2nd Test WI vs Zimbabwe at Roseau, Mar 20-24, 2013

[foreignfield]

Those calling for Mushangwe, it is worth poining out that he has gone at 4 rpo in the Logan Cup this year. Clearly he showed a lot of potential in the ODIs, but I would like to see him play some 4-day cricket at A-team level (maybe the Bangladesh warm-up match) before he is thrown into a test match.

That's common sense.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Natural order has been restored with Taylor being our leading run scorer (for the first time this series I think), but you'd hope that our top scorer would be getting more than 33. It's not going to trouble too many Test sides.

At least he had a plan against Shillingford, which is more than can be said for the others. Taylor has really become quite a good exponent of the sweep shot compared to a few years ago; it's a side of his game that he's developed well probably thanks to Twenty20 believe it or not (I don't rate T20 cricket highly in so far as developing good technique). Unfortunately the reverse sweep was his downfall today; poor shot selection on that occasion I think. An orthodox forward defence looked the more appropriate option. Hopefully he does alright in the second innings to provide some momentum going into the Bangladesh series.

I didn't see any of the bowling effort but I'm glad that Jarvis picked up more wickets. He's been the one bright spot from this Test series. Cremer needs wickets - it's psychologically a test for him now. We've seen him in enough ODIs to know that he can bowl a tight line, he can bowl economically, he can bowl wicket taking balls. We saw the turn Shillingford was getting; one good spell from Cremer could get his head in the right place, and he could have a field day on this pitch.

With such a pathetic first innings total, the game is all but gone. But we can still take something out of this match. If Cremer ended with 4/60, if Jarvis got another 5-fer, if Chatara had a brilliant spell... all are good boosts heading into the next series. And we've obviously got another chance to bat - someone needs to stand up and make a big score. Waller's Test spot is in doubt, a big score from him would put him back on the right track. Sibanda is fast becoming one for making starts and not pushing on - he might be one breakthrough innings away from becoming the beacon of consistency we need at the top of the order. Masakadza and Taylor both are capable of big hundreds, we know that. Ervine, without being poor, is still yet to dominate at Test level. Even a solid half-century from Cremer would be timely. There are so many things that could still happen in this match which would mean this tour hasn't been a total waste of time. Let's hope there's still time for at least one of these things...

[Ming]

Chatara, you beauty!

[Trevor]

Does anyone have a working link?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

If we work together we might be able to find something. It looks like Supersports 5 (South Africa) has it live (http://www.supersport.com/aa.aspx?t=spo ... &view=full) - so if someone can find a link for SS5.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

This took a bit of effort to find: http://1tvlive.in/ten-sports/

[Trevor]

Thanks..

[CrimsonAvenger]

Extremely impressed by Chatara's first spell, Gayle and Chanders had absolutely no answers there.

[aydee]

First test wicket for Utseya... Doesn't quite sound right that, does it?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

It's a bit of an injustice that Utseya got a wicket with that delivery while Cremer was dropped off a textbook leg-spinners wicket to the LH batsman
At least we have made the breakthrough though
What a catch by Jarvis!

First test wicket for Utseya... Doesn't quite sound right that, does it?

It took him 9 years!