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What have we learnt from this tour

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Legend

Opening post


betterdays wrote:I have learnt to be vindictive. I noticed the calls for Ireland (and the stoping of zim) from the test fold. Today I'm enjoying the beating they're getting from Kenya.


Looks like an "interesting" pitch in Mombasa , 70 overs, 20 wickets, 19 wickets for the spinners, figures one would associate with pitches of the uncovered era. But maybe it's just poor batting.

Realistically, we're not much better than Ireland atm (or Afghanistan for that matter). I don't think test cricket will be sustainable or financially viable in Ireland, but we shouldn't adopt the same 'closed shop mentality' to the sides below us on the cricketing ladder that the big sides adopt towards us. As eugene said with regards to Bangladesh, we're basically in the same boat. India, England and Australia will only ever allow us below deck.
Veteran

foreignfield wrote:Realistically, we're not much better than Ireland atm (or Afghanistan for that matter). I don't think test cricket will be sustainable or financially viable in Ireland, but we shouldn't adopt the same 'closed shop mentality' to the sides below us on the cricketing ladder that the big sides adopt towards us. As eugene said with regards to Bangladesh, we're basically in the same boat. India, England and Australia will only ever allow us below deck.


I watch, and enjoy, ALL (forms and teams of) cricket but my passion lies above all with Zim, closely followed by BD & WI. I have no objection whatsoever for Ireland, Kenya and Afghanistan getting some recognition for their achievments but i have rushes of blood (i visited cricinfo and read comments saying the two teams you mentioned deserve a spot ahead of us - well, no, they don't!) when Zim bears the brunt for people's lack of perspective (perspective is something we have been dealt recently ... and so i get some 'ugly' pleasure from the fact that Ireland were being dealt a little themselves so those hoping to prove their point there were failing miserably). I'm not proud, but i was pleased.

I think despite the Zim team all being zimbabweans (and unlikely to attract the aus/sa-born players that Ireland do), we're still a fair bit ahead of Ireland both on the field and in the potential for systematic development. But i'll accept they're a lot closer to us on the field than we are to the top 8 nations at this point in time.

we're the Pakistan of the 'assossiates': we can lose whole teams and still beat most of those in our 'tier'
Veteran
Zim team needs major fielding drills
Veteran
We might get thumped by test nations but we wont be beatin by th associates
Legend

betterdays wrote:I have no objection whatsoever for Ireland, Kenya and Afghanistan getting some recognition for their achievments but i have rushes of blood (i visited cricinfo and read comments saying the two teams you mentioned deserve a spot ahead of us - well, no, they don't!) when Zim bears the brunt for people's lack of perspective


Yeah, I know that feeling. Better not to read any comments on Cricinfo. But I do have a soft spot for the Irish in all ways of live having spent some wonderful time there. And I respect the fact that Ireland is producing talent of their own, albeit with a little help from the Counties.

As it stands I have more sour grapes with the Dutch when it comes to poaching players. All the guys who play for Ireland have emigrated there not primarily for cricketing reasons, while ten Doeschate or Cooper have spent less time in the Netherlands in their entire lives than I have in, let's say China (been there for a fortnight). I riled me no end when, during the last WC, people who normally take no notice whatsoever of the lower echelos of the cricketing world (and that includes almost all international cricket pundits) were banging on about Netherlands having "overtaken" Zim or Bangladesh.
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I think we have learnt that we have one worldclass player who the opposition actually worry about - his name is Brendan Taylor. While his captaincy needs alot of work I believe he is the obvious/only choice to be captain. I remember in 1997 (i thinkit was 97) when Stephen Fleming was named NZ captain. His captaincy was a bit rough when he started but because he was the only standout batsman we had at the time who was going to be around for awhile he was the the obvious/only choice. I think Taylor, with assistance from Taibu and Price, can go on to become a captain. Everyone else in the side just needs to focus on their own form.
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

foreignfield wrote:I do have a soft spot for the Irish in all ways of live having spent some wonderful time there. And I respect the fact that Ireland is producing talent of their own, albeit with a little help from the Counties.

. All the guys who play for Ireland have emigrated there not primarily for cricketing reasons, .


i like the Irish too - and feel for them losing the cream to the counties (dockrel must be in someone's sights - ireland can be thankful England have two good spinners right now), I'll take your word that those blokes never went to Ireland for cricket as i've not checked. I just assumed with Van de Merves and Bothas that they're fairly recent emigrants and if they've made it to the side they must have had some hope that their cricketing prowess may take them somewhere...maybe not, but i harbour no ill-feelings towards them at all ...
Veteran

eugene wrote:I think we have learnt that we have one worldclass player who the opposition actually worry about - his name is Brendan Taylor.


I think we were more sure of that before this tour ...
Legend

betterdays wrote:

foreignfield wrote:i like the Irish too - and feel for them losing the cream to the counties (dockrel must be in someone's sights - ireland can be thankful England have two good spinners right now), I'll take your word that those blokes never went to Ireland for cricket as i've not checked. I just assumed with Van de Merves and Bothas that they're fairly recent emigrants and if they've made it to the side they must have had some hope that their cricketing prowess may take them somewhere...maybe not, but i harbour no ill-feelings towards them at all ...



Dockrell is contracted to Somerset and England are definitely keeping an eye on him for the future. They've already added Boyd Rankin to this winter's Lions squad. Van der Merwe emigrated to Ireland in 2004, started playing club cricket there 3 years later and only made his Ireland debut in 2010. Andre Botha has retired after the WC. A new addition to the squad is Max Sorensen, also a South African, but of whom I know nothing.
Veteran

betterdays wrote:

eugene wrote:I think we have learnt that we have one worldclass player who the opposition actually worry about - his name is Brendan Taylor.


I think we were more sure of that before this tour ...


I think that opposition is limited to NZ! That's the only team he can claim to have gotten on top of so far, and the only one at whose expense his reputation has grown! Of that Bangladesh & Pak can be witness, and they form two-thirds of the sides we've come against since we were in the spotlight(test return). With that kind of foundation, coming in at four in a home Test match, against tiring Bangladesh bowlers who are themselves of extremely poor quality(poor than our own) - that's the least we could've expected from a player of Taylor's calibre.

Vusi remains our catalyst. Taylor can be our Cook, but Vusi is our KP!
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