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Sri Lanka 'A' Secure Clean Sweep of ODI Series

Fri, 02/11/2007 - 00:00 — admin

Sri Lanka 'A' won the third ODI in Harare yesterday, although their winning margin was the smallest of the series, at 31 runs. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, with openers Mahela Udawatta and Dilruwan Perera making hay from Gary Brent's early bowling (19 conceded from his first two overs) - although Brent was later to redeem himself by taking 4/43 from his 10 overs, including both openers in his haul. With most of Zim's bowlers going for over 5/over, though, Sri Lanka were piling on the runs, until a late-innings collapse (4 wickets in the space of 15 runs) saw them bowled out for 264 in the final over.

Zimbabwe Select took the cautious approach at the beginning of their innings, with Vusi Sibanda and Brendan Taylor putting on 61 runs in just over 11 overs before Taylor finally fell, caught at gully for 13 while trying to up his own pace. Chamu Chibhabha then consolidated with Sibanda, taking Zim to 148 before Sibanda got carried away and was removed for 85 - Zim's best score of the innings. At that point, things looked quite promising, but from there a steady procession of wickets and the usual poor batting saw Zimbabwe bowled out for 233 after 48 overs. Sri Lanka had their series whitewash, and after showing some promise in the first 4-dayer Zimbabwe were left with a series they'd probably rather forget.

Sri Lanka 'A' 264 (49.4 overs; Kandamby 62, Brent 4/43), Zimbabwe Select 233 (48 overs; Sibanda 85, Herath 3/24). Sri Lanka 'A' win by 31 runs, win series 3-0. Full scorecard below the cut.

Sri Lanka A innings
ML Udawatte	c Chibhabha b Brent	        21
MDK Perera	c Taibu b Brent	                48
BSM Warnapura	c Taibu b Chigumbura	        39
TM Dilshan	c Sibanda b Chigumbura	        31
SHT Kandamby	c Matsikenyeri b Brent	        62
CK Kapugedera	c Chibhabha b Mupariwa	        7
JK Silva	c Sibanda b Utseya	        1
KTGD Prasad	c Utseya b Brent	        28
HMRKB Herath	b Chibhabha	                8
WCA Ganegama	b Chibhabha	                5
MKD Amerasinghe	not out	                        1
    Extras	(lb 1, w 11, nb 1)	        13
    Total	(all out; 49.4 overs)	        264

Fall of wickets: 1-74 (Udawatte, 10.4 ov), 2-84 (Perera, 14.2 ov), 
3-147 (Dilshan, 23.6 ov), 4-151 (Warnapura, 25.1 ov), 
5-174 (Kapugedera, 29.5 ov), 6-175 (Silva, 32.2 ov), 
7-249 (Kandamby, 46.2 ov), 8-249 (Prasad, 46.3 ov), 
9-260 (Herath, 47.5 ov), 10-264 (Ganegama, 49.4 ov)

Bowling	        O	M	R	W	Econ	
E Chigumbura	10	0	67	2	6.70	(4w)
GB Brent	10	0	43	4	4.30	(4w)
NB Mahwire	9	1	31	0	3.44	(1nb, 1w)
P Utseya	10	0	51	1	5.10	
T Mupariwa	7	0	47	1	6.71	(1w)
CJ Chibhabha	3.4	0	24	2	6.54	(1w)


Zimbabwe Select XI innings
V Sibanda	c Kapugedera b Dilshan	        85
BRM Taylor	c Dilshan b Prasad	        13
CJ Chibhabha	run out (Kapugedera)	        67
T Taibu	        st Silva b Herath	        10
S Matsikenyeri	b Perera	                17
E Chigumbura	b Herath	                3
P Utseya	b Perera	                6
GB Brent	lbw b Herath	                1
T Maruma	c Warnapura b Prasad	        2
NB Mahwire	not out	                        13
T Mupariwa	run out (Dilshan)	        3
    Extras	(b 1, lb 8, w 4)	        13
    Total	(all out; 48 overs)	        233

Fall of wickets: 1-61 (Taylor, 11.4 ov), 2-148 (Sibanda, 27.5 ov), 
3-177 (Taibu, 34.3 ov), 4-198 (Chibhabha, 38.6 ov), 
5-204 (Matsikenyeri, 41.1 ov), 6-208 (Chigumbura, 42.5 ov), 
7-212 (Brent, 44.4 ov), 8-216 (Utseya, 45.1 ov), 
9-218 (Maruma, 46.2 ov), 10-233 (Mupariwa, 47.6 ov)

Bowling	        O	M	R	W	Econ	
MKD Amerasinghe	8	0	37	0	4.62	(1w)
WCA Ganegama	4	0	32	0	8.00	
KTGD Prasad	9	1	39	2	4.33	
HMRKB Herath	10	0	24	3	2.40	
TM Dilshan	6	0	35	1	5.83	(2w)
MDK Perera	10	0	44	2	4.40	(1w)
SHT Kandamby	1	0	13	0	13.00

Comments

Thu, 01/11/2007 - 05:43 — farhan (not verified)

Srilanka should win this match easilly too with the ability vise.well ZIM bolwing is too weak to upset srilankan players. thier bolwing lack penetration to be honest.

