A good old fashioned team talk

I don't refuse. Pick Querl, but pick Chatara as well! That's all I'm saying.

First of all Querl needs to commit and present himself to ZC as available for selection, not the other way round. Even if he must make noises via the media(journalists, FB, twitter, etc). After all it's easy for these guys to insult ZC, professionalism, living and working cricket conditions in Zim, and even prematurely refuse to play for Zim via the same channels. So why no use them the opposite direction!? You guys don't seem to have a problem when it's done in a negative light. Let him take the initiative.

ZC should not court players who have the luxury of a choice between residence and club cricket in the UK, or staying and fighting for a place in Zim. There's simply an abundance of untried choices in seamers who are competent, do not/will never have that same luxury of choice, have been busting their backsides year after year and will be committed to Zim in the long-term(Tiripano, Chatara, Chinouya, Chinyoka), plus more coming through(Musoko, LTGM). Certainly better than the current lot and most India&SL are looking forward to in my opinion.

Only way to find out if Mupariwa can still cut it is to select him eugene(as indeed Eddie & Tinashe)! They've done the hard yards locally and continue to prove that they're good enough, more than than the incumbents in most instances, and Mupariwa happens to have an impressive track record behind him.

I've always said these guys did better when they were younger, they continue to do better when they are older. On the other hand, the incumbents did poorly when they were younger, unsurprisingly then, they continue to do poorly now. Considering what facts show, it follows then that their overall output can justifiably be expected to be less. Disprove that statistically - u19 - FC - international cricket!

You would have to be a madman to argue that at the rate our special u17-19s have been going , they stand a better chance of doing better than previous generations going forward. They are actually in their prime, and should be at the forefront of our national team right now! Just like in the u19 WC, I don't see why Eddie&Tinashe shouldn't be bowling to Cook, Watling, Flynn, Patel, Paine, Bopara etc next time around.

Jemisi wrote:I do believe Duffin is the best reserve for Mawoyo, but we just don't have any depth in our opening stocks for what you suggest. Great, develop them, but for now Vusi needs to stay up there.

Duffin and Vermeulen are better openers/top 3 batsmen than Hami, Vusi & Taylor. If that wasn't the case then Taylor wouldn't be quick to drop himself after series when he failed. Opened the batting during Bang ODI Series and got scores of 10,3,4,106,0, then the first thing he does when Pakistan came was drop himself to 4th in ODIs, and even opted to continue in 4th and bat lower than Cephas Zhuwawo in T20s!

Duffin & mark would never ask to bat lower than Chibhabha and Cephas because they can't handle the heat!

My view is Vusi will not succeed if he persists opening! He's a very gifted batsmen who has a wide range of shots and is eager to score via them as soon as possible. That's always been the case with him - play pretty shots opening and get out in the teens or twenties. The difference now is he's prolonged his stay, but countless times even in domestic cricket, we've seen that he barely gets in. Perhaps people are looking for him to fail and get dropped, while their favourite players(Craig, Waller, Wiliams) slot into the middle order! I wonder if he will just be dropped or given an opportunity to bat at four as well. Oh and what of Tino if he fails opening, or Hami at 3?????

sloandog wrote:Mate who has a better chance of getting arguably the best test opener in the world out in Alistair Cook, Rainsford, Mupariwa and Panyangara, or bowlers who could make them hop about a bit in Jarvis, Vitori or even Chatara

I tend to agree with you! I also though Jarvis & Vitori made the Pakistanis hop around the crease during the competitive test match. Definitely a whole lot more than Rainsford did in the tour match in which the visiting batsmen traditionally tend to relax, score heavily and retire 'hurt'!

Recent memory tells me the New Zealand top order had no idea what hit them once Brendan Taylor put them in! At their freshest, they were really threatening that frightening 128kph barrier and causing all sorts of problems. So impressive were the verdicts at various breaks that things couldn't have been more promising:

"Zimbabwe have really wasted the new ball and have not created enough opportunities or built up enough pressure. Their skipper will be especially disappointed after winning the toss and bowling first"

"Brendan Taylor and Zimbabwe will be bitterly disappointed with how this opening session went, they have really wasted the new ball and the pitch, despite having some green on it, looks to be another typical McLean Park batting beauty"

Zimbabwe have come back into the match with two wickets due mostly to batsman error rather than threatening bowling

"Zimbabwe briefly perked up during that phase(i.e. Shingi) but otherwise were generally pretty insipid"

Once again I'll quote the very encouraging assessment of the reporter at the end of the day:

Swing was neither prodigious, nor the pace unsettling from Jarvis and new-ball partner Brian Vitori, who at times went searching for ambitious outswing on leg-stump only to be picked through the on-side methodically by Guptill in particular. Debutant Shingi Masakadza's introduction into the attack helped haul in a New Zealand run rate that at times touched 5.5 runs an over, as Masakadza persevered outside off stump, nibbling the odd delivery away from the right-handers.

Trully sloandog, your views and expectations of these two fellows are most justified! Gayle, Bravo, Chanders, Samules and even the young Powell have no idea what they're in for! ;)

foreignfield wrote:Vusi and Tino are the closest thing to a settled opening pair since I don't know ...

Since sides started sending us their 3rd choice set of opening bowlers!

Tino is more fluid than most of you think, and a Duffin on debut has handled a Zaheer Khan at his zenith, much better than Taylor & Hami did. Vusi has been a very distant 2nd best as well, while his ODI average has only just crept ahead of Duffin recently.

A look at the last 30 domestic innings opening in FC & ListA would reveal Duffin as being far ahead by a considerable margin!