Dave Houghton Head Coach

zimbos_05 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:13 am

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Sun Jun 19, 2022 2:53 pm

Always nice to read people slating your country 😂 I’m guessing one or two of the posters haven’t ever even been here 😂 😂

Not sure who this is aimed at, but I think the lack of honest reflection of Zim is one of the things holding it back.

As for the cricket, Houghton is in a very tight spot. The only players talked about as coming back are all white players. You just know if things don't work, ZC and their cronies will roll out the racism card yet again. We are in a cycle that is helpful to no one and the worst thing is that heaps of players are being lost to the game.

That's not strictly true. Muyeye and Matigimu have been spoken about at length. Muyeye has had quite a few opportunities at Kent and has only threatened to deliver. I see he's in the squad for today's T20. I really thought he would take to the T20 format, but the bowlers have kept him quiet so far.

They sit him out, then bat him up front, then sit him out when he doesn't do well. He must be starting to feel the pressure big time. They should try him down the order, but they are persisting with him at 1-3.

Matigimu is a mystery. I've heard he was waiting to become eligible, which must have happened. We're into winter so presumably when the SA season starts in Nov we will finally get to see the guy after him being off the radar for years.

I'm fairly sure DH has been told he has to stick with the locally based guys. Gov elections are next year and one of their key electioneering strategies is "we'll never be a colony again," so it would not be a good look to have even one white import. We're a Chinese colony already, but thats an awkward conversation 😂 And if we're not a Chinese colony we certainly all work for a political party bent on making themselves filthy rich at the population's expense.

One surely has to believe that our existing team will get us through these qualifiers. One has to assume Ngarava, Masakadza and Williams will be back in the fray to boost our team. You'd like to think they've taken a look at footage of the teams we are playing and they feel as confident as one can. The first major hurdle for DH are these qualifiers and will buy time if we cruise it. If they stumble here it will cause much anguish for all concerned.

Our batters need to be able to get us to 170 plus fairly consistently and they are not able to do that against tight bowling. We have to hope that the opposition bowlers are nowhere near the quality we've faced against SA A, Namibia or Afghanistan.

I have some reservations about Kaia trying to play an anchor role and chewing up deliveries. If they're bowling well and you cant get them away in the power play, that's one thing, but you just can't bat too conservatively or the team isn't going to get above 150 ever.

I'm hugely interested where Burl will bat. Presumably DH will have a say in the line up and if he stays at 7 or 8 then the couch expert that I think I am, I'm not! 😂 He has shown that he can play some shots, but when he comes down the order and has to hit he brings out this wristy cramped hoik across the line that looks s**t and frankly is s**t.

We've got Ervine, Kaia and perhaps Williams who don't get going quickly. All 3 of them up front are a liability unless there's a new strategy. Ideally you need to go at 7's or 8's minimum in the powerplay, that's the benchmark. Williams plays the laps and sweeps well and should surely be facing more of the spin. We don't have guys that are particularly strong behind square, he ticks that box.

It's going to be intriguing to see them play. It's such a pity we didn't get DH earlier against the better opposition to see if there was a noticeable difference. These teams will not be as good and with a few tweaks we should be OK, in theory 😂

Mumba smacked a full strength Namibia side last year when he was part of the Zim A team, and he did that quite consistently in that series. Something which current players couldn't do this year.

Tiripano can be a part of longer formats. Jongwe I'm not sure, but for T20s Mumba can be an option as a back up for Evans.

DH has really put himself in the firing line here, literally 😂.

We've had a lot of coaches over the years and there have been barely discernable differences. It's a game of millimeters and let's hope he does deliver.

I think he will have some constraints as to selection and perhaps even batting order. Does the captain get a say as to who's in the side?

