Where's Travis Friend?

[butchering lee]

i can´t remember which county signed him - derby, notts or sumink. anyway - where is he - if injured, what a waste of money he hasn´t played a single game.

what´s the story - i need an update. the other zimbos on the county scene are doing ok (except maybe g flower, though he´s been bowling pretty well recently)

[Teatime FatCat]

Friend is in the Derbyshire squad I believe - but I don't think he's played a game yet - which is saying something in a very poor derby side! Not wishing to be too personal, but I really didn't rate him when I saw him play a couple of years ago - he looked very raw and pretty clueless with the ball. Anyone know if he's got any better?

Ervine's doing reasonably well at Hants, Streaky is doing very well at Warks, and is much loved I believe. The flowers are doing ok at Essex - I think that Andy is scoring heavily - I don't think Ray Price has set the world on fire wherever he is though!

[Pete]

Ervine's not the worst ever seen, but so far hasn't looked like the type of Kolpak player that's going to improve county cricket. Although I don't know what sort of potential the guy has because I don't know much about him and i've not seen him play all that often.

CountyChampionship: 360 runs at an average of 30. Two fifties and his topscore is 57. 18 wickets at 34.50 with one 5fer.

Totesport League: 110 runs at an average of 18.33 and a topscore of 37. 7 Wickets at 24.00 with a best of 3-32.

[butchering lee]

friend was pretty quick and clueless would be too strong a word i think - "raw" is about right but he could also bat a bit. i´m sure it´s injuries keeping him out cos i´d say he´s worth a place. he could learn a lot in eng and if he learns to control his bowling without losing pace - we´ll be waiting for him with arms open.

price is keeping things tight - i think he´s bowled pretty well so far personally (bit much to ask him to set a scene with murali, warne and harbijhan alight: y´know).

warne seems to put some confidence in ervine´s bowling and he usually repays with a wkt - he even opened for a while but maybe taylor was injured? he´s not doing as well as i´d hoped but he seems to trouble batsmen a bit. most disappointing so far has been his batting - he´s better than a 30 ave in county cricket imo (and that´s not attacking the counties - especially after somerset´s performance today).

[Paoli]

Price has actually bowled quite well. In the National League, he took 4-21, and was the only Worcs player who actually played well against Bangladesh. Yet, it seems he won't get a game in the Championship. I think Ervine has been decent, and is mid-range out of the Kolpakers. I think he isn't bowling too badly, a 5-50 in the C & G Trophy will verify that.

Travis Friend; every Derbys game I look out for the young fella, and as Guy Whittall put it, "He is still extremely young upstairs and has been rushed into international cricket". He was one thing Zimbabwe needed, he could bowl at 140kmh+ and he was quite a lusty hitter. The only time I recall him performing at No.3 was against South Africa in England where he played a brilliant 81. That was a fine knock; cover drives, cuts, pulls, glances, everything. However, he hasn't been able to mature. Lets hope a season in County Cricket will, leaving him better if he chooses to return to Zimbabwe- I can't see him having a prosperous county future. The best we can hope is that it'll be a steep learning curve.

[stone bird]

Travis Friend has the ability to become zimbabwe's greatest player of all time.

With proper assistance his bowling could be better than streaks(when streak was at the top of his game). He has a lot more pace.

Friends batting technique needs some working on...but for a player who has not been shown much...he goes extremely well!

[Beny]

From what I understand, He spent last summer playing sydney sub-district cricket...

[Paoli]

You've said this a couple of times to me Beny, but I keep reminding you that Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss are two such players.

Originally Posted by stone bird

Travis Friend has the ability to become zimbabwe's greatest player of all time

Turn it up! The bloke did a couple of good things, I don't think we should say he could become better than Andrew Flower or Streaky.

As to some of your previous comments, Brian Murphy, once captain of Zimbabwe, was an extremely talented player. He did ok in ODI's, and although he never showed his colours in tests, it was only a matter of time. He was a genuine leg spinner; I can't remember the last African person to have bowled leg breaks, and with the right guidance could've become an integral part of the lineup.

Sean Ervine ahead of Blignaut? Hear ye, Hear ye! Yes, I chose him because of a few reasons. Blignaut has shown on one occasion that he is capable of boosting the runs against quality opposition. Sean Ervine came in at 3-50 at the Adelaide Oval and played his way to 100 off 100. If that isn't changing a game, then I don't know what is. Sean Ervine showed through performances at test level that he was capable. Also, in the game against Australia in which Hayden scored 380, he was the only Zimbabwean bowler to bowl remotely well; his 4-146 is testament to the fact that only one other wicket was taken.

[stone bird]

Originally Posted by paoli69

Sean Ervine ahead of Blignaut? Hear ye, Hear ye! Yes, I chose him because of a few reasons. Blignaut has shown on one occasion that he is capable of boosting the runs against quality opposition. Sean Ervine came in at 3-50 at the Adelaide Oval and played his way to 100 off 100. If that isn't changing a game, then I don't know what is. Sean Ervine showed through performances at test level that he was capable. Also, in the game against Australia in which Hayden scored 380, he was the only Zimbabwean bowler to bowl remotely well; his 4-146 is testament to the fact that only one other wicket was taken.

I said travis friend has the POTENTIAL to become zimbabwe's greatest player. When travis turned from leg spin to fast pace bowling...everyone stood up and said this guy could be anything (after only a few sessions). He showed greater ability than what streaky showed at 18...streak was guided by his dad, while travis had little guidance...he still hasn't had much guidance as yet!

Brian Murphy had a great cricket brain...which was part of the reason he was chosen to go on the tour to the west indies in 99 i think. He was only given the captaincy because no one else wanted it! He had ability although he never showed it...glimpses of his ability were shown in the occasional spell of bowling!
Both Adam Huckle and Paul Strang were leagues ahead of murphy. Paul Strang was awesome until he hurt his bowling hand! A friend was telling me cremer is showing some real improvements since the south african tour.

Sean Ervine has a much better cricketing brain than blignaut...and a much better temperament than blignaut. However Sean Ervines role in the zimbabwean team would have been nothing more than a stock bowler, and a lower order batsmen.

Blignaut had amazing pace 140km+ and could move the ball. He was erratic but improving immensley! Blignaut was forming a great combination with streak...Blignaut was taking 5 fors as well, whcih were not common in zimbabwean cricket. His batting was awesome when it wanted to be...a couple of 90's against the windies and some massive domestic innings to go with.
I am not saying that Ervine is not a great player, but blignaut is a 1/100 talent!

I don't know if you ever saw the zimbabwe vs india test at harare in which zimbabwe won. India were well on top of zimbabwe and looked as though they were going to have a lead of 100 or so and in the space of 10 overs blignaut changed the entire momentum of the game...And then coming in the 2nd innings and taking 5 for...it was an amazing performance by him...

[butchering lee]

i was no huge fan of murphy but he did bowl really well on occassion - i remember him being taken for 18 or so in his first over against a fairly good english side and bowled his 10 overs for less than 40 (i don´t know exactly -but bennaud was impressed). still, on this i´m with the phoenix - strang and hickle were better and price was the best. i´ll finish this later!!!