Gary ballance bombshell switch

I recall Atherton commentating and he had a bit to say which didn't help. He's a toned down version of Boycott. Once you're in his and Nasser Hussein's gunsights the writing is on the wall, they've got pull those guys.

Googly wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 8:36 am

Interesting times ahead. We'll have a world class batsman in the side. If he's there in time for Australia don't forget it was their seamers that undid him. Either he'll be in a hurry because hes got some unfinished business there or he'll be happy to dodge that tour 😂, but if youre a player of his caliber thats the ultimate test isnt it?

He hasnt played for a long time. I watched him the other day and he looked really scratchy and rusty, but that will change in a heart beat. I can't remember exactly but his technique was found wanting. I'll YouTube and Google now, but I think he had a back and across trigger and some technical flaw that was not holding up to the scrutiny of 150. In fairness nobody on the planet is comfortable with that pace, its just downright ugly and dangerous. I'd bet he's fixed it, but it's what ultimately ended his England career. I recall he also had a couple of really unlucky dismissals which compounded his woes.

In my view he should have been kept on, he's got the most beautiful hands, such good touch.

It would have been doubly interesting if Taylor was still around. I don't think they'd have been talking to Ballance if Taylor was still in the mix, but if they had that would have really changed the complexion of our batting line up.

I remember thinking Ballance was such an ugly looking batsman technique wise. Looked like a tail ended that could bat a bit. Just aesthetically.

If it happens in time for T20 WC then nothing like it! But i think they are targeting more from next year's WCQ perspective. I won't be surprised if Melton also is in the frame by that time.

Yes, it will give Zimbabwe a fair shot at the Qualifiers. Ireland have looked very competitive as well. One thing is for sure, whichever test teams (read top 10) fall into the qualifier, they are going to have it really tough.

Ok I recall- he's got that deep back and across trigger with a bit of a floating front foot. Alistair Cook also has that floating front foot. It's an interesting technique, has a lot of merit if you do it well.

Against Australia he was late in coming forward to the fuller deliveries, especially after a couple of short ones that were really keeping him pinned on his back foot. They had his number that tour, basically.

He's amazing square through off, one of the best cutters in the game.

I've been watching some highlights, jeez hes a good player!

Hes getting some heat from the Pakistanis and Indians on the various groups, but of course they can say what the hell they like to each other with no repercussions whatsoever. You'd think he'd at least be getting cheers from the Indians 😂

Generalisations are not great but the Pakistanis in particular are not wild about black or white folk either. They are mono-cultural to the extreme, but of course will throw their arms up in the air in feigned indignation if they're spoken badly to/about outside of their own country. Seems to be standard operating procedure these days.

It's a continuous barrage against one another with some outrageous s**t being publicly thrown around, but let a white guy use that P word just once and the world comes to an end.

If you call someone here a stupid c%#% , the reaction is always - Don't call me stupid! 😂 True story. There's no problem with the C#& part of it. You can then apologise for the stupid part and you're still victorious. 😂

It will be interesting if he makes some sort of well prepared public statement about his defection and about what happened there as a way of clearing the air here. I don't think there will be much said against him because he is coming here with ZC's blessing after all. They control the narrative.

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 9:12 am

If it happens in time for T20 WC then nothing like it! But i think they are targeting more from next year's WCQ perspective. I won't be surprised if Melton also is in the frame by that time.

Yes, it will give Zimbabwe a fair shot at the Qualifiers. Ireland have looked very competitive as well. One thing is for sure, whichever test teams (read top 10) fall into the qualifier, they are going to have it really tough.

Well I told you all two weeks ago, and people laughed, that it’ll be Ballance, Melton and Welch.

First pin of that has happened.

I’m dead certain Melton is next.

Welch I’m not as certain at this point as he’s now hit a few first class centuries so it’s a different circumstance. He was always the one I was least sure about.

Melton is as good as a guarantee I think.

Anyone else here think there would be no room for Byrom, Curran, Welch, Ballance, Melton, Evans, Williams, Ervine, Burl and Raza.

That's 9 pink Rhodesians and a brownish guy with Pakistani military training.

They would get that crowd control water cannon to disperse them 😂

I'm just saying there's an acceptable number of white guys in that side regardless of what may be said to the contrary.

Three and everyone is beaming with brotherly love, four and the grin is like that iced up dog in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, five and there would be howls of protest, six and the water cannon and dogs arrive.

But I'd love to see them all back in Zim and playing franchise at least, it would create great interest from all communities. Add Gubbins, Fraine, Compton into that if they are invited back and that's 7 new decent batters to enjoy, plus I'm hearing that there's real interest from other overseas players and that it may well be over-subscibed this coming season.

The counties allow 1 overseas in red ball and 2 in white ball per team. I don't know if that's the industry standard or its up to the individual board and if the latter what ZC's stance will be. Plus there's that Academy side that went to India and I'm sure they'll want to give a couple of them a run.

