Where to from here?

[Googly]

Well the mud slinging has commenced. This knockout has come at an interesting time- ZC elections are due, as are gov elections. We've seen the Board members handing out prizes so no additional prizes for guessing the outcome of the ZC voting, they'd vote for Joe Biden if they were instructed and shown where to put the x. You could get some people to vote for a grasshopper if there was a free tee shirt.

I saw one FB poster put some stats on Welly. Bowling- 7 games, 37 overs, 3 wickets, 176 runs at 59 per wicket. Good economy.
Batting- 4 innings, 22 runs, avg 7.
The point he was trying to make was he thought he was a political appointment.
He's almost certainly our next captain.
My point here is I'm doubting selectors had autonomy. If you're picking a guy to bowl then bowl him. He bowled 5 overs a game. Or of course don't pick him if he's not going to bowl and go with an extra batter. We'd have cut fingers off for 2 extra batters yesterday. Surely err on the side of extra batters when you've already got 4 spinners.
Personally I think he's a really smart bowler with lots of control, but he should not be the first name on the team sheet. Have we not moved on from this? Apparently not.

We must hold prayer vigils that DH does not "step down".
We are back to the Dark Ages if he does that.
Similarly we must pray the Big 3 stay exactly where they are.

The pressure on Mukhulani, Masakadza, Makoni and whoever else to axe someone or shout or kick someone with their pointy shoes will be almost too much for them. They're the bosses and they must show they are.
I urge huge restraint. Nobody needs a ceremonial axeing to prove how tough you are, we all know already. We are sorry.

We need to pick ourselves up, get an HPC in place, make more improvements to club and franchise, improve our coaching structures, pay the players year round and all move forward together. Perhaps sack the guy who has been given about a mill to refurbish Queens and couldn't even buy a 5 liter tub of paint?

[TapsC2]

I honestly thought DH was going to play Jongwe at 8 and Evans at 9. That's probably our only mistake. Scotland utilmately got over the line because their number 8 and 9 can bat. Our tail was too long but at the same time as I said DH always trusted people to deliver. The batsmen let him down. Kaia is another one he put his neck out for and played but he failed.

It's tough on Welllington because he probably shouldn't have played but the captain was also under utilising him. Can't blame him for that. When Williams retires he is an automatic pick.

I don't think there will be a nuclear fallout this time. 3 full members missed out. Last time it just looked really bad.

[Googly]

Who was the third? Us, WI and ..?
Again hindsight but agree wholeheartedly. We were two batters short. Larry was a gamble that didn't come off and again not sure whose decision that was and Welly just gets penned in. It's easy to criticise from the side lines and after the fact, but it did seem rather obvious.

This is so bitterly disappointing. We so needed to go this WC and expose our players to the Big Boys. Without playing these teams how are we going to improve? It's vexing.
It was likely to have been ugly if we struggled against Scotland and SL, but necessary.

Cricket is a game of such small margins. A tweak here and there and you can compete. Easier said than done though, those last few millimetres are not easy to achieve.

It's not going to be easy to pick ourselves up before this Afghan tour, but we must. A small consolation prize would be a win against them. We are mostly on the right track to improve, we must not lose sight of that. A long way to go, but we've most certainly taken the first steps.

[zimbos_05]

You do not recall correctly, after Gumbie dropped McMullen off Chatara he went on to score at least 4 boundaries off Chatara after that. Plus Chatara at least bowled McBride out, so he made amends for his drop.

What's obvious is that you are ignoring some of my posts and words I have used, and seem to be taking this personally. There is absolutely no mudslinging on my part. I have already called out the batting unit. I did in the match thread. This post asked about "where to next" and one of my points is getting rid of passengers. Gumbie, Kaia, and Wes failed, but they are not going to be thrown away as they are part of the future. Chatara on the other hand is 32 and proving to be a very costly bowler and fielder, and at his age he isn't going to get better. That whole top order failed at such a crucial time. They did not turn up. How many times do I need to say this in multiple threads. Gumbie at least did his job for most of the tournament, Chatara, again, was our most expensive strike bowler all tournament by a mile. Yes Gumbie costed us with that dropped catch and had a chance to make up for it with the bat, but failed. Reality is, he didn't show himself a liability in all games. He's provided us with solid starts in a majority of the games. Messed up in a crucial one and will hopefully learn from that.

