***Official*** New Zealand in Zimbabwe & Zimbabwe/New Zealand/India ODI Tri-Series

[NZTailender]

And again!

And once more with feeling! Damn if there was only 1 more left for a hat trick...

Good fight back from Zimbabwe

 

[Adamc]

Bond's stats are going to look pretty good once this series is over. Currently averaging 16.72, SR 24.5, Econ 4.09. I don't think NZ on the whole will be all too thrilled with their performance though, especially after the last game.

 

[Sir Redman]

Our top order really needs to sort themselves out. Scoring 230-ish against this Zimbabwe side is a poor effort. Get Astle back opening, and move Vincent back down the order. He is not an opener.

Our bowling was alright...Bond bowled a bit wide of off stump for most of his spell, and 5 wides is a bit disappointing, although 4 of them were outswingers that started too wide. Oram and Mills for the most part were tidy, but I was having heart flutters when Mills came on at the end there! Vettori and Patel bowled pretty well, while Styris and Astle weren't used too much.

I'm still trying to work out how a guy like Charles Coventry can look so angry when he's batting! Charging down the pitch left, right and centre and whacking a couple of sixes...he doesn't look like he'd even be able to clear the 30m circle.

 

[cricket player]

Just being a bit cynical I'm afraid Prince. Mahwire is a damn sight better than the likes of Waddy.

It was a good bowling effort but the batting hasn't been up to scratch again. Sibanda did what he does when he "succeeds", play a few good shots then get out in the 20s stupidly, going for a needless second run in this instance. he reminds me of a lot of the young bangladeshi batsmen, only worse.

Way to go Chappie! he's just hit two consecutive sixes off Patel, big ones too by the read of it.

Sibanda is a clean striker of the ball and he seems to be a good batsman,but bowling and batting is not the only thing that can get you good scores you need have the brain to go with it,

anyways I was impressed the way zimbabwe batted today they did well with the bowl and bat way to go zim bring your A game in every match.

 

[Blaze]

Well done Zim .Very effective use of the spinners through the middle part of their bowling effort.

Lou Vincent shouldn't be anywhere near the ODI side.

 

[shaka]

Patel's death bowlling was impressive and I can see why he is used in that position for his club.

 

[shaka]

Lou's fielding made up for his duck.

 

[_Ed_]

Get Astle back opening, and move Vincent back down the order. He is not an opener.

Exactly, I just can't understand why they're using Vincent when Astle has scored 14 hundreds as an opener.

 

[honestbharani]

Great to see Zim showing some fight. India will have to watch out against them.

 

[Lyell_Chris]

our team for the final should be

Flem
Astle
H.Marshall
Mcmillan
Styris
Oram
Cairns
McCullum
Vettori
Adams
Bond

sub-vincent

we hope to bowl first then bring vincent on for bond when we are batting and if we have to bat we don't need vincent as everyone down to adams is pretty much an all-rounder and bond can smack a 6

 

[Zinzan]

Our top order really needs to sort themselves out. Scoring 230-ish against this Zimbabwe side is a poor effort. Get Astle back opening, and move Vincent back down the order. He is not an opener.

Our bowling was alright...Bond bowled a bit wide of off stump for most of his spell, and 5 wides is a bit disappointing, although 4 of them were outswingers that started too wide. Oram and Mills for the most part were tidy, but I was having heart flutters when Mills came on at the end there! Vettori and Patel bowled pretty well, while Styris and Astle weren't used too much.

I'm still trying to work out how a guy like Charles Coventry can look so angry when he's batting! Charging down the pitch left, right and centre and whacking a couple of sixes...he doesn't look like he'd even be able to clear the 30m circle.

Bond 5 wides didn't bother me in the slightest...simply because his inswinger was going well and so he purposely tryed a few outswingers....And he did get a bit of outswing....Not as much as Kyle Mills was getting though

 

[Loony BoB]

our team for the final should be

Flem
Astle
H.Marshall
Mcmillan
Styris
Oram
Cairns
McCullum
Vettori
Adams
Bond

sub-vincent

we hope to bowl first then bring vincent on for bond when we are batting and if we have to bat we don't need vincent as everyone down to adams is pretty much an all-rounder and bond can smack a 6

With six people capable of bowling ten overs and two others capable of bowling part time, I would hope that one of the bowlers would be the sub.

Vincent wouldn't be off the field anyway, as he's a superior fielder to most of those guys. You'd likely see Astle go off for Bond or vice versa.

My team would be...

Fleming
Astle
Marshall (despite his poor form)
Vincent
Styris
McMillan
Cairns/Oram depending on their fitness.
McCullum
Vettori
Mills
Adams
Bond

Which of them would be used as supersub I'm not sure, but I'd tend towards putting a bowler as supersub. You could bowl out one bowler, take him off and put in the next one. The batting lineup would stay at maximum strength that way. If batting first, you could take out Astle and put in the bowler once the second innings begins.

 

[Arjun]

Some fans write well, some don't, but when an official journalist writes trash like this, you might wonder, can't cricket journalists from India be a little more constructive?

