Zimbabwe lost technical battle to Bangladesh

[Detective RDS]

Link: http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/i ... bangladesh

Zim Lost Technical Battle to Bangladesh
Thursday, 20 August 2009 19:07

FOLLOWING the 4-1 series defeat to Bangladesh, Zimbabwe cricket coach Walter Chawaguta and captain Prosper Utseya came out for some criticism over their leadership style and technical aptitude.

Chawaguta put up impressive defences in press conferences each time his coaching was brought into question, suggesting how good an all-round coach he would be if his articulation was backed by a sound technical awareness.

His refusal to blame the bowlers was particularly surprising given that his frontline bowlers lacked firepower and penetration, to a great extent being responsible for the flying starts Bangladesh enjoyed in the series.

Chawaguta cited the good batting conditions at Queens Sports Club for the Tigers’ batting dominance rather than the lack of rhythm in his bowlers.

At this point it was put to him that wayward line and length is no excuse in any condition. He was also reminded that Bangladesh’s bowlers got their basics right by consistently putting the ball in the right areas and getting crucial breakthroughs.

His response was that there was nothing special about the Bangladesh bowlers, attributing their success to extra effort in the field and poor shot selection by the Zimbabwe batsmen.

That is not debatable. The batsmen played across the line too often in the top order, sometimes offering no shots at all which is suicidal cricket. But it raises more questions how the 36-year-old coach failed to find fault in his bowlers at the same time being critical of a batting line-up that clearly has improved, reaching the 300 mark twice and producing two centurions; one being Charles Coventry’s 194 not out, a record equalling highest ODI score in history.

“We are losing wickets,” Chawaguta said after the final match. “We can’t get momentum going. There are too many soft wickets at the top. It’s hard to build on that. We are not being tough enough. We need to find partnerships at the top. You can’t have the number three coming to face the new ball.”

The closest he came to fault the bowlers was: “We have to work harder for our wickets.”

Chawaguta’s assistant is Douglas Hondo, who is bowling trainer. Hondo, a pace bowler of modest talent with 59 ODI caps under his belt and still only 30, really should be competing with the likes of Tawanda Mupariwa and Eddie Rainsford for a place in the team and not trying to coach them.

With contracts said to be ending at the end of this month, it is something Zimbabwe Cricket can look at.

Captain Utseya, like his coach, also faced some tough questions.

“We could have done a lot better, we let ourselves down,” Utseya said.

“The only difference between us and Bangladesh was that they were smarter. The guys in form took them through. I’m not picking on Chopper (Coventry), but scoring 194 and then getting out for a duck next game is not consistent. Hamilton (Masakadza) also slowed down after scoring a century in the third match.

There has to be balance. We need that consistency.”

But the offspinner also cited inconsistency in the composition of the team as a major let–down.

“We are having new players every series. Mark (Vermeulen) and Chopper were returning to the team after a few years on the sidelines, while BT (Brendan Taylor) had not played for the team for a while. We are trying to build combinations. It takes time. The longer we stay together as a unit without losing players the better we will become.”


Positives


Zimbabwe lost this series not because of lack of potential and talent. It was a series they could have simply won had they corrected the above-mentioned technical flows.


The new competition for places is encouraging. Mark Vermeulen came back and hit 92 on his first match, although it turned out to be an innings of little significance. Then of course there was Coventry’s landmark innings. With more players expected to return, the competition can only get stiffer.


But at the same time, selection is a potential problematic area which must be handled with care.


One of the early cracks was the inclusion of Malcolm Waller, a player picked primarily for his batting, only to bat as low as number 8. His place could have gone to an extra bowler to boost the attack.


Due to the absence of this extra man, part-timers like Masakadza and Waller were given the ball, and needless to say, got the stick too.

By Enock Muchinjo

[alan132]

[quote="Detective RDS"]Link: http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/i ... bangladesh

[quote]

Zim Lost Technical Battle to Bangladesh
Thursday, 20 August 2009 19:07

[
[Captain Utseya, like his coach, also faced some tough questions.

“We could have done a lot better, we let ourselves down,” Utseya said.

“The only difference between us and Bangladesh was that they were smarter. The guys in form took them through. I’m not picking on Chopper (Coventry), but scoring 194 and then getting out for a duck next game is not consistent. Hamilton (Masakadza) also slowed down after scoring a century in the third match.

There has to be balance. We need that consistency.”

But the offspinner also cited inconsistency in the composition of the team as a major let–down.

“We are having new players every series. Mark (Vermeulen) and Chopper were returning to the team after a few years on the sidelines, while BT (Brendan Taylor) had not played for the team for a while. We are trying to build combinations. It takes time. The longer we stay together as a unit without losing players the better we will become.”



