*Official* New Zealand in Zimbabwe

[Flem274*]

awta. I'm worried about our bowling, but assuming Jeets won't play unless it's expected to take turn, I hope Southee, Dougeh and the yet to be decided third seamer can make a name for themselves.

Southee and Bracewell bowl outswing at 138-140kph: provided they pitch it up, they're going to get a few test wickets in their careers.

 

[Hurricane]

Went to bed part way through the afternoon session. Woke up to read the CW thread to see who had won. Could feel the tension in the posts.

Well done NZ. Watching some highlights seems like NZ's fielding was key to the victory. Nice snag by Young in particular. Certainly dramatic and the fans must have been on the edges of their seats.

Taylor's declaration was key to the victory, not sure with the benefit of hindsight if he would declare at the same stage Seemed a little close for comfort. But we won. And Zimbos batted out of their skins tbf.

The world will be watching B Taylor now to see if he can follow up these performances consistently. A name to watch out for.

I don't agree with Flem that we need an extra bowler in our team. I think 4 good bowlers is fine. The issue here is that we had Patel so we only had 3 bowlers for the game right from the off set.

I also think with Aussie that we need to bat down to 8 (with Young at 8) to give us a chance of posting something decent. If we had better openers then we could afford to have Vettori at 6.

Welcome back Zimbos to test cricket. Very competitive outfit.

 

[Hurricane]

awta. I'm worried about our bowling, but assuming Jeets won't play unless it's expected to take turn, I hope Southee, Dougeh and the yet to be decided third seamer can make a name for themselves.

Southee and Bracewell bowl outswing at 138-140kph: provided they pitch it up, they're going to get a few test wickets in their careers.

Martin will be the other seamer and rightfully so - when he is bowling it too far outside off stump it is because he is expecting shape back in and he doesn't get it.( Either this or he truly is wayward.)

But as our most experienced seamer he must play until his form and speed truly slips off and I don't think he dramatically fell away in this game. He managed 3 wickets for the game when he should have taken about 5 if he was a leader. So yes a sub par performance but he still contributed.

 

[Flem274*]

Martin will be the other seamer and rightfully so - when he is bowling it too far outside off stump it is because he is expecting shape back in and he doesn't get it.( Either this or he truly is wayward.)

But as our most experienced seamer he must play until his form and speed truly slips off and I don't think he dramatically fell away in this game. He managed 3 wickets for the game when he should have taken about 5 if he was a leader. So yes a sub par performance but he still contributed.

Woops-my maths was simply out. I forgot Southee would replace Patel.

 

[Viscount Tom]

i dont think ballance is going to play test cricket, for zimbabwe, he's a yorkshire county player and highly rated.

Don't rule it out.

Averages 50+ overall and did pretty well this year in the County championship tbh I reckon if they got him to play their batting line up would look a bit stronger.

That said its worth noting that even with its issues Zimbabwe we know has the players to make up a competitive test side whereas a certain Test playing nation would probably get beat by Leicestershire.

BTW Does anyone know if ZImbabwe play England anytime in the next few years?

 

[Zinzan]

I see Bracewell is 3rd on the list for wickets taken for NZ on debut.............. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...=wickets;team=5;template=results;type=bowling noticeable thing for me from this is why the hell Adams never played another test for NZ, especially considering how average our test bowling attack has been for the last 10 years (Bond aside) and also how well Adam's has done with the ball in county cricket in the last 7-8 years. Ridiculous tbh & obviously political

 

[Hurricane]

i dont think ballance is going to play test cricket, for zimbabwe, he's a yorkshire county player and highly rated.

Don't rule it out.

Averages 50+ overall and did pretty well this year in the County championship tbh I reckon if they got him to play their batting line up would look a bit stronger.

That said its worth noting that even with its issues Zimbabwe we know has the players to make up a competitive test side whereas a certain Test playing nation would probably get beat by Leicestershire.

BTW Does anyone know if ZImbabwe play England anytime in the next few years?

That will be a loss for world cricket if he tries to play for England instead of Zimbos. If you need to leave Zimbabwe or SA for safety reasons and make a home for yourself somewhere else fair enough. So perhaps he has very good reasons. Is he permanently living in England now?

If he was keen to play for Zimbos wouldn't he have suited up for them in the recent test matches?