Fri, 02/11/2007 - 00:10 — brmtaylor.com admin (not verified)

That's right farhan, I'm not sure what has gone wrong to be honest. The bowling looked fine in the ICC World Twenty20.

In the third match against Sri Lanka A, in all their wisdom, the selectors went with 6 specialist bowlers (assuming you count Chigumbura, who made 3 runs)

E Chigumbura 10 0 67 2 6.70 (4w)
GB Brent 10 0 43 4 4.30 (4w)
NB Mahwire 9 1 31 0 3.44 (1nb, 1w)
P Utseya 10 0 51 1 5.10
T Mupariwa 7 0 47 1 6.71 (1w)
CJ Chibhabha 3.4 0 24 2 6.54 (1w)

Maruma was also playing, but didn't bowl. With a top score of 17*, I bet he wasn't picked for his batting, so who knows why he didn't have an over or 10.

Zimbabwe has some serious problems. They really should have won this entire series quite convincingly. It seems we rely on the same players too often. If Sibanda, Taylor, Chigumbura and Brent aren't firing, game over. Sadly, Taibu has been very disappointing.

The one positive to come out of this series is Chibhabha. I think he scored his maiden FC century in one of the earlier games, and has performed well throughout.

So, where to go from here? Well, different players need to be exposed through A teams and Zim Provinces matches. Apparantly Rinke made 80 odd in the Vigne Cup, and Ryan Ervine (yet another brother of Sean Ervine!) made 80 in the same match. Get these players involved. There is also Craig Ervine, who seems to have dropped off the radar a bit lately though. It's pretty clear that the Ervine's a very good cricketing family, so why not give them a few First Class games to prove their worth.

Hondo played in the Vigne Cup this week. I thought he quit due to the dreadlocks affair, but if he is willing to return, he should get a game. 61 ODI and 21 Test wickets to his name should be worth something. At 28 he would offer a lot of experience too.

Zim XI:

1. V. Sibanda
2. B. Taylor
3. C. Chibhabha
4. T. Taibu
5. H. Masakadza
6. S. Williams
7. E. Chigumbura
8. G. Brent
9. P. Utseya*
10. C. Mpofu
11. D. Hondo

If you are feeling ambitious, but I probably wouldn't do this for an ODI, you could drop Chigumbura down to number 8, replacing Mpofu or Hondo, and play another specialist batsman. If Hondo is unavailable, then Rainsford should play.

Zim 2nd XI:

1. T. Duffin*
2. P. Rinke
3. R. Butterworth
4. S. Matsikenyeri
5. A. Maregwede
6. K. Dabengwa
7. A. Cremer
8. T. Garwe
9. B. Mahwire
10. E. Rainsford
11. T. Mupariwa

It is disappointing to remove young and talented prospects, like Kamungozi, Chakabva and Chauluka from the 2nd XI, but having said that, those two sides above are, by current Zimbabwean standards, very strong. Well, on paper anyway. Not having Matsikenyeri in the first XI shows there is a fair bit of batting strength. Really, Williams, Masakadza and Matsikenyeri are all fighting for 2 places.

The "development" players can have a couple more years in Logan Cup to hone their skills.

By developing a strong 2nd XI, it makes the transition a lot easier when promoting someone to the main team. While the likes of Nyamuzinga and Muzarabani are many years away from national team selection, in my opinion, the above 2nd XI doesn't contain any players that couldn't potentially be promoted and succeed.

Fri, 02/11/2007 - 00:20 — maehara (not verified)

Hondo played in the Vigne Cup this week. I thought he quit due to the dreadlocks affair, but if he is willing to return, he should get a game

I believe he’s also had ongoing problems with a stress fracture in his back which is limiting his playing, so dreadlock issues aside I’m not sure he’ll ever be fit enough again for the top level. He’s also had involvement with ZC’s coaching side, though, so he’s not completely out of the picture.

I was disappointed that Rinke was put to one side after the West Indies trip - he’s a good pinch-hitter and racked up some impressive scores against Bermuda and Canada, all that he needed was to learn how to control that aggression against the stronger bowling and he could have had some real potential - but ZC just dropped him. Based on his domestic performances, though, he’s definitely worth a second look.

Rainsford’s return is unlikely, but other than that I can’t argue with the rest of your choices…

Sat, 03/11/2007 - 22:58 — dr.situ (not verified)

Yeah, Rinke unfortunately failed miserably in WI. He hit some hard hitting knocks in his debut deries against Kenya too. Definitly he should have been tried.

In the Zim XI though i'll still prefer Stuey over Masakadza.If its 4-day mt then Hamilton will be my first choice.He's such an amazingtalent but never really lived upto his reputation apart from his sensational debut century in Clive Loyd trophy.