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Wow you're going awesome dude, keep up the good work and good luck in the decider.
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Onto the 3rd and final odi
the pitch was brilliant for batting so i chose to bat after winning the toss. i named an unchanged side:
zim innings
we made a positive start, hitting 54 runs without loss in the opening 10 overs. the first wicket fell with 78 on the board when masakadza nicked one to mccullum, off the bowling of gillespie, depating for 40. taibu and taylor got well set and we took the power play in the 25th over, with the score at 114/1. taylor reached his 50 with a 4, coming off his 83rd ball. by the end of the powerplay, our score rate hadn't improved massivly as we were 134/1. it wasen't long before taibu threw away his wicket, lbw to franklin for 42, 145/2. at the 40 over mark we had recovered to 191/2 and passed 200 the next over. in the next over ervine was run out for 31. taylor reached his 6th odi century off 125 balls with a beautiful straight drive for 4. on the next over taylor went lbw for 103 and we finished 259/4. this was a decent total considering the batting collapses the ai are prone to, however this was a batsmen's paradise...Comment
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nz innings
the cloud thickened as nz came out to bat, giving us a chance to take some wickets with the new ball. and indeed an early wicket came, in the 3rd over, guptill edged one off rainsford which was comfortably taken by taibu. in the very next over mccullum went lbw to meth for 6 and the score was 12/2. ross taylor and jessie ryder rebuilt the nz innings with some hard hitting and at the 20 over mark nz reached 106/2, taylor 57 not out. the very next ball taylor was bowled by chigumbura. ryder some got his 50, off 60 balls and the very next delivery was also bowled by chigumbura. in the next over flynn went lbw to price and nz were on the brink at 141/5. they could only add another 10 before franklin fell to price and a furhter 3 before chigumbura got southee for 1. meth removed sinclair, their last hope, for 24 and the score was 159/8. the tailenders did a bit of hitting but they finished 194 all out, handing us a 65 run victory in this match and an unliekly odi series victory, 2-1. summary:
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I have never been particulary interested in t20 cricket and so wasen't looking forward to this 2 match t20 series. i will therefore describe them rather more breifly. the pitch was goo for batting so i batted first. sides:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5723953...in/photostream.
zim innings
the openers depated early, leaving us 33/2 after the power play. we lost wickets on a regular basis and no one could get set, taibu high scoring with just 20. we finished on a rather dismal 108/6.
nz innings
we got an early breakthrough as guptill departed. but mccullum and ryder rebuilt the innings, hitting us around the park. we eventually got mccullum for 44 but nz still won easily, winning by 8 wickets with 6 overs remaining!
not a good start to my t20 career...Comment
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2nd t20
i decided to give the players who i had brought across the world to nz a go in this the fianl game of the tour. raza replaced williams, sibanda for ervine and mpofu for rainsford. the pitch offered a bit more to the bowlers and i was put in to bat by nz.
zim innings
once again the openers went quickly and we lost wickets at regular intervals. we managed to score marginally more this time around, 115/9, again taibu top scoring, with 19 this time.
nz innings
meth took 2 early wickets, but nz recovered, guptill scoring 33. taylor and sinclair saw the all blacks home, winning by 7 wickets with 9 balls to spare.
summary:
next up, the world t20 in sri lanka, horray
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Due to my dislike of t20s i will be describing these games in far less detail.
our group included the world champions england as well as b'desh. my squad included one new player:
Charles Coventry- an agressive batsmen who at one time held the odi record score of 194 not out. other than that he has rarely delivered the runs his undoubted talent warrents
the first match was against england, we lost the toss and were put in to bat.
zim innings
we batted suprisingly well, losing only one wicket, taylor went for 33 sking a bresnan delivery. we finished on 140/1, masakadza reaching a well deserved 50. we batted well, if unspectacularly.
eng innings
the wicket of cook fell in the first over but other wise england batted confidently. they lost a few wickets along the way but scored runs freely. i was delighted to see ben stokes, the young all rounder and latest product of durham's academy, in the england side, and it was he who hammered a 4 to secure an england victory with 1 ball to spare, meaning we lost by 5 wickets. a positive start in my opinion
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group game vs bangladesh
i named an unchanged side and lost the toss, being told to field.
b'desh innings
after 3 overs b'desh were in real trouble, being 3 wickets down. bandladesh were appauling, losing wickets regularly and finishing on 111/8.
zim innings
we looked comfortable the whole time and despite masakadza's early departure and but taibu held the innings together, finishing on 55 not out. we finished on 112/2, winning by 8 wickets with 14 balls to spare. this meant we qualified for the super 8s, as b'desh had lost to england. our group for the super 8s was slightly more challenging, with india, parkistan and sri lanka to face.
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super 8s
v india
taylor got a 50 but otherwise we were poor, and scored 114/6. any chances of victory we had were dashed when india made a strong start and we didn't take a wicket until about 80 were on the board. india got to the target with 7 wickets and 3 balls in hand.
v sri lanka
everyone except meth bowled poorly, chigumbura got hit by jayawardene for 6 fours in an over and they got a big total. the batting was better, with great innings from masakadza and waller, otherwise the rest of them failed and we finished 20 runs short. we simply couldn't score at the rate needed
v pakistan
this time our bowling was attrocious and pakistan scored an obscene amount of runs off all my bowlers. after the first few overs it was clear we weren't going to get the total as masakadza went early and we couldn't keep up with the run rate, which soon passed the 10 per over mark. instead, taibu and taylor batted out the innings, taibu 63 not out, losing by 59 runs, propably our worst defeat of the tournament.
