Durham tour of Zimbabwe

[TapsC2]

How good is Bennet’s twin? He chose to go to uni right?

[CalZim]

I thought we played better than I anticipated especially in the bowling department. Limiting them to 300 with that bowling attack is an achievement. Batting didn’t exactly crumble as well 170+ in both innings is okay.

Still need lots of work in terms of temperament but a great learning curve for these players.

Players that had an impact:
Campbell - thought he batted with a lot of confidence in the first innings, I have always been critical of him so I’m glad he has shown he has it in him against a stronger bowling attack.

Ndlovu - obvious one, he was the reason we skittled them for 300. Also batted really well. He reminds me of a younger version of Welly.

Nyauchi - looked a real threat with the new ball, good to see him with a bit of confidence again. His stats weren’t great but impressed with what I watched

Bennett- made a 50 but was only okay, his technique looks unorthodox but he made his runs, lots of hype around this guy.

Don’t want to be harsh on the guys that didn’t perform as it’s just one game, but I’d probably expect a bit more from Madande who has been a first teamer for a while now.

[Donald]

I think Chinouya and mcgini dube are now drafted in for second match.

Shumba and hamid as well as mufudza and chataira were the players warming the bench for this match.

[mnelson68]

The only positives out of this match were Bennett , Campbell and Ndlovu . Welch will be better for the run , Madande was dissapointing he is better than that performance.

[TapsC2]

Ainsley did impress but he is one of those guys who has a direct competitor. Sometimes you wonder how some of these guys would do if they were given a 10 game run in the team like their competition. He looked decent with the bat

[Kriterion_BD]

By all accounts he is not the brightest. He’s unlikely to figure it out himself but presumably the only coaching he gets is a few random directionless net sessions and some coaching from Matsikenyeri who has failed with almost every single one of our batters over the past five years.

The good news is that he has gone up a level this season in domestics and is now dominating. But like with literally all of our players, the step up to international is gigantic and he’s not getting the right preparation, which is a shame

I think this is an excuse. You don't need to have high or even average IQ to be a decent batter. Don Bradman probably wasn't smart enough to get a PhD.

Now batting IQ, is different. And its not that difficult. Most of the guys on this forum *know* that good batting involves having a decent techique, playing high percentage shots, taking advantage of the field by punishing bad balls, and doing your best to keep the intervening good ones out. Are most of the forumites high IQ individuals? Statistically speaking, we will be hovering within one standard deviation plus/minus of the mean IQ, which is 100.

What makes batting difficult except for an elite few is the skill needed to actually put those relatively simple basic principles into effect consistently.

Here's another example. The recently concluded U-19 world cup saw the US team play abysmally bad. The team is full of young Indian-American kids - in fact the entire squad of 15 is of Indian origin. That group is going to have an average SAT score of 1300 (the average score is 1050)...and thats at a bear minimum. In fact, a 1300 is the lowest score a brown kid can get and still show his face in public (I know because I was a lazy student and somehow managed to pull off a 1310). The average brown kid is scoring around 1400, and many are hitting 1500+.

Point being, despite being bright, the US U-19 team batted terribly against all opposition because they just didn't have the skills to compete at that level.

Are you telling me that Marumani is so dumb that he doesn't know that hitting the ball in the air directly to a fielder is a risky thing to do? Is that really the defense you're going to go with?

And if you're that not bright...coaching isn't going to help. Fixing a broken system can't help when you're struggling to get bat onto the ball.

[Pat_Bee]

Are you telling me that Marumani is so dumb that he doesn't know that hitting the ball in the air directly to a fielder is a risky thing to do? Is that really the defense you're going to go with?

Comment of the year that and it’s only February.

[Donald]

I would stick with Madande. He is a class player overall just looked a bit overawed with the occasion same as mpofu.
I don't believe mayavo would do any better. Michael Jones has a poor match thanks to Nyauchi but obviously we know he is a good player for Durham overall.
Would like to see Hamid get a shot and maybe Dube or Chaitara for Musoko. Chinouya can come in as the experience if they plan to rest Nyauchi and give others a go.

[Pat_Bee]

50 year old BT would have got about 300 against those Durham trundlers then retired injured at lunch.

Overawed by the occasion is jive talk yo. It’s far from teenage boys playing a Surrey or someone packed with superstar names. These are grown men, some with international experience and they are Durham who’ve been in Div2 for years.

[aydee]

Actually... that was a pretty disappointing performance, in my opinion. That was far from a full strength Durham side, with a lot of raw kids in their side. They are also straight out of UK winter and indoor nets, whereas all the Zim A side have been in good form in regular recent matches in home conditions. I honestly expected a little bit better.