I'm not absolving him of any blame, but everyone is hammering him saying he's crap etc, well blame the coach and the captain for playing him. If he's so shit and Evans is so good well maybe you need to question Dave for being so stupid he can't see what is according to you, clear to the rest of the world.

Are people not entitled to that view? Just because he gets selected, is he free of criticism? Can blame the coach for picking him. I acknowledged that too, but blaming the coach seems to get extreme backlash because of the work he has done. When weighing up the coaches errors verse success, he has some in the bank. Chatara doesn't. I also did not say "clear to the rest of the world". I was speaking purely for myself.

If the top order turned up he wouldn't have to bat, why don't you have a crack at them?

Because I already have. I have literally been begging for a new batting coach and blamed those batters for their start. For cowering when facing Sole and for getting shit in the most important game. I've already told you why I named Chatara specifically but you keeping wanting to name every single player individually.

Based on what facts? His numbers stack up against any other Zim bowler so you're wrong again

Chatara played from 2013 till now. Zim were not playing the big opposition that regularly in that period. If anything, from that lot, he has worse overall figures than Cremer. His big let down (for mine) is economy. He is not an economical bowler. So yes he can take a wicket, but if he is getting smacked for 10 an over, his negating his wickets. Again, it's my own personal view that he is not number 2. I would throw Brian and Paul Strang into my previous list for that spot, or even Price and Cremer. I'm just saying I think there are better bowlers than him for that number 2 behind Streak. By saying he is our number 2, you are saying he is in our best ever 11.

[ZIMFAN]

Who was the third? Us, WI and ..?
Again hindsight but agree wholeheartedly. We were two batters short. Larry was a gamble that didn't come off and again not sure whose decision that was and Welly just gets penned in. It's easy to criticise from the side lines and after the fact, but it did seem rather obvious.

This is so bitterly disappointing. We so needed to go this WC and expose our players to the Big Boys. Without playing these teams how are we going to improve? It's vexing.
It was likely to have been ugly if we struggled against Scotland and SL, but necessary.

Cricket is a game of such small margins. A tweak here and there and you can compete. Easier said than done though, those last few millimetres are not easy to achieve.

It's not going to be easy to pick ourselves up before this Afghan tour, but we must. A small consolation prize would be a win against them. We are mostly on the right track to improve, we must not lose sight of that. A long way to go, but we've most certainly taken the first steps.

Agree with all of this. Especially the last paragraph. 3rd one is Ireland.

[Googly]

Rightly or wrongly there's always a call for a coach's head.
It's generally done by management to distract from the fact that maybe it's their heads that are required on a platter.

Matsi works under and with DH and Kirby. Everyone there knows what they're doing and I'm sure preps were good.
At the end of the day when a player crosses the rope it's all on him, no excuses.

Cricket is a horrible sport, you're either hero or zero. It's about the only game thats completely individual and completely team at the same time. It can fry your brain.

[Googly]

Franchise starts shortly. Anyone had a net yet? Anyone been to gym or gone for a run?

[sam_ahm]

The biggest problem with all of us (ZC, Players, Fans) is that we dwell too much on what has happened instead of quickly looking to the future.

Yes I agree it is a huge set back but the same set back is faced by West Indies (2 time world champions), Ireland (started as one of the strongest contenders in the qualifier), one of Netherlands/ Scotland will face tomorrow and they won't even face a full member for years, Namibia (couldn't even make it to Qualifier). They are all planning for future tours and looking forward to improve.

Here we always see doom and gloom and blame game and we just think that the world has come to an end.

Why can't we focus on better FTPs, work out some more series with top nations now that Zimbabwe's reputation has improved, Plan out more A tours like the shaheens one, focus on further bringing overseas players into our domestic competitions, just look to the future.

The thread is on "where to from now" And we are focussed on what went wrong!

What has happened has happened. We always knew it won't be easy, it is cut throat, we knew all this.

[Googly]

100%

[jaybro]

“Chatara doesn’t have credits in the bank”

He has 195 international wickets ffs

And if you ain’t giving him credit because he hasn’t played the big teams as often, I guess BT, Williams, Ervine, Jarvis, Cremer & Raza don’t get the credits either cause they haven’t played England either?

Bore off, next