Taibu bounces back to play in Sri Lanka

eugene wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:17 am

Taibu was a class batsmen. His average would have been much higher was he not surrounded by a team that was falling apart in his prime batting years. Once the rebel saga happened, Taibu was basically our lone international-calibre player for a while.

There’s just as strong an argument that he could succeed. Without pressure because of the crap around him. No pressure for his spot. Take his time...

Without pressure?! Taibu had the most pressure on him of any international cricketer. If he failed, the team failed, if the team failed its very existence was brought into doubt. Not to mention his bosses were thugs and the country was a trainwreck.

eugene wrote: ↑Fri Jan 25, 2019 10:49 pm

Without pressure?! Taibu had the most pressure on him of any international cricketer. If he failed, the team failed, if the team failed its very existence was brought into doubt. Not to mention his bosses were thugs and the country was a trainwreck.

I was debating this with my friend who’s a semi pro cricketing batsman.

He said it’s always easier for him to bat when he’s played with a team full of spastics. He has no pressure for his spot, he has no pressures usually in terms of pacing and can get his eye in, if he fails, hes just one of 6 failures - it’s more embarrassing to get a duck when 5 other guys got 50s.

Even myself when I look back at last years seasn, the two fifties I made were both when I came in at 5/20 type scores, I had time on my side to build an innings and I just felt so much better the team had nothing to lose at that point. One of the games I came in at 5/27 and got 60* and chased down the 222 score with one wicket to spare. I just sat there and knocked it around a couple of singles an over

Just 7 with the bat and 3 catches in the latest outing.

Updated Stats since comeback:

Matches: 7

Innings: 10

Runs: 263

Avg: 26.3

Catches: 19

Stumpings: 1

Wickets: 3

I want him to get that next stumping!

Taibu not in the XI today. Possibly an injury as he did not bat in the second dig of the last game too.

For Taibu to be that long out of cricket and do anything useful at all shows he’s a damned good player.

jaybro wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 10:13 am

Has a player ever held a position in the selection panel only to be selected years later in test cricket?

Seems absurd and shows what a mess Zimbabwe cricket is, Tibba should never have retired and I think you fellas are right he regrets it.

No point bringing him back IMO the side is already too old.

I think some early England tours may qualify here when things were more fluid.

Everybody here is giving Taibu jip, calling him just a 'good batter'. I thought he was brilliant with the bat and really was a quality player. His wicket keeping was, and probably still is, better than Taylor, Moor and Chagabva for sure. Ian Healy really rated Taibu's glovework if i recall correctly. The fact he's come from the wilderness and put up these stats really does say a lot about his ability.

Are we looking at different stats?

He's averaging 28 in a fairly weak FC league with no half centuries from 9 innings. As a former Test captain that's a little bit underwhelming.

With that all said, it is impressive that he returned after so many years and has settled in. And if you popped Chakabva (for example) in that same league I wouldn't bet on him bettering Taibu's average of 28.

Don't get me wrong, I think he is/was a good player. I just think we overrated him in the late 2000s because our batting was so weak at the time.

He's probably still in our top 7 batsman, but Ray Price is probably still in our top 5 bowlers - it's an indictment on the state of Zim cricket these days.

My memory of Taibu was that of a quick, mobile gloveman who could do some flashy things but also make some basic mistakes. Still world class or close to it with ten gloves.

Batting, he was a 27/28 type batter. Probably the best equivalent to today would be a Hammy, although Hammy and Taibu have different styles. On batting alone he wouldn’t make the current test side I don’t think. Hammy beats him in a photo finish.

What he DID have, was plenty of fight. That’s sorely missed. He often stood up when others failed and that’s a quality we haven’t seen in a long time. The black players especially have been criticised for having their heads down giving up too early in Zim (although I’d argue the modern day whites aren’t much better) but this was no the case with Taibu. He saved his best for when he was needed.

TapsC wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 2:37 pm

In my opinion a batsman peaks from their late 20s to mid 30s where experience meets talent. So unfortunately I think Taibu actually lost the best cricketing years of his life when he retired. Just look at how confident BT is now at that peak age.

He had the determination to have been world class. People forget that he was the actual player of the tournament at the u19 world cup. Thats how good he was. I dont see any zim player achieving that any time soon.

Yeah agree completely

Also Taibu started very much as a ‘keeper’ batting as low as 9 or maybe even 10, I remember watching him the VB Tri Series in 2003/04 his numbers were very low in the mid teens, so the fact he got his average up to nearly 30 shows he was a good bat.

If he hadn’t stopped playing in 2012 I see no reason why he wouldn’t still be the keeper batsman in all 3 formats.