Spots will be at a premium. What would also be interesting is if they offered a couple of out and out bowlers a spot.

They could go with the standard 5 teams and the batting standard would go up a couple of notches or there's perhaps the option of even having a 6th side? That's added expense and admin so that's unlikely and I think the best idea would be to make the sides stronger.

Googly wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 12:47 pm

Anyone else here think there would be no room for Byrom, Curran, Welch, Ballance, Melton, Evans, Williams, Ervine, Burl and Raza.

That's 9 pink Rhodesians and a brownish guy with Pakistani military training.

They would get that crowd control water cannon to disperse them 😂

I'm just saying there's an acceptable number of white guys in that side regardless of what may be said to the contrary.

Three and everyone is beaming with brotherly love, four and the grin is like that iced up dog in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, five and there would be howls of protest, six and the water cannon and dogs arrive.

😂

Yeah. We had five in the team on Tuesday (incl. Raza) and I kinda feel that that is the limit....more than that and people get uncomfortable, on all sides. The white players would probably be uncomfortable themselves if there was like 7 or 8 of them in the team - because they'd know if they went on a bad run of results or something they'd be in the firing line and the race wounds would open up again. Just the sad realities of Zim. Probably does need to be a limit and be balanced.

But I'd think Ervine and Williams will probably retire from T20's after the world cup and both of them plus Raza might retire completely after 2023.

But I'd love to see them all back in Zim and playing franchise at least, it would create great interest from all communities. Add Gubbins, Fraine, Compton into that if they are invited back and that's 7 new decent batters to enjoy, plus I'm hearing that there's real interest from other overseas players and that it may well be over-subscibed this coming season.

The counties allow 1 overseas in red ball and 2 in white ball per team. I don't know if that's the industry standard or its up to the individual board and if the latter what ZC's stance will be. Plus there's that Academy side that went to India and I'm sure they'll want to give a couple of them a run.

Spots will be at a premium. What would also be interesting is if they offered a couple of out and out bowlers a spot.

They could go with the standard 5 teams and the batting standard would go up a couple of notches or there's perhaps the option of even having a 6th side? That's added expense and admin so that's unlikely and I think the best idea would be to make the sides stronger.

The ZC rule in recent seasons is 2 overseas per team, in all formats. That includes guys like Curran and Moor who have to be registered as overseas. Compton (and Fraine - he's doing well) have been great adverts for us, should be plenty of guys interested in coming over this season.

If you had 2x overseas per team and all the academy guys getting games and some of the u19's maybe, plus a couple of imports and all the national team players - you probably could go to 6 sides. The problem is, as soon as the national team has fixtures and you take our 16 best guys out, the quality would plummet and be really poor. So I think best to stick with 5 sides and hopefully real competition for places (and hopefully we can get rid of the guys who pay to play). Ideally there's five really strong franchises who pick the best players available, with strong club cricket running alongside and some NPL competitions to bookend either side of the season to ensure everyone gets a chance.

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 1:29 pm

Googly wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 12:47 pm

Anyone else here think there would be no room for Byrom, Curran, Welch, Ballance, Melton, Evans, Williams, Ervine, Burl and Raza.

That's 9 pink Rhodesians and a brownish guy with Pakistani military training.

They would get that crowd control water cannon to disperse them 😂

I'm just saying there's an acceptable number of white guys in that side regardless of what may be said to the contrary.

Three and everyone is beaming with brotherly love, four and the grin is like that iced up dog in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, five and there would be howls of protest, six and the water cannon and dogs arrive.

😂

Yeah. We had five in the team on Tuesday (incl. Raza) and I kinda feel that that is the limit....more than that and people get uncomfortable, on all sides. The white players would probably be uncomfortable themselves if there was like 7 or 8 of them in the team - because they'd know if they went on a bad run of results or something they'd be in the firing line and the race wounds would open up again. Just the sad realities of Zim. Probably does need to be a limit and be balanced.

But I'd think Ervine and Williams will probably retire from T20's after the world cup and both of them plus Raza might retire completely after 2023.

But I'd love to see them all back in Zim and playing franchise at least, it would create great interest from all communities. Add Gubbins, Fraine, Compton into that if they are invited back and that's 7 new decent batters to enjoy, plus I'm hearing that there's real interest from other overseas players and that it may well be over-subscibed this coming season.

The counties allow 1 overseas in red ball and 2 in white ball per team. I don't know if that's the industry standard or its up to the individual board and if the latter what ZC's stance will be. Plus there's that Academy side that went to India and I'm sure they'll want to give a couple of them a run.

Spots will be at a premium. What would also be interesting is if they offered a couple of out and out bowlers a spot.

They could go with the standard 5 teams and the batting standard would go up a couple of notches or there's perhaps the option of even having a 6th side? That's added expense and admin so that's unlikely and I think the best idea would be to make the sides stronger.