It will be interesting if we see Evans even in the squad. Just that move will not be welcomed or we'd have seen him before. The Tiripano/Jongwe/Evans selection should actually be a bit of a dilemma for them, but to date Evans hasn't been given an extended opportunity to not deliver like the others. Jongwe has that golden arm which is hard to discount and he does bowl decent variations. He could really improve his all round game with more work than hes doing now, he's a talented guy with God on his side. We haven't seen enough of Evans in this format to see what he offers.

He bowls good line and length, and a slower ball that I think needs a bit of work. He could easily crank it up at least another 5kph. He has potential to offer more with the bat than the others. He invariably bats when he has to hit or when he's run out of partners, both of which he has not executed particularly well so far. He'd be opening the bowling in my team, I think he has lots of potential.

The Ndlovu selection has not been justified at all. Raza, Burl, Madhevere and Shumba offer more with the ball and are all decent batsmen so why would they keep picking Ndlovu?

I'm assuming that with Masakadza's return it's not even a discussion though. Burl could actually become a front-line leggie if he put in the hours, and we desperately need one.

A leggie that can bat is pure gold.

I wonder if DH believes he can get this squad to perform above Associate level? After these qualifiers we have some big teams ahead of us.

zimbos_05 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:13 am

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Sun Jun 19, 2022 2:53 pm

Always nice to read people slating your country 😂 I’m guessing one or two of the posters haven’t ever even been here 😂 😂

Not sure who this is aimed at, but I think the lack of honest reflection of Zim is one of the things holding it back.

Not aimed at you. Aimed at people who have never been here in their lives so can't fairly comment. It's quite rude.

Does anyone have any latest info on Matigimu? He really was special in the U19s. The last info of him playing cricket we have is from 2019/20.

No, he's contracted by Titans (SA), I believe. He was in their academy, but don't know how much cricket he's played over the years. I'm assuming academy stuff, some club and don't know whether their second teams can field non eligible guys. The last time I saw him he told me he was bowling well (about 18 months ago if I recall) but I didn't get any detail. He was looking fit and strong. He didn't actually excel at the u19 WC if I recall.

He used to be prone to bowling one really quick over and then tailing off, but that was as a junior. I'm sure that's something he's ditched.

I've just googled him and in 2019 it mentioned he was at Tuks University which makes more sense. Tuks/Titans- begins with a T anyway.

Maybe he started at Tuks, finished his degree and then went to Titans?

Any news then on the Bowling coach folks, or have ZC, as always, just to show that they are doing something to address the issues have announced Dave as head coach and then have forgotten about everything else?

Sounds like there is an U19 tour coming soon?

Coming or going? U mean Zim are going somewhere?

That's waay to pro-active 😂

There's a panic to now qualify.

I think theres some kind of internal matches happening next week - potentially some kind of domestic series with mixed teams consisting of U19 and U23 players or something?

And then gearing up for an u19 away tour (SA?) next month. I think. Will try and find out details.

They've embraced the whites. Simple equation.

There's a crazy stat. The last West Indian opener to get a test 100 other than Braithwaite was Chris Gayle in 2013 and against Zim.

Dean has chatted to Dave; https://anchor.fm/dean-du-plessis/episo ... ON-e1kdcgs

Also a bit of chat with Reggie too. Worth a listen.

Good to hear their voices, especially Houghton's, I almost starting saluting, he's a no nonsense guy. Exactly what we need. Hopefully he has everyone's respect and won't take s**t from anyone.

Very vanilla chats though, I suppose not much else to say.

Dean should have at least asked if there was a change in selectors, and if so, what?

And if the squad had been selected, and if so, who was in it?

And how Masakadza, Williams and Ngarava are getting on.

Who is the reserve keeper?

Plenty of other stuff to ask, but I'm sure there was some agreement beforehand.

I enjoy his podcasts, he knows his cricket, researches his stuff and is well respected. He gets some big names to chat to him and he prepares well for them.

Let's hope DH can get them to start posting information through the ZC media channels in a professional manner and not this cloak and dagger stuff through third parties. They need to start trying to run this place properly.