What a load of nonesense! What does he mean? Is being consistent scoring an ordinary 30 each game a la Matsikenyeri. I would have thought the batting efforts of Coventry/ Masakadsa were one of the highlights of the series. Scoring 0 can happen to any batsman, and is part and parcel of batting, but hardly any batsmen will ever get near scoring 194!!

The problem isn't about building combinations, it is picking unbalanced sides with places going to players who have only modest records. No other leading side, not even England goes into a ODI with so many part time bowlers!!

[bullseye28]

Despite all the criticism that is being meted out to Utseya & Co the fact of the matter is Shaqib's Captaincy and Self Belief brought the best out of his men who gave 100% and he also led from the front. When you have that kind of commitment from the team members the impossible becomes possible.

It is not the end of Zimbabwe. They have loads of talent. It is a matter of utilizing the talent in the right way.

Time to bury the past and start a new Chapter.

[Detective RDS]

Chawaguta’s assistant is Douglas Hondo, who is bowling trainer. Hondo, a pace bowler of modest talent with 59 ODI caps under his belt and still only 30, really should be competing with the likes of Tawanda Mupariwa and Eddie Rainsford for a place in the team and not trying to coach them.

With contracts said to be ending at the end of this month, it is something Zimbabwe Cricket can look at

I think it's the most important part of the article.

I was thinking about creating a thread about Hondo, why he isn't considered for national selection... For the fact he is the bowling/assistant coach of Zimbabwe ? So, he can't play for the national side ? It shouldn't be granted in any means.

After remaining in the sidelines for a couple of years due to injury, Hondo returned to the official cricket this year. I think, he did quite well in the Logan Cup and Faithwear to qualify for the national side. In this season, he took 12 wickets at 20.91, best 5/59 in FC matches and also took 7 List A wickets just at 18.57, best 3/18, econ 4.84

Since, the pace bowlers struggled against Bangladesh recently, I think Douglas Hondo deserves a chance at the top level. Then, he will be added with Mupariwa and Rainsford in the pace department. He is experienced with 59 ODI's and 9 tests under his belt and should carry on increasing the numbers.

[Tinashce Ruswa]

we need to Identify thinkers of the game to assist in the technical department.Evaluators of cricket scenarios and critical thinkers, now that we have identified the need lets sort it out and leave the players to playing the game. Howver I stand to be corrected Will go on record as say shout out to Eddy Rainsford..you did tell me that changes are happening in Zimbabwe cricket and I am seeing change and will assist in whatever capacity I can.....when I get back home to Zimbabwe in December, it is good to see change and I wish ZIMBABWE CRICKET all the best

[eugene]

Tinashce am I right in thinking you were the video analyst for the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy at one point or am I mistaken?

[Tinashce Ruswa]

Yeh I guess that was me mate, not for the academy as per say was with the national team back then.

[zimfan1]

Yeh I guess that was me mate, not for the academy as per say was with the national team back then.

Any plans to come back and get involved with the new franchise system?

[eugene]

Tinashce, perhaps you could give us some idea of your role as video analyst? What did your job entail? I would be interested to hear about your time with Zimbabwean cricket.

[Tinashce Ruswa]

Agh well you know technical analysis of players ours and opponents, techniques,mannerisms , attack plans employed by other successful teams against your opponents etc.i.e for the Bangladesh series I assume the current dude wud've had a look at their past years performances and through one way or the other obtained all of their video footage and the footage of their recent performers with key emphasis of technical analysis of the raw video footage that you would have obtained.

From that datd you have mined you are able to come up with model attacks and ternds that each player has had over the year showing the variances in performances , conditions etc and after putting into consideration the playing condidtions etc that you will be playing at i.e queens sports club you then come up with proactive measures to mitigate their attcaks and if possible counter attack their game plans and techniques such as to win the games.

as for our players the emphasis is the same build a raw video data library with consultation of the coaching staff such as to facilitate the studying of our own players identifying trends etc that are starting to develop in their games and look at how we can assist them at getting better and get them on a continuous analysis cycle such that even when they play in a national league games data and information is being collected so as to prepare the tactics etc when playing other teams..a scenario would've have been to get most guys to bat a lot against bowling machines bowling left arm spin and from there identify the lag between where we wanted to be against the Bangladesh spinners and where were actually are as a team and put in place measures to prepare us for the games.

All this happens of course with full consultation of the coaching staff and in a collaborative manner.It also involves looking at a lot of raw data in terms of facts and figures and putting it into a context that is cricket game specific..was nice actually had fun,but no different from any other mode of information systems analysis.

Well have spoken to Walter and some peeps all of whom in a friends capacity and will be home in December, will see what transpires when i get home ain't been there in a while soo??I can only make it then as I have commitments here that am working with at the moment, plus have the cricket season till Universities week Dec 09.