have all the expertise that’s required right here to bulk Blessing up a bit. I guarantee they’re working on him. Some bean stalks are hard to put meat on. Brahman steroids are in order.
Getting him to run in a straight line and not like a distressed heron dodging frogs is proving harder than I thought.

[Zero76]

Blessing is definitely a top find, while he is still somewhat raw, he has already shown the pace and bounce to trouble almost anybody. There is probably a bit of room to smooth out his action a bit, would help get his pace up there more consistently, but all the ingredients for a quality paceman are already there.

Mumba is another who has impressed, but I would like to wait to see him return from injury and get some cricket under his belt before being rushed back

[ZIMDOGGY]

Does international cricket do steroid tests?

If not we need to bring him to the locker room of a few Harare gyms and lock the door for a few minutes....

[Kriterion_BD]

He needs to get stronger. I have been saying they need to take him to some sort of specialist or high performance center to help him develop his game. If he can bulk up just a little bit and bowl around 144/145kph he will be a real handful in favourable conditions. If we qualify we need to give him some time to develop a couple of skills.

Mumba is tricky. We honestly didn't see enough of him to be sure he is good enough. He is quick but we need to see more and hopefully he didn't lose any pace

If he is hitting 145 with this frame, it means he has the strength already. He just needs the fitness. Bulking up is not always a great idea.

Blessing is 6"8. Imagine his long bones (humerus, radius, etc) as a long pole. If you start bulking it with biceps, triceps, forearms you are adding mass around a pole which is rotating around an axis (shoulder joint). That mass only serves to increase the stress at the shoulder joint, which is going to be more pronounced in a bowler with longer bones. But the joint itself will not be stronger than a shorter bowler like Panyangara. Bulking thus often leads to increased injuries and probably why today's fast bowlers get hurt so much. Look back in the day, Holding wasn't jacked. Wasim wasn't built.

In physics terms, Blessing gaining bulk, will increase the moment of inertia of his arms at the shoulder joint (yes I had to wikipedia that, lol). So him gaining 10-15 kg of muscle mass would yield an increase in risk of rotator cuff injuries because the shoulder joint itself is not being reinforced to deal with the added force/stress on it.

[TapsC]

True but he also looks fragile. Like one big injury will put him down permanently. I get you though. Maybe we should have kept Ntini then.

I saw a very interesting conspiracy theory by a journalist on Twitter saying that one of the reasons Makhaya was fired was that he was pushing for Blessing over Mpofu. Doesn't sound true but that would be crazy if it did go down like that

[Googly]

Klusener has a relatively soft gig apparently. He’s not here permanently. I heard he just has to be here to prepare the boys and obviously during games. I guess Ntini was the same.

[Googly]

Not on topic but I see they dropped Morkel for this test, which is his last series. You reap what you sow. Big trouble coming for Proteas after the WC. They think the same shit won’t happen to them.

[sloandog]

Not on topic but I see they dropped Morkel for this test, which is his last series. You reap what you sow. Big trouble coming for Proteas after the WC. They think the same shit won’t happen to them.

What do you mean googly? You saying that dropping guys like Morkel/Abbot etc will come to bite them in the back side in the near future? I agree.

Nigidi isn't a bad replacement though. If it was somebody like Andile I would be more pissed. But Ngidi is a future prospect and so his selection isn't out of place.

Here's an even bigger question...where does a certain Dale Steyn fit in?? Sorry off topic, it's all googly's fault!

[Flakeman]

SA cricket really do obviously value Morkels last 10 years of cricket, don’t they. They may as well spit in his face.