Rebel Zimbabweans in the UK

[Andy Mellon]

Well, another Zimbabwean has signed for a county under the Kolpak ruling. This time Derbyshire have signed one. This means we're getting fairly close to a situation where there's a whole alternative Zimbabwe team in domestic cricket and certainly one for the Hong Kong sixes.

A.Flower (Essex)(wk)(c)
G.Flower (Essex)
H.Streak (Warks)
S.Ervine (Hants)
T.Friend (Derbys)
R.Price (Worcs)

If you then include Bryan Strang who's been playing club cricket, Scott Brant (born in Zimbabwe, but brought up in Australia) and Graeme Hick, that a 9 man team. Also, we could include Henry Olonga to bring to team up to 10.

So, anyway... the questions:

(i) Could a team based on the above 10 players (+1 obviously) defeat the current Zimbabwe side?
(ii) Could England take on the above Rebel Zimbabwe team in a 'test friendly' as 2 fingers up to Mugabe?
(iii) How many of the above players would actually get into a county team if they were English? Ervine, Friend and Price are all fairly mediocre and Grant Flower's just taking the place of credible English alternatives.
(iv) Are there any other Zimbabweans we could employ to fill up the side. I definately think we need a batsman rather than a bowler. At the moment, all the players can bowl and we only have 3 top quality batsmen (Flower, Flower and Hick)

[Zainub]

First of all I don't think Sean Ervine is mediocre - he's got a one-day 100 against India, I think he can bat, and bowl alright too. Mediocre is a bit harsh. Ray Price certainly isn't that bat a bowler either, took a few against WI I remember.

[Lee Johnson]

Ervine has a lot of potential, probably the most unfortunate of the Zimbo's as he was just starting to make his mark on the international game. Ray Price is a gutsy cricketer but the fact he's in the worcester team instead of Shaftab Khalid makes my blood boil. Khalid is meant to have a bright future in the game, but now he's behind price and batty in the pecking order, how will he ever get experience?

[Zainub]

That's the thing officials have to sort out: if they can comprimise losing a gutsy player like Price for the price of a talented player like Khalid

[Andy Mellon]

PHP Code:

Name             Test Batting Ave  Test Bowling Ave  ODI Batting Ave  ODI Bowling Ave
Sean Ervine            32.62             43.11            25.85            38.07
Travis Friend          29.80             43.60            16.11            48.08
Ray Price               9.73             35.86            12.85            61.13
Derek Pringle          15.10             35.97            23.61            38.11 


I think this proves that 2 out of 3 of those players are mediocre. Especially Ray Price. I think most England fans would begrudgingly describe Derek Pringle as mediocre, and only if they're in a good mood. All the above players have played a similar number of matches so that shouldn't skew the results too badly. The only area where the Zimbabweans comfortably defeat Derek 'mediocre' Pringle is in test batting. And frankly I'm not surprised. The stats do tend to suggest that Ervine is by far the best of the bunch with decent batting averages in both forms of the game and bareable bowling averages.

I know stats are not the only thing you need to look at, but I think that with Price and Friend, it lends weight to the 'mediocre' description. I'll stand down on Ervine, mainly because he's got a decent record and he's only 21 so he's got a lot of time to improve his game as well. Could he qualify for England or Australia in 5 years and give the Zimbabweans a pasting?

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

I'll stand down on Ervine, mainly because he's got a decent record and he's only 21 so he's got a lot of time to improve his game as well. Could he qualify for England or Australia in 5 years and give the Zimbabweans a pasting?

He was having a bit of trouble getting into Aus first class sides, there is a lot of competetion there, lesser so in the England County Structure. You never know. Could any one have said Pieterson would be this close to getting a test cap 5 years ago? I don't think so. Ervine's a talented bloke, his batting in particular, if taken more seriously I think can take him places.

[flanflinger]

Trevor Gripper also plays club cricket in the UK.

I would say the side that you have listed would beat the current Test team, and also Bangladesh. It would also give the West Indies are pritty good game.

[Andy Mellon]

So, the suggestion from Flanflinger gives us the following (UK based) Zimbabwe line up.

A. Flower (wk)
G. Flower
G. Hick
T. Gripper
S. Ervine
H. Streak
B. Strang
T. Friend
R. Price
H. Olonga
S. Brant
Are you sure this team could compete? It seems a very weak batting order. The bottom 3 all average below 10 and Gripper to Friend can all bat, but they are all 'bits and pieces' in terms of batting. I think they'd get beaten by the Windies for sure. Should be a good game vs Zimbabwe, and I think a decent game for Bangladesh as well. It should all hinge on the batting though.

[Zainub]

I actually think just the oppostie. The batting seems much decent to me, the more the stronger forte of the side as it were with the two Flowers on top and Hick and the likes of Ervine and Streak to follow, its the bowling more that causes me to worry. I'd think Bangladesh on full strength would score well against an attack like that.

[Andy Mellon]

Trouble is though, put this team in on a troublesome wicket and take a couple of early wickets and they'd be in deep trouble and you could rip through them. I reckon there'd be no middle way with batting with this team; either out for less than 100 or scoring over 300... However, opning bowling with Streak and Olonga backed by Price, Friend and Ervine plus none of the others are mugs either. Still think batting could be a worry.