How will Zimbabwe fare in the World Cup?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I was about to post this in the Masakadza thread:

The first eleven being:

1 Brendan Taylor
2 Charles Coventry
3 Sean Williams
4 Tatenda Taibu
5 Craig Ervine
6 Sean Ervine
7 Elton Chigumbura
8 Graeme Cremer
9 Prosper Utseya
10 Ray Price
11 Chris Mpofu

Others: Ed Rainsford, Regis Chakabva, Chamu Chibhabha, Greg Lamb

But then I got to thinking more seriously about the World Cup. With Australia's current form, it seems to open the group up a bit as they are a more attractive proposition than South Africa, England and a full strength India. If Zimbabwe was able to beat an in-form Australia in 2007 then what's to say they couldn't repeat it given Australia's current predicament?

Then there is Canada in the 2nd game...

New Zealand are next up. They haven't exactly been world beaters lately, and while they would be firm favourites they haven't shown themselves to be any more competent in the subcontinent than Zimbabwe has... Probably a bit of a grudge match too with NZ's reluctance to tour, a comprehensive Zim win would provide ample sledging ammunition for future ODIs

Then Sri Lanka. I can't see this being a potential win to be honest.

The fifth match is against Pakistan... they are so hot and cold who knows which Pakistan team will show up on the day.

And an ageing Kenya to finish off.

If Zim can't beat both of the associates, it will seem all of the progress of recent years will have gone down the drain. They are two matches Zim is expected to win. Out of the full members, I think the Sri Lanka game is the only one where we look to be in serious trouble. Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia are all beatable although tough asks.

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

I love your 1 and 2 batsmen-Taylor and Chappie. Zimbabwe will clinch their birth in the QF on 4th March by thumping Kiwis. On the same day, in the D/N, Gayle under lights will dash the hopes of Bangladesh batting 2nd. We will male it to the QF for sure and loving the prospect of a nail-biter against low-on-morale Aussies. With Pakistan, if our batsmen fire then there is no way why we cant beat them. Our spin-quartet will be more in news then Bangladesh's fore sure. Keeping fingers crossed for Sean

[eugene]

I think Zimbabwe's results will be:

loss to Australia
beat Canada
beat New Zealand
loss to Sri Lanka
loss to Pakistan
beat Kenya


I think the biggest game will be against New Zealand. That will decide our fate. If we lose to Canada or Kenya we may as well shut this forum down and find something else to do with our spare time.

[sloandog]

I think our 15 man squad is strong, but it could have been stronger.
I.e leaving out Sibanda for Butterworth.

But all in all in reckon it's a decent selection.
In terms of how we will do, that will depend on which Zimbabwe will turn up.
You could compare Zimbabwe with Pakistan in some ways. We beat India and Sri Lanka in our tri-series, we get smashed in the T20, we win against, Bangladesh, then lose 4 on the trot ! It's risky to predict results when it comes to Zimbabwe.
We know the players have the talent, but do they have the mental toughness to overcome that last hurdle, the hurdle Grant Flower spoke about in his interview.

ut if i was to predict as to how we would play, i reckon we'd:

Beat an ageing Kenya. hey stuck with the old tried and tested in Obuya, Odoyo, Tikolo etc, and i think in doing this they've sealed their own fate.

Lose to Pakistan, who again are very hot and cold, but with Shoiab Akhtar, Yousuf, Younis Kahn and Afridi they have match winners throughout their squad. It'll be a tough game for us, but I'd love to be proved wrong.

Beat Canada with ease. Even in 2006 when we had such a poor side me consistently scored 300+ against them. John Davison, Geoff Barnett and Ian Bilcliffe are not in the squad either, so that'll damage their already fragile batting.

Beat New Zealand. If we play how we played in the tri-series we will beat the black caps. They have some good players, but a lot of them (Southee, Williamson, Mckay) haven't been playing international cricket for long, therefore the unity won't be as strong as ours. We have the players, it's time to 'toughen up' as Grant Flower would say

Lose to a very strong Sri Lanka. We could give them a good run for their money, but they have such a strong line up i think it's going to be tough to beat them. But who knows, Taylor and Coventry could repeat their past success, and Mazakadza jnr and Mpofu could rip through their order. Cricket is so fickle, so you just never know.




Exciting times ahead !

[eugene]

The NZ game is key. I think it could go either way. NZ tend to play very well in World Cup's and now with John Wright as coach should be much improved.

[zimwon-olready]

I think we hav a gaood chance of going thru, Kenya & Canada are must wins for us. We simply should win these two matches. With a bit of strategy we should at least beat Australia or Nzealand. We need to field our three spinners plus Mpofu especially against Nzealand who struggled to play spin in Bangladesh. Its good our first match is against Aussie, we need to shock them before they even think about coming back strong.

Pakistan & SriLanka are tough teams in subcontinent conditions. We will have to bank on the inconstency of Afridi and team but as far long as i can remember Pakistan have consistently beaten us. I think we have a better chance of beating SriLanka than Pakistan. Overally i think we will qualify to the next round.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I love your 1 and 2 batsmen-Taylor and Chappie.

Thanks Dr Situ, I think Coventry would adapt well. If it eventuated I would be surprised though. It seems with Masakadza out of the picture the selectors are trying to give Chibhabha the confidence to make the opening position his own without worrying about a challenger from within the squad. I can understand the reasoning behind this, but it concerns me that so much faith is being put in a batsman who averages 20 after 5 years on the circuit and no centuries or otherwise standout performances to show for it. At number three? Absolutely, he averages nearly 30 there and has always looked at home batting at one down. Having said that, Williams should get first crack...

[sloandog]

Williams should get first crack.
I still think he's one of our best batters, and along with Craig Ervine and Taibu he could rotate the strike nicely during the middle of the innings

[jimbo]

I like the Idea of Charles Coventry opening the batting with Taylor the more I think about it. He could really hurt a team during the opening power play overs.

But coventry is not a test player, keep him away from that arena for the time being

[sloandog]

Ya but would the selectors have the balls to try that combination ??
If it fails his career may be over....