When was the last time Zimbabwe fielded a full-strength lineup? I honestly don't remember. For a team that doesn't play much cricket we always seem to have an awful lot of guys out with side strains, the flu, vacations, weddings, board disputes, etc. Have Taylor, Ervine, Williams, and Raza been in the same lineup at any point in the last three years?
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
When was the last time Zimbabwe fielded a full-strength lineup? I honestly don't remember. For a team that doesn't play much cricket we always seem to have an awful lot of guys out with side strains, the flu, vacations, weddings, board disputes, etc. Have Taylor, Ervine, Williams, and Raza been in the same lineup at any point in the last three years?
Not sure about the last time, but Zimbabwe have 4 wins and 21 losses (3 ties, 1 draw) all time across all 3 formats with the Big 4 playing. Thats still a pretty poor record, poorer than most people would imagine. Big 4 have only played 29 games together, across all formats.
If you add Big 4 + Cremer + Jarvis, their record improves significantly to 2-3...with the caveat that the wins came against Hong Kong and Ireland.
Taylor, Williams, Ervine, Cremer, and Taibu...the only win for that combo was vs Canada.
So all the big wins for Zimbabwe, have actually come with some of the key players missing. Conversely, even with all the big guns in, Zimbabwe have won precious few games.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Yeah, they have all hardly ever fired together. For longevity of this analysis, I removed Craig and Raza who were more 2010s addition, and brought in Hamilton. This is how the scenario looks:
Reduces to a win/loss ratio of 0.227 with 20 wins when Hammy is removed to keep only Taylor and Williams: https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engin ... ;type=team
When was the last time Zimbabwe fielded a full-strength lineup? I honestly don't remember. For a team that doesn't play much cricket we always seem to have an awful lot of guys out with side strains, the flu, vacations, weddings, board disputes, etc. Have Taylor, Ervine, Williams, and Raza been in the same lineup at any point in the last three years?
Not sure about the last time, but Zimbabwe have 4 wins and 21 losses (3 ties, 1 draw) all time across all 3 formats with the Big 4 playing. Thats still a pretty poor record, poorer than most people would imagine. Big 4 have only played 29 games together, across all formats.
If you add Big 4 + Cremer + Jarvis, their record improves significantly to 2-3...with the caveat that the wins came against Hong Kong and Ireland.
Taylor, Williams, Ervine, Cremer, and Taibu...the only win for that combo was vs Canada.
So all the big wins for Zimbabwe, have actually come with some of the key players missing. Conversely, even with all the big guns in, Zimbabwe have won precious few games.
What's Zim record with all big 4 playing vs teams Bangladesh and below? Also in this context, There is an expectation that combining them with Muzarabani at his best could make Zim stronger. Also, for me Wellington Masakadza has become an important player for us. Bowling and fielding. Cricket is as simple as you make it. Get him to block runs one end and get batsmen forcing things and making mistakes. Our bowlers rely more on these forced errors than genuine wicket taking deliveries. That is why we seem to defend these low scores because we keep things very tight and Masakadza has consistently done that. So if at least 3 of our big guys perform, Muzarabani taking early wickets and Masakadza creating pressure on his end Zim has a good platform to win these ODIs and sneak in at least a win vs teams like SA, BD and SL.
And back to the main topic, I hope all of them are available, but that is unlikely now since Ervine is already injured again playing t20s. Having at least 3 of them in will be massive and may propel the replacement youngster to play freely and perform.
What's Zim record with all big 4 playing vs teams Bangladesh and below? Also in this context, There is an expectation that combining them with Muzarabani at his best could make Zim stronger. Also, for me Wellington Masakadza has become an important player for us. Bowling and fielding. Cricket is as simple as you make it. Get him to block runs one end and get batsmen forcing things and making mistakes. Our bowlers rely more on these forced errors than genuine wicket taking deliveries. That is why we seem to defend these low scores because we keep things very tight and Masakadza has consistently done that. So if at least 3 of our big guys perform, Muzarabani taking early wickets and Masakadza creating pressure on his end Zim has a good platform to win these ODIs and sneak in at least a win vs teams like SA, BD and SL.
And back to the main topic, I hope all of them are available, but that is unlikely now since Ervine is already injured again playing t20s. Having at least 3 of them in will be massive and may propel the replacement youngster to play freely and perform.
