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The John Ward column

Zimbabwe Cricket Forum 64 posts 92 views

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ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer

Opening post

My question: if Taylor doesn't get a new contract with Notts after this season, do you think he would come back to Zimbabwe given his main gripe was a lack of fixtures?
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
ZCF Hall of Famer
Hey keep it to English, we can't all speak black !
ZCF Hall of Famer
Gotcha nyama is to braai (barbecue). Mbudzi is goat, wasn't difficult to figure out.
Legend
Questions for John Ward:

1. Does a player like Remembrance Nyathi (aged 30, batting ave of 19 & 22 in FC & List A, bowling ave over 30s in both formats) add any value to Zimbabwean cricket ?

2. What's your view about Rhinos opener Bothwell Chapungu (aged 29, List A ave 12 after 49 matches) ?

3. How the domestic under performers can be identified ? What can be done to replace them with promising young fresh blood ? What's the pathway, any development measures or development contract ?

Thank you eugene.
ZCF Hall of Famer
Hey Eugene can we ask John what he thinks or knows about the 'marginalisation' of Elton Chigumbura ??

The questions are is it his decision or the coaches that he doesn't bowl and is playing as a specialist number 7 batsman ??

It just seems odd that when he bowls he usually takes wickets and his 3 highest scores have come batting @4 yet he doesn't bowl and bats at 7 or 8 .....

Thanks .....
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
Triangle is still in good shape. The sugar lands are one of the few industries working at anything like normal.
The Third Innings
Veteran
What does John Ward think about Zimbabwe's spin bowlers right now...

Back in the day we always used 2 Paul Strang with Andy Whithall or Adam Huckle...

Why is Cremer the only true spin bowler in the squad all the time...

welly & Chisoro are options
Legend
Questions for John Ward:

1. What are the reasons of M Waller & H Masakadza failure in recent home tests ?

2. What will be your 15 man squad of Zimbabwe for the ODI tri series ?

Thank you eugene.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
1. What are the reasons of M Waller & H Masakadza failure in recent home tests ?

It looked to me as if Malcolm was a bit too impulsive and needs to work the ball around more, but he is certainly short of match practice in first-class cricket, as is Hamilton. I wonder if Hamilton is struggling under the responsibilities he feels.

2. What will be your 15 man squad of Zimbabwe for the ODI tri series ?

That I can’t answer in a hurry and will have to think over, but certainly I would include Malcolm in the ODI squad as he is always capable of a devastating innings, and Hamilton is just too good to drop.
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
Senior 33 yo batters with 150 intl caps shouldnt use pressure as an excuse. Wickets were flat and minus Herath it was a 3rd string SL attack. Also had some A team exposure before every recent series if I am not mistaken.

Ervine, Moor, Chari, can claim that except all 3 scored runs at some point.

Raza, Musakanda, even brother Shingi would do much better.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Legend
Questions for John Ward:

1. Is there any upcoming fixture of Zimbabwe on the pipeline you are aware of ? Which team it can be against ?

2. How do you evaluate the performance of Zimbabwe on the recently concluded test vs SL & tri series ? What are the areas of improvement ?

Thank you eugene.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
1. Is there any upcoming fixture of Zimbabwe on the pipeline you are aware of ? Which team it can be against ?

I gather there are plans to tour Sri Lanka next June, but nothing before then yet.

2. How do you evaluate the performance of Zimbabwe on the recently concluded test vs SL & tri series ? What are the areas of improvement ?

I think on the whole there is some improvement in the team performance, but it is still inconsistent, and they were very lucky to make the tri-series final.

Tarisai Musakanda showed real promise when he was belatedly put in the team, and I would have said the return of Vitori was a great plus — except that his action is causing problems again! I hope Chatara and Panyangara can get fit before (if) we go to Sri Lanka!

There are more good spells of batting, bowling and fielding, but they still need to put it all together over long periods of time, not just in short-lived bursts.

It must also be remembered, as far as the Test matches are concerned, the Zimbabwe players are badly out of practice in the longer version of the game, most of them having played very little first-class cricket over the last two seasons due to zipping all over the world for one-day series and tournaments — and people wonder why they struggle so much in Test cricket!
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
Veteran
Cephas is considered a very destructive one-day specialist in Zimbabwe, and he is certainly a very talented hitter. He hasn't done much in first-class cricket even when selected, and I think he suffers from the negativity of so many Zimbabwean coaches who get hold of superb natural hitters like Cephas and Sikandar Raza, and try to turn them into solid batsmen who build long innings - fair enough for most batsmen,

Why is Cephas Zhuwoo not in squad while we have to watch the Chari's pathetic performance..
Legend
Question for John Ward:

Do you know have Ryan Burl, Kyle Bowie, Deven Bell, Craig Dollar signed a franchise contract or not ? What do you think about their future in Zimbabwean cricket ?

Thank you eugene.
ZCF Hall of Famer

Mueddie28 wrote:Cephas is considered a very destructive one-day specialist in Zimbabwe, and he is certainly a very talented hitter. He hasn't done much in first-class cricket even when selected, and I think he suffers from the negativity of so many Zimbabwean coaches who get hold of superb natural hitters like Cephas and Sikandar Raza, and try to turn them into solid batsmen who build long innings - fair enough for most batsmen,

Why is Cephas Zhuwoo not in squad while we have to watch the Chari's pathetic performance..


Cehpas Zhuwao in 2008 was more hopeless than Chari is now. He was never going to make it at international level.

I remember him swinging and missing throughout the whole tournament in the now famous Al Barakah T20. He couldn't even buy a run against Canada.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
Get him in the team!
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
Sounds like Musakanda might have some talent to him after all. He is very young and was out-scoring almost all the seniors.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Legend
Am I the only one here who is keeping John Ward busy ? :o

C'mon guys fire in some questions, he has wealth of knowledge & love to read his in depth views.

Questions for John Ward.

1. What's your view on the selected 16 man test squad vs Sri Lanka ? What will be your XI for the 1st test ?

2. What's your view on the recent appointment of Heath Streak as head coach ? What are the areas which require immediate fix by him as a head coach ?

Thank you eugene.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
What's the chances of Brendan Taylor coming back after his stint with Nottingham has concluded?
ZCF OriginalVeteran
how would you rank our First Class system compared to other test playing nations? and what would you suggest we do to increase the quality of the system with the limited resources we have?are you for more teams or less?.
ZCF Hall of Famer
For John Ward:

- How's cricket going in the rural areas? Do any of the old and historical sports/country clubs still put a team together? Do they still have grounds in reasonable conditions?

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