Zimbabwe Tour of South Africa

[jot1]

Very interesting first innings watching the Zim side bowl and field. This is the first time I've seen these particular players play. Utseya bowled very well and I think will be someone to watch in the future. I was very impressed with the Zim side's fielding. Of course the oldest guy in the side is only 23 years old, so they are nice and young and fit. But they went all out and did some spectacular stopping. Strange that the first three saffies to go, went just after they got their 50. Maybe they became too relaxed? I don't think this partcular side will take Zim to any great heights, they need some age and experience for a bit of guidence. But I do give them full marks for trying. Unfortunately the batting is no where near test standard.

[Paoli]

Ewings accuracy impressed me in ODI 2. Still lacking a Streak but when he returns we need Price with him. Also Carlisle, Wishart and Gripper to slot into the middle order.

South Africa are scooting along, and J Kemp with a huge 50 off 19 balls is gonna be the next Lance Klusener at this rate. Why oh why doesnt Smith bowl him more often??

[Zainub]

Why oh why doesnt Smith bowl him more often??

When I'll find out my self I'll tell you . It is strange really, cause Allan Donald said he bowls quite a lot in the nets.

[jot1]

Zim looked better in the 2nd ODI. Hopefully they will be even more improved tomorrow.

[John]

Not much competition for SA. But from what I have seen the Zim are fielding well and couple of the bowlers look to have potential. Their batting looks awful. They need help they have trouble with the extra pace.
Hopefully the experience will do Zimbabwe some good.

[Paoli]

Streak really should bat 4 or 5. We need a Carlisle and even a Neil Ferriera to play. Even Richard Sims for crying out loud!!! Anyone who can hold down a position and make runs. Disappointed to hear Craig Wishart is disinterested in returning to the fold.

[jaywalker]

I think what bothers Smith is the bit of pace that he lacks. He might look OK against Zim (with all due respect) but against a top world class side he probably needs another 7 or 8 km/h in pace?

[Pete]

Was a nice catch by Gibbs earlier

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by Paoli69

Streak really should bat 4 or 5. We need a Carlisle and even a Neil Ferriera to play. Even Richard Sims for crying out loud!!! Anyone who can hold down a position and make runs. Disappointed to hear Craig Wishart is disinterested in returning to the fold.

A couple of queries here, first when you say 'disinterested' do you mean disinterested or uninterested? Disinterested = unbiased and uninterested = not interested.

Secondly, in my opinion, Heath Streak is a fantastic player and should really improve Zimbabwe, and hopefully make them about 50% more competitive. However, if he's going to bat at 4 or 5, then that's really saying that the Zimbabwe batting line up is appalling! He should shore up the middle order though with Taibu. I have to agree wholeheartedly about Carlisle - a more than useful batsman, if he came back into the lineup, he would be Zimbabwe's premier batsman by a country mile. Ebrahim, Vermeulen and Rogers need to realise a bit more of their potential if the Zimbos are going to be competitive in the long term. Alternatively, persuade Neil Johnson to come out of retirement (ain't gonna happen). Blignaut should make a big difference too.

[Teatime FatCat]

For me Sean Ervine was going to be the boy. He really looked like a hot prospect and far better than Blignaut, Friend, Gripper et al. What's happening with him, is he staying in Australia?