Dean Du Plessis in Herald: Will Zim overcome spinners?

[CrimsonAvenger]

http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=19699&cat=5

THE Zimbabwe national team will be bracing themselves as they once again embark on what has now become a yearly trip to Bangladesh where they will take on the ever-improving Bangladesh in five One-Day Internationals.

The Tigers will still be on a high after outplaying New Zealand in a five match ODI series — winning four of the five matches with the third match having been rained out without a ball being bowled.

Shaqibalal Hassan’s men are making great strides in all forms of cricket and the skipper is setting the tone by leading from the front with both bat and ball.

So where do Zimbabwe’s strengths lie and how will they be able to outclass this competitive team in its own conditions?

The tourists are fortunate enough to have four quality spinners in former captain Prosper Utseya, Raymond Price, Graeme Cremer and Greg Lamb.

The difference is that the Bangladesh spin attack are wicket taking bowlers who consistently keep batsmen under pressure with their relentless accuracy, their change of pace and their ability to get the odd ball to turn and bounce.

Zimbabwe will be looking to their captain Elton Chigumbura to match his counterpart with both bat and call.

This may be problematic as the captain has found himself struggling with the ball since the Tri-Series which was held earlier this year featuring the hosts, India and Sri Lanka.

Therefore, Chris Mpofu, who has had several trips to the sub-continent, will have to stand up and be counted in the seam department and lead from the front and impart all the experience to a young and very inexperienced seam attack which includes Keegan Meth, Ryan Butterworth, and the talented but raw pace of Shingi Masakadza.

Despite the fact that the likes of Tatenda Taibu, Hamilton Masakadza and, in particular Brendon Taylor, have scored runs for the national side of late, it is no secret that all the batsmen have found the going extremely tough when facing any one of the left-arm spinners on offer.

I also believe that both Keegan Meth and Ryan Butterworth should count themselves fortunate to be in the national side as there is a huge difference between 50-over and 20-over cricket.

India made the fatal mistake of sending out a side that was pretty much made up of young players that did well in the IPL but soon discovered that a huge mistake was made as they were only able to win one match against Sri Lanka and not make the final of the Tri-Series.

It will also be interesting to see how Meth will deal with the quicker arm ball which got him out on two occasions in the recently concluded Stanbic Twenty20 series.

However, he is a ferocious striker of a cricket ball and could very well take some of the pressure off the shoulders of Elton Chigumbura in the final overs.

On a brighter note there is no doubt that all the cricket lovers in Zimbabwe will be filled with delight with the inclusion of the skilful wicketkeeper-batsman Regis Chakabva.

This dynamic little player has the ability to score at a run a ball and rotate the strike with good aggressive running between the wickets and is more than capable of increasing the run rate with good clean hitting down the ground and over mid-wicket.

Brendon Taylor will have fond memories of the ground in Chittagong where a memorable score of 118 not out got the team to a total of respectability.

Regardless of the series outcome this trip will be a learning curve for everybody as they prepare for the World Cup.

One thing that is certain is that every time Elton Chigumbura and his team cross the boundary line to take on the Tigers, Zimbabweans can rest assured that every man will give his very best as they do battle against a well-oiled machine.

l Dean du Plessis, a rare blind cricket commentator who is regarded as an authority on Zimbabwean cricket, writes exclusively for The Saturday Herald and you can follow his weekly columns in this newspaper. You can contact Dean on — deanduplessis@econetmobile.co.zw

An insightful article, as you can expect from Dean. Well, he mentions Greg Lamb's name. Was he drafted into the touring party at the last minute?

[ZIMDOGGY]

rubbish article.

Why?

he disrespected the Meth.

Questioned his ability against the quick ball....



people have been killed for less.

[eugene]

No one takes on Meth and wins.

[sloandog]

rubbish article.

Why?

he disrespected the Meth.

Questioned his ability against the quick ball....



people have been killed for less.

No one takes on Meth and wins.

[Eshen]

The tourists are fortunate enough to have four quality spinners in former captain Prosper Utseya, Raymond Price, Graeme Cremer and Greg Lamb.

So, Lamb is in the team? Instead of Dabengwa?

[eugene]

I think Dabengwa is still there, he just wasn't mentioned as a quality spinner because he isn't.

[sloandog]

I think Dabengwa is still there, he just wasn't mentioned as a quality spinner because he isn't.