Match 1 : Quadrangular U19 Series 2020 : ZIM VS NZ, Durban

[Googly]

And Myers is known for being brilliant off his pads and he goes and bats outside leg? F^* me, at least play to your strengths!! That’s why he missed that delivery. He knew he had to play it and had to reach for it.
Once again every batter was coming from outside leg to spin coming in and going away from them? I just don’t get that at all. They’ve clearly all been told to do that and have been doing it a while. It’s going to be tough to change that and good spin and a strong offside field is going to be a big problem for them. Not one sweep shot to be seen, that’s highly unusual.
There are some decent players here and they’ve been given some bum information. Let’s see how they go, but they’re going to have to change their game plan or this will get untidy.

[ZIMDOGGY]

No shardendorf was composed. He needed to take that run. No 11 would never have survived the next few deliveries. Match was lost by every batter that swung from the cheap seats when we only needed 3 an over.
What Shardendorf should have done is not ducked that short ball prior to that, he should have picked that up over fine leg, he’s got the shot. He’s a good player, should be batting in the front 4, you can line the pinch hitters up from 5 to 10.

I agree. He needed to take that 75% chance it wouldn’t be a direct hit.

That number 11 faced one ball I saw, backed away on ball one to a ball going on middle but luckily connected ok that occasion. I don’t think he’s doing that 6 times.

I think with the bouncer before he was goading for a wide or no ball. It was close. But he should have taken his shot.zim wins or at least draws if he gets off strike and has 6 balls to face two runs needed.

[Googly]

Not sure what Lamb is doing there as a batting coach? Why bother even pitching up as the tournament starts? What are you going to offer or change in mere days?
If you’re going to catch a free ride and not contribute jack shit then expect to be the scape goat.

[jaybro]

I watched the entire match (couldn’t sleep anyways I’ve got a terrible sinus infection) now I know the boys absolutely messed up big time & yes I understand wins against nations like NZ don’t come around very often, but I’m taking a lot away from that match considering Zimbabwe dominated it for 95% of the match.

I really enjoyed getting to see some of these guys actually play after following their scorecards & small snippets of info off Googly & co. This is what I took from the game for each player

Shumba - Bowled really well used his height to his advantage. Batting wise he has shots but doesn’t move his feet much, I think he’s future is in the middle order

Madhevere - Looks an even better player than when I last saw him, played some great shots off the pacers, looked a bit unsure v the spinners & tried to ‘hit our’ against them. Bowled really well too, Zimbabwe are lucky to have both Wes & Milton who can both bat & bowl so well.

Bawa - Out first ball

Myers - Looked good for his short stay before he got clean bowled, bowling was ok but still seems to have an awkward action.

Marumani - kept pretty well & also batted with aggression, really enjoyed taking down the spinners, needed to stay till the end.

Tugwete - Small in stature but played a good controlled innings, looks a good player but again like Marumani he needed to be there at the end, his wicket started the rot, if you’re going to be a ‘50 Over’ No.6 you need to be able to finish off run chases.

Schadendorf - Looked very good and assured at the crease probably batting too low, reminded me of Michael Slater when he drove through the covers.

Chirawu - Disappointing shot to get out for another duck, needed to be smarter in that situation, got one wicket but his bowling looked trash.

Nungu - Looked a bit slower & possibly had a new action since I last saw him, looks to have some potential hopefully he will join the ACHPP and GB can work his magic on him

Dylan Grant - Bustling action reminds of someone but I can’t quite put my finger on who ( if anyone could help here?) definitely the best of the three seamers took 3 wickets & had another dropped.

Nyangani - Chinaman bowler the first Zimbo I can remember? Looked like a left handed Mavuta with his bouncy run up & ripping delivery action, like Mavuta his action had him pulling too many deliveries down.

[zimbos_05]

Losing by 2 runs with 9 overs to spare is a scary thought. You should not need 50 with 5 wickets to spare and lose, especially when you lose the last five wickets 6 runs short of winning.

[Googly]

Who are we playing next and when?

[Googly]

The one thing we’ve seen is that we can most certainly compete against NZ! Should have won that easy, in fact.
Zimbabweans of all ages have a proper problem with closing out games, I think it’s the cadmium and lead in our drinking water and being gang raped by the government on daily basis. We get shouted at and automatically assume the position.
The lads need to bounce back before shell shock sets in and they become like the rest of us. There’s some fight in this side though.

[TapsC]

To be honest I don't know if we were any good or that NZ team was bang average(they were extremely poor for a team with all the resources) S.A. and Aus will give us a better idea of where we stand but overall I think this is a strong group. We will get 3 or 4 international players out of them and they will be batsmen mainly which is a positive. BT Ervine Williams and Raza don't have that many years left.

[Googly]

This is how ZC thinks, Taps. To become an established international you have to be an extraordinary cricketer with so many things going for you and you need exposure to a lot of quality cricket and coaching. That excludes practically everyone here ZC will forever think that if you give a good cricketer some throwdowns for a month they’ll produce a Taylor.
Having said that, of these lads Myers, Shardendorf and Bawa have a lot of potential as batsmen. I’ve excluded Shumba because I don’t like his technique overly and he’s played enough now that he should have done a bit better. If he plays at the higher levels he will probably become a bowling all-rounder. He’s good, and its just my opinion. Same as Madhevere, also looks decent but my 10c worth is he won’t quite cut it as top flight batter as his career rolls out, but his bowling should cover him. Don’t ask me why I think that, but I do.
The other three definitely have real potential. Myers is just a really good all round cricketer with a good head on his young shoulders, Bawa is blessed with loads of talent as well. Bear in mind these guys are only 16! Same as Shardendorf. My only problem with these guys is that they don’t convert starts. They get the very occasional hundred and that’s just not good enough for guys of their ability. They don’t even get that many 50’s. Making hundreds is actually a habit. If you keep passing them up it gets harder and harder to engineer as you get older.
Myers is great to watch but he’ll give you three chances if he gets a big score.
When you see a team where 6 or 7 guys are making 20-30 then you need to question the coaching and/or what instructions are being given because you’re not going to win against a good team. If there was an u19 T20 this would be a really good side, but unless a couple of these guys grind out some big scores we’re going to keep coming up short. These 5 guys are capable of doing well in this tournament with the bat, particularly Myers.

[Googly]

When you talk to a guy who gets regular hundreds they manufacture them. They will go through a sticky period where they have to grind and rein it in a bit, they will struggle against a particular bowler, they will score freely off another, they will manipulate the field settings. And above all they keep the singles ticking over. None of this is rocket science, all decent batters know what to do, but it’s easier said than done. Our guys just get big scores by playing freely and hoping it works out and consequently the planets only align occasionally. Most guys will get a decent 30/40 and then forget what got them those runs and start going over the top, reversing, pulling up instead of down, clearing and going over extra etc coz they want a couple of 6’s. And 9 out of 10 times it’s an inexperienced coach telling them to up the tempo. One of my players once got a 120 off 140 in a trials game after two ducks and the muppet coach told him he wasn’t a team player, that’s what you deal with here.