Firstly what is meant by "Bangladesh and below?" Idk about CA's analysis, but mine was across all 3 formats, so Bangladesh's rank is different in all 3 formats. Even in ODIs, historically West Indies and Sri Lanka have been ahead of Bangladesh, although currently behind. Bangladesh have only been ahead of those traditional "G8 sides" since 2015. But easy enough to adjust on statsguru:
I should have posted this thread years ago, the selectors were clearly waiting for instruction from ZCF to select the "big four". The big four were selected today and we beat Ireland. International cricket is much easier when you select your best players.
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
At least the management have intentions to win all the Super League games. They gave the youngsters a very long run in the T20 series, and without that, it would be impossible to know where the Young 4 stand. It was generally the right decision.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
At least the management have intentions to win all the Super League games. They gave the youngsters a very long run in the T20 series, and without that, it would be impossible to know where the Young 4 stand. It was generally the right decision.
We lost the series. Our highly paid highly talented players didn’t play - for no reason.
I hope whoever made that decision is punished and loses their job.
We lost the series. Our highly paid highly talented players didn’t play - for no reason.
I hope whoever made that decision is punished and loses their job.
Not for no reason. They were giving the Young 4 much needed experience AND giving the BIg 4 a rest. Besides you were definitely part of the crew that was hyping up guys like Marumani...if the guy is [that] good, you play him. End of story. You can't claim to have the next QdK or Tamim in the lineup and then complain when management actually believes you and plays him. Had it been the other way around, quite a lot of people would have shouted "We've got a kid like Marumani who can belt the ball to Iceland, and we're risking the Big 4 getting injured." I've been here for 12 years, I know how green the grass always is on the other side.
You know that at 34+ all of the Big 4 are injury prone, and Taylor especially is not in prime shape. Williams, Ervine, and Raza may be fit as a fiddle but they have all had injuries and niggles here and there. Why risk for a zero stakes series? You'd have a point if they were also rested for the Super League games.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
We lost the series. Our highly paid highly talented players didn’t play - for no reason.
I hope whoever made that decision is punished and loses their job.
Not for no reason. They were giving the Young 4 much needed experience AND giving the BIg 4 a rest. Besides you were definitely part of the crew that was hyping up guys like Marumani...if the guy is [that] good, you play him. End of story. You can't claim to have the next QdK or Tamim in the lineup and then complain when management actually believes you and plays him. Had it been the other way around, quite a lot of people would have shouted "We've got a kid like Marumani who can belt the ball to Iceland, and we're risking the Big 4 getting injured." I've been here for 12 years, I know how green the grass always is on the other side.
You know that at 34+ all of the Big 4 are injury prone, and Taylor especially is not in prime shape. Williams, Ervine, and Raza may be fit as a fiddle but they have all had injuries and niggles here and there. Why risk for a zero stakes series? You'd have a point if they were also rested for the Super League games.
I think all of the new four are huge talents with a lot of potential. As I and many other people have said on many threads though, theres no way we should be fielding ALL four of them in EVERY match despite at least three of them being out of form and out of their depths at times. That's terrible management, not just bad management of the team but bad management of the individuals. Marumani's entire game is based on confidence. What a great f***ing way to destroy that.
As quite a lot of us have said, we're be pleased to see the kids getting some opportunities. But they have to fight for their place like anyone else and if they are performing poorly after a few games then they should lose their place. Winning matters. Yes winning the ODIs is the most important but if the big four can't play a couple of T20's as well then they aren't fit enough to be professional cricketers and we shouldn't be paying someone like BT hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just to play the occasional ODI lol. It's not like our schedule is packed like England's is it?! We've already had 1 senior guy (try to) announce his retirement because of bizarre coaching and management decisions. Do you think BT & Raza are happy with how they were treated last week? Would we be surprised if they called it a day based on these ridiculous decisions too?
Having three of your best 21st century players all sitting on the bench and earning very very big contracts to do so is criminal.
As said elsewhere, I think you are looking at it from a more objective view from outside Zim. You may be right from that perspective so good for you. But as a Zimbabwean who wants to see my team win every match and every series - not just some matches - then I think it was a terrible 'strategy' to play all four youngsters in every single match. Vast majority of Zimbos I've seen online or spoke to irl seem to agree. Lots of people were very angry last week, including journos who are usually pro-ZC.
Having three of your best 21st century players all sitting on the bench and earning very very big contracts to do so is criminal.
