[Match Thread] Tuskers vs Mountaineers (Logan Cup)

[FlowerPower]

Meth doing his chances of a seat on the plane to NZ no harm, 3 wickets of 5 so far... Shingi and Chatara also getting 3 apiece...

[Flower power]

Both bowling attacks look solid. Manicas have three good seamers and two solid slow bowlers. Tuskers have a form opening pair and good support.

This all being evidence that the standard of cricket is moving in the right direction .....twitches are needed for teams like Rocks to even make it better .

[Tom91]

Another fiver for Querl, the mountaineers have slipped to 126/9.

[FlowerPower]

This boy may not be that good in the T20 Circus stuff, but boy this is what? the third/fourth fiver in the proper cricket for Querl...there is competition for places in the horizon, and this can only bode well for our FC and national team, Vitori, Jarvis, Meth, Mpofu, Querl, Chatara, Masakadza, Rainsford, Ncube, Panyngara, good luck Streak, 10 into 3...should be fun...

PS hhm I did not say they are world class, but from our pool these guys are brilliant...

[takleg]

Querl is really doing well. Just hope he doesn't do a Sean Ervine on us.

Back to this game, I think the likely result here is a draw unless maybe if the goats have a serious batting collapse tomorrow

[betterdays]

Querl is really doing well.

Has his action never been called into question?

[betterdays]

the T20 Circus stuff,...

again with that fair enough, you're not a fan.

...but this circus stuff will very probably be the first cricket in Zim to turn any sort of profit ... and may end up being the only way cricket (in Zim, if not everywhere) survives financially in future. As to whether it exposes 'real' cricketing talent is debatable but certainly Warner will be an advocate and it was no surprise that the best bowlers in the world were the best in T20 ... and the best T20 bat (Gayle) is no slouch at ODIs and Tests...

anyway, wrong thread. Duffer should - around now - be returning form his early shower to watch the rest of the show...

[takleg]

I really expected the blues to get to the close of play without losing a wicket, but Tiripano had other plans. Any one of the three results are still very much possible.

[hhm]

Rain has well and truly let the Mountaineers off the hook!

Tiripano has resumed his battle with Horton, getting him out for a low score for the third time out of 4 innings this season! Disappointed Duffin didn't kick on. With nothing to play for it would have been helpful if he stuck around to make abig one. Still, all the Mountaineers batsmen(including Hamilton)would've learnt a lot from him(&Horton) based on his play in the first innings. He scored more runs than all their batsmen, but that's not the point, the key being that he faced a lot of balls and softened up the bowlers, which our rusty middle order(Ewing&Keith due to no time in the middlle leading up to and during the T20) failed to take advantage of.

Along with giving bowlers short spells in matches, a lot of things upset me about the way we go about things. One of them is nightwatchmen. All batsmen need to take responsibilty instead of sending tailenders to bat a time which demands the abilities of proper batsmen! It's pity many in international cricket subcribe to the use of nightwatchmen. Little can be done to change that bbut what we certainly can do is insist that all batsmen who qualify to play for our national team will only be picked if they bat in positions 1-4! Many of our batsmen are poor against the new ball yet they continue to hide away from it(claiming they want to protect the midlle order), but considering we're more prone to collapses than the almost all the other teams, they expect to do better at international level!

Another misconception is the belief that you can send the likes of Dabengwa up the order so they can increase the run rate. That should be an opportunity for our best batsmen to show how adaptable they are. After all, our ODI side usually mirrors our Test side, so if Logan Cup performances give them more weight towards the Test and ultimately the DI side, they might as well prove it at that stage!

In both their use oof nightwatchmen, plus elevating Dabengwa(&Chari) the Tuskers have failed me!

Anyway, at least it's good that they find time to give the youngsters a chance! Despite a feeling that we're lagging behind we actually have the best at the moment - Ncube, Meth&Querl not to mention Mpofu who's the leader of our attack!

[FlowerPower]

the T20 Circus stuff,...

again with that fair enough, you're not a fan.

...but this circus stuff will very probably be the first cricket in Zim to turn any sort of profit ... and may end up being the only way cricket (in Zim, if not everywhere) survives financially in future. As to whether it exposes 'real' cricketing talent is debatable but certainly Warner will be an advocate and it was no surprise that the best bowlers in the world were the best in T20 ... and the best T20 bat (Gayle) is no slouch at ODIs and Tests...

anyway, wrong thread. Duffer should - around now - be returning form his early shower to watch the rest of the show...

You got that right definitely not a fan. No argument about the circus bringing home the bacon still hate it....Test any day...Warner and Gayle are exceptions rather than rules...and Warner has hardly mastered Test....no begrudging him his maiden 100...but face it one swallow hardly made a summer....