overall i was satisifed with how we did and i think we achieved as much as we could. next up, enlgand are touring us and then we are off to bangladesh. bring it on!Comment
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We now face an intensive summer, from december to march, 3 teams will tour us, each of them playing 2 tests, 3 odis and 2 t20s. the 2 touring teams are the world number 1 and 2, england and south africa and then bangaldesh tour us for the second time. i am aiming to draw the test matches against england and sa and maybe pick up one or two wins in the limited overs matches. against b'desh im hoping to pick up my first test victories and continue my dominance over them in the shorter forms of the game!
first up- the test series vs england
here's my team: http://www.flickr.com/photos/5723953...in/photostream
taibu has a broken finger and so will miss this test and possibly the 2nd one as well. this is a massive blow to my batting line up. taylor will keep wicket.
england have a strange 4 man bowling attack, broad and anderson provide the pace, whilst swann and the young briggs are spinners. although the weather was dazzeling sun shine for the matches duration, the pitch was already looking very promising for both spin and seam bowlers. we lost the toss and england decided to bat first. here we go...Comment
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day 1
i was expecting a long few days in the field but my fears were eradicated in favour of jubilation as both openers went early, both catches off meth, leaving the score on 17/2. however trott and bell dug in and comfortably made it to lunch, moving the score onto 98/2. this partnership continued and we wilted in the hot sun as we bowled over after over without a wicket. as tea loomed, bell was out, no not walking off the field, but caught in the slips off rainsford for 82. even so, the score was 234/3 at tea with trott on 113 not out. not long into the evening session, trott was caught off chigumnura for 121 and at 251/4, we had a chance to keep the england total relativly low. the rest of the evening was incredibly frustrating as england motored away, finishing on 367/4, both morgan and prior had half centuries and were batting with ease.Comment
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day 2
an hour into the day we broke another massive england partnership, as morgan departed for 85, falling victim to a swinging delivery from rainsford bowling with the new ball. we didn't build on our breakthrough and at lunch england were 498/5 with prior 135 not out. the next over after lunch, young blakely was put down in the slips. he did depart not long after, waller claiming his first test wicket, blakely going for 40. broad only made 12 before waller had his second wicket and when he got his 3rd scalp, the vital wicket of prior for 171, the score was 597/8. the tailenders pushed the score over 600 before strauss declared, and tea was taken with england having set a rather impossing total of 601/8 dec. we came out that eveing knowing we musen't lose any wickets early. i set my batsmen on very very defensive and decided if we were going to see out this match, all 3 days of it, all our batsmen would have to bat in a simialr manner. our openers did me pround, seeing us through to the close of play wicket losing their wickets and ending the day on 60/0.Comment
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day 3
taylor threw away his wicket early on, clean bowled for 28 by broad. masakadza did reach his 50, coming off 148 deliveries. ervine didn't last long in his new role as number 3, nicking one off swann for 9. at lunch our innings hung in the balance at 125/2, still 476 behind. williams and waller fell without contributing much and were we in serouis difficutly on 171/4. england then took the new ball, and becasue their 4 man attack was so tired, the shiney new ball was handed to trott! off this rather medicore bowling masakadza reached his century with a 4 off his 272nd ball faced. not long after, trott had his revenge as masakadza snicked one through to prior of trott's medium pace, departing for 107. this meant we were in real trouble at 193/5 at tea. almost immediatly after tea raza went to anderson and the tail didn't last long. we finished on 236 all out, 365 behind and follwoing on. we saw off the rest of the last few overs to finish on 6/0. we now would have to bat for 2 days to secure a draw. things didn't look good...Comment
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day 4
our batsmen were comfortable through the morning and i was very pleased when we reached lunch on 77 without loss, still 288 behind of course. taylor took a quick single to reach a well deserved 50 off 136 balls. masakadza got his half century soon after and our batsmen continued to block and prod and got us to tea on an amazing 146/0. although we were still 219 behind i was beginning to believe that perhaps we could bat this game out! the score then went from 146/0 to 146/1 as masakadza was caught off broad for 73. then england took the new ball with an hour till the close, but because anderson and broad had been bowling in the hot sun all day, it was trott and bell who took the new ball attack to my batsmen with their stunning medium pace! their tired bowlers failed to take wickets with the new ball and we reached the end of day 4 just 155 behind, on 210/1. taylor was still their on 95. could we hold on to our last 9 wickets against a refreshed england attack for an entire day?Comment
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day 5
the first major event of day 5 was taylor's maidan test hundred, which came off 306 balls! we saw off the morning without loss, 106 behind on 259/1. taylor had 129 and ervine well set on 45. it was looking good, we had only lost 1 wicket in about a day and a half of batting, now we only had half a day left to protect 9 wickets. it wasen't long before we lost 2 of those vital wickets, the england pacers, refreshed after lunch finally got breakthroughs, anderson clean bowled first ervine, for 48 and taylor for 139. my captain had seen off 435 balls and lasted 548 mins, surely thats some kind of record? anyway, we were in trouble on 273/3, still 92 behind and with 2 new batsmen at the crease. williams and waller did well, to see us through to tea, and hopelfully a draw, at 314/3. just after tea england took the new ball and the pacers had been rested this time, bad news for us! 3 balls into the first over, waller was clean bowled by broad for 20 and williams fell to anderson for 24 not long afterwards. raza saw off 86 deliveries, scoring just 16, before swann got him and the score was 359/6. by then we were 6 runs behind with just 14 mins left to play and we saw off those last few overs without further loss. we finished on 371/6, 6 runs ahead! we had batted out over 2 days and 189 overs! i was incredibly proud and we had done unbelievably well. even so, to pick up the well deserved points we would have to draw the 2nd test...
score: http://www.flickr.com/photos/5723953...in/photostreamComment
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Good to see the computer failing to keep its pacemen fresh for the new ball. I thought only I made that mistake.
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