The ZC rule in recent seasons is 2 overseas per team, in all formats. That includes guys like Curran and Moor who have to be registered as overseas. Compton (and Fraine - he's doing well) have been great adverts for us, should be plenty of guys interested in coming over this season.

If you had 2x overseas per team and all the academy guys getting games and some of the u19's maybe, plus a couple of imports and all the national team players - you probably could go to 6 sides. The problem is, as soon as the national team has fixtures and you take our 16 best guys out, the quality would plummet and be really poor. So I think best to stick with 5 sides and hopefully real competition for places (and hopefully we can get rid of the guys who pay to play). Ideally there's five really strong franchises who pick the best players available, with strong club cricket running alongside and some NPL competitions to bookend either side of the season to ensure everyone gets a chance.

I think ZC will begrudgingly allow 6+Raza. 7 if there’s a unique injury.

We had that under Streak once or twice.

If I recall we had Cremer, BT, Williams, Ervine, Waller, Jarvis and I think Moor (but maybe Burl) line up.

Good times (except UAE game).

I think regardless of ZC getting racial we just got to run with it and hope that increased success quells any rumblings.

More success makes ZC look good.

More competition makes the black guys on the fringes try harder.

And I’m 99% certain, based on both intuition and social media posts, that the fans would take a much more successful team that’s largely white over a black team that gets belted.

Winning is everything in sport.

Even when players misbehave or cause controversy, when they start winning or move and help another team win it’s all forgotten.

ZIMDOGGY wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:20 pm

I think ZC will begrudgingly allow 6+Raza. 7 if there’s a unique injury.

We had that under Streak once or twice.

If I recall we had Cremer, BT, Williams, Ervine, Waller, Jarvis and I think Moor (but maybe Burl) line up.

Good times (except UAE game).

I think regardless of ZC getting racial we just got to run with it and hope that increased success quells any rumblings.

More success makes ZC look good.

More competition makes the black guys on the fringes try harder.

And I’m 99% certain, based on both intuition and social media posts, that the fans would take a much more successful team that’s largely white over a black team that gets belted.

Winning is everything in sport.

Even when players misbehave or cause controversy, when they start winning or move and help another team win it’s all forgotten.

I agree...the [all black] fans were going nuts when Burl was hitting those 6s. They don't seem to care what color the players are; they just want to see good cricket. Seems only the ZC seem to care about race. Hopefully, the current desperation will change that permanently.

That's not how it works here. Everyone is very happy with a win or a good performance from anybody, regardless of colour. But it is a numbers game and the politics goes on behind the scenes. Obviously less tolerant of poor performances and also waay harder to get into the side.

But if you're in and performing everybody is very happy and accepting. The guys that are playing get treated no differently either, if anything maybe slightly better, that side of it is all good.

Googly wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 6:15 pm

That's not how it works here. Everyone is very happy with a win or a good performance from anybody, regardless of colour. But it is a numbers game and the politics goes on behind the scenes. Obviously less tolerant of poor performances and also waay harder to get into the side.

But if you're in and performing everybody is very happy and accepting. The guys that are playing get treated no differently either, if anything maybe slightly better, that side of it is all good.

Thats the universal reality of being a minority. You have to be twice as good to get half the credit.

But as I said he will have to do well, he won't get too many chances. But that's OK, ideally he'd like a year to be mediocre and get into it, but he won't be afforded that luxury. Hopefully he gets all 3 games and we and he will see what he's got, it's all most of us wanted to see.

Batting is a bit different, if a guy has a s**t start you won't know how good he is, but with the bowlers you can generally see if he's going to make the grade. He's just got to hit his line and length consistently and bowl 135 and be smart at the back end with his change ups. Obviously if he makes some runs that's a big bonus as well, he gets two bites at the cherry.

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 5:02 pm

ZIMDOGGY wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:20 pm

I think ZC will begrudgingly allow 6+Raza. 7 if there’s a unique injury.

We had that under Streak once or twice.

If I recall we had Cremer, BT, Williams, Ervine, Waller, Jarvis and I think Moor (but maybe Burl) line up.

Good times (except UAE game).

I think regardless of ZC getting racial we just got to run with it and hope that increased success quells any rumblings.

More success makes ZC look good.

More competition makes the black guys on the fringes try harder.

And I’m 99% certain, based on both intuition and social media posts, that the fans would take a much more successful team that’s largely white over a black team that gets belted.

Winning is everything in sport.

Even when players misbehave or cause controversy, when they start winning or move and help another team win it’s all forgotten.

I agree...the [all black] fans were going nuts when Burl was hitting those 6s. They don't seem to care what color the players are; they just want to see good cricket. Seems only the ZC seem to care about race. Hopefully, the current desperation will change that permanently.

Just to further add,

Whenever I see a racially charged post by black fans on social media, 80% of the time it’s usually a comment like ‘we need to let the whites run the game’ or words to that effect. White friendly racism.

Some could be trolling but most appear to just be embarrassed by the team.