From an article by Anand Vasu
But you have to ask whether his selection to the Indian team as replacement for Sachin Tendulkar, has anything to do with all that. When selectors pick an opening batsman to replace a middle-order batsman, ensuring that he is from the appropriate zone, you cannot help raise an eyebrow.

Maybe he's just trying to get attention by dragging Tendulkar into yet another controversy. What is wrong in picking a reserve opener? What if one of the frontliners is out of action for a match? Would you go back to that foolish practice of opening with VVS Laxman or a wicketkeeper? Rather than criticise them, you should compliment them for realising their mistake and picking a very appropriate reserve. So what if he's from West Zone? He's scored a lot more runs than any other contender for the spot.

But it's not merely about the men who do the selecting - the system encourages the very worst of regionalism and zonal quotas. To be appointed selector, you must be nominated by your zone, and get a term of one year. At the end of that year, you can be nominated again, but this is in the hands of the zone that put you forward in the first place. This means you are under pressure all the while to get as many players from your zone selected.

Comments like these don't do Indian cricket any good. Nor do they help the stronger zones in the country. To pick the best Indian XI, you have to look at all of India, not just North, South or West. It's better to pick a frontliner from a 'struggling' Central Zone side than some extra from a 'stronger' zone.

For long it has been the worst-kept secret that fringe players in Indian cricket teams are picked, not on performance, but on other considerations.

You cannot be serious. In the recent past, fringe players are often picked on good intentions, when the selectors get soemthing right, but the team management, coach and captain try hard to make the player look out of place.

RP Singh's selection to the one-day team is another case in point. He's a good prospect - but at the moment merely that. A gentle left-arm seamer who has no firepower when the ball is not swinging, Singh will be the first to admit that he is not yet a bowler who can legitimately claim a place ahead of Lakshmipathy Balaji or Zaheer Khan. There are hints that Zaheer was left out because he needed to sort his attitude out - and perhaps a kick up the backside would help that -- but what wrong did Balaji do? He played one match in the Indian Oil Cup, went for 1-48 from 10 overs, and was dumped. Not long ago, he was one of your main bowlers, giving it his everything bowling into the wind, drilling long spells on unhelpful pitches.

Even forgetting Balaji, for a moment, which is atrocious, what of Gagandeep Singh and Shib Sankar Paul, who were in the squad when India went to Bangladesh and did not get a game? And Joginder Sharma who got a look in recently, or Amit Bhandari who went to Australia in 2003-04? Silly me, none of these are from central zone. Ah there's this chap from Uttar Pradesh who bowls left-arm seam ... what's his name again?

Pardon me, Mr. Vasu, but do you have a grudge against Central teams? RP Singh may not have firepower, but nor do any of the other seamers who have been relatively permanent selections in the Indian side. Moreover, we're talking ODI's here, so his fieldign will come useful, when the Indian team lacks good fielders.

Maybe a reading of the stat sheet will tell you why Balaji's not a hot option in ODI's. He averages a massive 37, with just 1.2 wickets a match, and with the new ball, he lacks pace and accuracy. As for Gagandeep, he has white-ball issues. Steamship is a bit too slow on the field for your ODI side. Joginder is a target with an old ball, while Amit Bhandari himself is nothing special and not in the best of form now- RP Singh isn't far worse and he's a better fielder.

And if you look at who won the las season's Ranji-OD series, it was not Mumbai, TN or Delhi, but unfancied Uttar Pradesh. They played like a team. They got the basic things right. They stuck to a task. That's how the central teams have played, and it's a good thing. At least give them credit for that!

 

[Pratters]

Some fans write well, ...

I reckon you should email Anand Vasu

 

[Jamee999]

You could bowl out one bowler, take him off and put in the next one.

Not correct.

To use England as an example.

We can't bowl out Harmison (10 overs) and bring on Anderson who bowls 10 overs. Jimmy coudn't bowl.

However Harmison 6 overs, Anderson 4 overs is fine.

 

[marc71178]

Some fans write well, some don't, but when an official journalist writes trash like this, you might wonder, can't cricket journalists from India be a little more constructive?Maybe he's just trying to get attention by dragging Tendulkar into yet another controversy. What is wrong in picking a reserve opener? What if one of the frontliners is out of action for a match?

If they were that concerned, why didn't they pick a reserve opener in the first place then?

 

[adharcric]

If they were that concerned, why didn't they pick a reserve opener in the first place then?

at that time, picking tendulkar was more important than picking a reserve opener. right now, there isn't any middle-order batsman who they really want to pick so desperately, so they're focusing on that opening reserve need.

 

[Lyell_Chris]

looney bob why is mills in ur team

 

[Blaze]

looney bob why is mills in ur team

I don't mind Mills opening the bowling.. He tends to have the ability to swing it a bit and pick up early wickets. He should be nowhere near the death bowling though.

 

[_Ed_]

I don't mind Mills opening the bowling.. He tends to have the ability to swing it a bit and pick up early wickets. He should be nowhere near the death bowling though.

Yeah absolutely agree...Mills has shown before that he's capable of opening and bowling his ten straight through, I think they should be tempted to do that with him.