As said elsewhere, I think you are looking at it from a more objective view from outside Zim. You may be right from that perspective so good for you. But as a Zimbabwean who wants to see my team win every match and every series - not just some matches - then I think it was a terrible 'strategy' to play all four youngsters in every single match. Vast majority of Zimbos I've seen online or spoke to irl seem to agree. Lots of people were very angry last week, including journos who are usually pro-ZC.
I'm not saying you're completely wrong. I'm not saying play the Young 4 in every game, ever format - unless they back it up with performance.
But if you aren't willing to risk/expose/play them in the least important format against an 11th ranked side, then where and when would you play them?
Its very obvious ZC want the Big 4 to play all ODIs and Tests.
Do you think BT & Raza are happy with how they were treated last week? Would we be surprised if they called it a day based on these ridiculous decisions too?
How do we know it wasn't their idea to begin with? Or that they weren't cool with it? I would expect BT and Raza know its important to a) find the next generation and b) give them a decent run. BT and Raza are probably looking at Burl right now and going "thank god it wasn't me".
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Looking at how things are going right now I think both sides have valid reasons. I was really disappointed watching us lose 3 T20s in a row and I still don't believe we had to rest 3 of them but I will admit there were some big benefits from them not playing. I have always believed we are ahead of Ireland and I wanted us to prove it.
The first benefit is of course the injuries. We are very unlucky in that department and Burl is a perfect example of this. This always happens. Somebody catches corona or somebody gets a freak injury. All the time. The whole year we have suffered from this. I think Ervine had played 1 game all year before this tour.
The second benefit is that we kind of caught Ireland off-guard a bit. Even though they knew that those guys were sitting out, they clearly were not ready for the jump in quality. I have seen a lot of their fans commenting on the quality. This is not the Zimbabwe of 2019 and a lot of them were expecting maximum points at home. Losing 2 T20 games against the kids was clearly not a big enough warning sign. The alarm bells would have gone off a week ago if the big 4 had played all those T20s. They would have made some changes to their tactics etc.
Finally the most important benefit for me was that the big 4 had something to prove. It lit a fire in them and that was clear to see. This is what happens when your job is under threat. Had 2 of those kids blown Ireland apart in the T20s, we would have seen real fireworks. That's the unfortunate part. Competition is very healthy.
Overall i think IF we secure a series win here then the tour and experiment would have been a success.
The quality that Muzarabani has also caught them by surprise in the ODIs. He looked out of touch in the T20s he played but I think it was the niggle he had. Don't be surprised if they play an extra batsman today. Blessing is a big gun and we really should be calling it the big 5 now. The big 5 plus Chakabva 😂
The quality that Muzarabani has also caught them by surprise in the ODIs. He looked out of touch in the T20s he played but I think it was the niggle he had. Don't be surprised if they play an extra batsman today. Blessing is a big gun and we really should be calling it the big 5 now. The big 5 plus Chakabva 😂
Blessing is part of the Young 5 (Wes, Myers, Shumba, Marumani, Blessing).
Big 4 (Taylor, Williams, Raza, Ervine) are from a different generation plus they've performed against some of the top sides.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
The quality that Muzarabani has also caught them by surprise in the ODIs. He looked out of touch in the T20s he played but I think it was the niggle he had. Don't be surprised if they play an extra batsman today. Blessing is a big gun and we really should be calling it the big 5 now. The big 5 plus Chakabva 😂
Blessing is part of the Young 5 (Wes, Myers, Shumba, Marumani, Blessing).
Big 4 (Taylor, Williams, Raza, Ervine) are from a different generation plus they've performed against some of the top sides.
hard to group blessing with those guys when you also have ngarava and jongwe as well
If he has T20 opportunities then I guess so. It just baffles me why we have to keep pleading with these guys to stay when there is clearly 1 big target , the ODI World Cup. His T20 gigs actually come from him being a renowned ODI finisher. That's the part I don't get.
There are some massive guaranteed ODIs against Australia, India and Sri Lanka where Raza can show his skills and have that fancy stat of him having one of the highest strike rates at the death come on the screen when he is batting. Possible secure some really big gigs. You don't get those gigs because you set the Nepal T20 league on fire.
Also at that age a comeback ain't easy. Burl is hitting big these days. There might be no space in a year
hard to group blessing with those guys when you also have ngarava and jongwe as well
Jongwe has done nothing of note in his career as of yet. Ditto for Ngarava. Blessing has run through Pakistan a couple of times and hence is a couple notches ahead of those two.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.