A

 

[Hurricane]

I see Bracewell is 3rd on the list for wickets taken for NZ on debut.............. Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo noticeable thing for me from this is why the hell Adams never played another test for NZ, especially considering how average our test bowling attack has been for the last 10 years (Bond aside) and also how well Adam's has done with the ball in county cricket in the last 7-8 years. Ridiculous tbh & obviously political

I would have him ahead of Aldridge and Arnel on the current pecking order. Even at his age.

 

[Briony]

Zimbabwe looked like they didn't know how to win in the end. At tea they almost had it in the bag. Pretty ordinary effort from NZ. Notice they get another test against Zim. at home. You'd expect them to put up a more creditable effort after just escaping major blushes at the death here.

 

[Briony]

Very impressive how so many inexperienced players on both sides had good games. Be interesting watching them over the next year or so and see if this match was a flash in the pan or they can improve.

But with so many inexperienced players in the game it's hardly tough test conditions, so not surprising at all. You'd imagine a good domestic Australian side would put Zim. to the sword. NZ will get their chance on the tour of Australia to see if they can measure up to an Australian local side.

 

[Hurricane]

But with so many inexperienced players in the game it's hardly tough test conditions, so not surprising at all. You'd imagine a good domestic Australian side would put Zim. to the sword. NZ will get their chance on the tour of Australia to see if they can measure up to an Australian local side.

I think Flem said we are playing NSW and Australia A - Traditionally they have given many international teams a run for their money.

 

[Flem274*]

Colin de Grandhomme is another player who should return for Zimbabwe. He is unlikely to play for New Zealand, but is probably better than Elton Chigumbura.

 

[Hurricane]

I. Wouldn't. Have. Picked. Patel. For. That. Match. Either.

I can't begin to express just how little your line of posting has to be with what was I saying. The fact that Patel shouldn't have been playing doesn't mean Nathan McCullum of all people should have.

There is a clear correlation - two pairs of similar standard bowlers and in each case the one who was a better bat was left out. But I can see this is bugging you so will drop it as I would like to maintain cordial relations - but I would like to now who you would have picked ahead of Patel for that game

 

[Jayzamann]

Just reading the washup. Still <3 ya BT

 

[Bahnz]

While I'm glad that New Zealand avoided complete humiliation, I can't help but hurt for Zimbabwe. With the exception of their two tail end collapses, they were the equal of New Zealand throughout this game.

Now I'm not sure whether to be disgusted with how rubbish New Zealand is, or filled with optimism for the future of Zimbabwean cricket. Guess I'll know in about a month's time.

 

[Flem274*]

I'm pretty optimistic about Zimbabwe. Our bowling was dire barring Bracewell and Vettori (1st innings), but keeping our batsmen to 260/8 was a good effort. Not even you could be miserable about Williamson, Taylor and Ryder in terms of batting skill.

 

[Athlai]

I'm pretty optimistic about Zimbabwe. Our bowling was dire barring Bracewell and Vettori (1st innings), but keeping our batsmen to 260/8 was a good effort. Not even you could be miserable about Williamson, Taylor and Ryder in terms of batting skill.

Only Jarvis in THAT spell really earned any wickets though.

 

[Mike5181]

Colin de Grandhomme is another player who should return for Zimbabwe. He is unlikely to play for New Zealand, but is probably better than Elton Chigumbura.

1.Masakadza/Mawoyo
2.Sibanda
3.Taylor (c)
4.Ballance
5.Taibu+
6.Waller
7.De Grandhomme

Then you have four out of these five bowlers

Meth
Jarvis
Rainsford
Vitori
Price

That's a fairly decent attack and Meth would fit the number eight slot much better than Price.

 

[Athlai]

Underrating Chiggy a bit IMO.

 

[Mike5181]

I'm pretty optimistic about Zimbabwe. Our bowling was dire barring Bracewell and Vettori (1st innings), but keeping our batsmen to 260/8 was a good effort. Not even you could be miserable about Williamson, Taylor and Ryder in terms of batting skill.

My player ratings:

McCullum- 1
Guptill- 7
Williamson- 8
Taylor- 8
Watling- 4
Brownlie- 6.5
Young- 6.5
Vettori- 8
Bracewell- 9
Patel- 2
Martin- 4