T20I WC what would you have changed (given the available resources)

[Googly]

It does not look too promising for us. SA have really jammed us up.

[zimbos_05]

1) Marumani in the squad. He was here for the ODIs, so he knew the conditions. Yes our domestic league is crap and anyone can be a bully there and then a mouse on the international stage, but it makes no sense that we left him behind and didn't even pick him as a sub. He would have at least given us something a bit more up top and a different dimension. A quick ball 20 from him would have been invaluable in most games.

2) Batting coach. I know Klusener screwed us over last minute, but Matsi has never been the answer to this solution. We missed a trick. Almost all the other teams have hired a specialist that is based in Aus just for the tournament. We could have done the same thing. Justin Langer is knocking about. There are heaps more coaches here that would have been available for the tournament as a specialist consultant or coach. Poor poor choice going with Matsi.

In terms of what we would have changed, it's a bit hard to change much more. We clearly do not have the depth which then comes down to what we change going forward.

We need to have a proper batting coach brought in. That has to be priority number one.

Next thing we need to change is our development. We are going to lose 5/6 key players in the next year or two and so far not many youngsters are stepping up. We need to starting get a bit more professional. We need to start implementing proper development pathways. We have so many academies and clinics, yet barely seeing any results from them.

[Googly]

Academies in name only. Nothing happens there. They would not yield an international player unless there was a superstar youngster anyway. And if they had the right coach to provide the necessary training. I've watched a few guys coaching youngsters and have never been impressed. It's about technique and repetition. David Mutindira is a decent coach, as is Ian Tinker at PH.

DH was officially a batting coach. Not having one I don't believe has made a big difference. If we did have one then we'd really have two batting coaches and an extra thrower.
Everyone here guns Matsi but there's no evidence that he's not good.

Silverwood has made a noticeable difference to Sri Lanka in a short space of time.

[zimbos_05]

Everyone here guns Matsi but there's no evidence that he's not good.

From his two stints, what's the evidence that he is? Other than those who had the natural talent, which batter has come through the ranks and shown proper development? I'm not saying he is not a nice guy or anything like that, but from the evidence I have seen he hasn't shown that he is up to the job.

Perhaps needs to go to the A side or U19 side and work a bit on his skills.

[Googly]

Nobody on this planet can make a half decent FC batsman into an international.

[Googly]

He can't be a scapegoat for shit batting, does Houghton dodge that bullet? Some things are just not possible.

[zimbos_05]

He can't be a scapegoat for shit batting, does Houghton dodge that bullet? Some things are just not possible.

Dave is dodging the bullet at the moment because Matsi has had his time for a few years and not really produced much in that time.

[Googly]

My point is you can't make a quality international from someone who doesn't have it.
Plus our domestic is not strong enuf plus we don't play enuf games. Everything is stacked against a coach. We've had dozens of them over the years.

[jaybro]

Just listening to Dave Houghton talk about the WC campaign and where things might or could have been a little different for Zimbabwe. He mentioned that he thought the bowling and fielding unit was up with the best in the world, but the batting was brittle.

He said the biggest issue was the batsman closing the face on the ball ( which made me smile a bit because I’ve been saying this forever that the Zim batters don’t play straight enough) he said that any player wanting to break into the national side should be focusing on that aspect of their game.

This did however make me think, it felt like they were definitely one quality top order batsman short. I wonder how much of a difference BT would have made? We’ve spoken before about how much his game would have flourished under DH, it’s such a shame things turned out as they did.

He might have been the difference you know …..

[zimbos_05]

Just listening to Dave Houghton talk about the WC campaign and where things might or could have been a little different for Zimbabwe. He mentioned that he thought the bowling and fielding unit was up with the best in the world, but the batting was brittle.

He said the biggest issue was the batsman closing the face on the ball ( which made me smile a bit because I’ve been saying this forever that the Zim batters don’t play straight enough) he said that any player wanting to break into the national side should be focusing on that aspect of their game.

This did however make me think, it felt like they were definitely one quality top order batsman short. I wonder how much of a difference BT would have made? We’ve spoken before about how much his game would have flourished under DH, it’s such a shame things turned out as they did.

He might have been the difference you know …..

Not sure he was watching the same fielding. Some of our stuff was diabolical.

I've been speaking about playing with a straight bat for far too long, and it's never been fixed. Sounds a bit reassuring that Dave has identified it and is hopefully going to fix it. This also answers my question about Matsi and evidence of what he has brought.

Shumba constantly trying to reverse and lap annoys me so much. He is not the only one, but that its endemic in our squad speaks volumes.