Zimbabwe Provinces scored their second successive win in the SAA Provincial Challenge 3-day competition, claiming the scalp of Free State in a 5-wicket win that, while convincing enough at the end of the day, also raised a few worries along the way.
The match was one of a few good individual performances and plenty of disappointments for both sides. Batting first, Free State managed 208 all out, led by Tienie Fick’s 84 and useful contributions from van Rauenstein (39) and Erlank (41) - but the remaining batsmen all failed to reach double figures, with Ed Rainsford (4/39) and Graeme Cremer (4/71) enjoying rich pickings to give Provinces a good start in the match. Unfortunately, come their turn to bat, Provinces’ innings matched Free State’s - good individual performances from Steven Nyamuzinga (44), Cremer (42) and Tino Mawoyo (37), but very little from the rest of the lineup, and Provinces were bowled out for 203, giving Free State a first-innings lead of just 5.
Depending on your point of view, things then got worse for Free State, or better for Provinces. In an innings where the top score was just 30, Provinces ripped through the Free State batting. Admire Manyumwa (3/13) took care of the top order, before Ed Rainsford turned in a blazer of a spell to deal with the tail, taking 6 wickets for just 21 runs conceded, with Free State clocking up four ducks along the way. That left Provinces with a target of 107 to win.
In best Zimbabwean fashion, though, Provinces’ top three batsmen managed to score nothing between them, as Mawoyo, Friday Kasteni and Terrence Duffin all departed without scoring, leaving the side looking decidedly wobbly. Regis Chakabva and Graeme Cremer steadied the innings, though, and proved a capable pair as they finally guided Provinces to the win.
A win is a win, of course, but once again a Zimbabwean side has suffered from wobbly batting. Sometimes I wonder how long it’s going to be before this particular bugbear is finally laid to rest. On the plus side, Ed Rainsford and Graeme Cremer must surely both be back in contention for the national side (quota issues allowing), after excellent performances.
Free State 208 (Fick 84, Rainsford 4/39) & 101 (Fick 30, Rainsford 6/21)
Zimbabwe Provinces 203 (Nyamuzinga 44, Cremer 42, Terblanche 3/40) & 107/3 (Cremer 31*, Nyamuzinga 21*, Kops 2/34)
Zimbabwe Provinces win by 5 wickets
Full scorecard below the cut. Next match: Griqualand West v Zimbabwe Provinces, 31 Jan - 2 Feb and 3 Feb 2008.
Free State 1st innings
MP Fick b Cremer 84
LN Mosena c Chakabva b Rainsford 0
RR Rossouw lbw b Manyumwa 4
H v. Rauenstein st Chakabva b Cremer 39
G Nieuwoudt b Cremer 6
M Erlank lbw b Cremer 41
RK Terblanche run out (Manyumwa/Chakabva) 1
CJD v.d. Schyff c Chakabva b Rainsford 9
WJ van Zyl c Chakabva b Rainsford 0
BB Kops b Rainsford 6
MN Saliwa not out 3
Extras (b 5, lb 3, w 1, nb 6) 15
Total (all out; 77.2 overs; 289 mins) 208
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Mosena, 4.3 ov), 2-23 (Rossouw, 12.2 ov),
3-94 (van Rauenstein, 34.3 ov), 4-104 (Nieuwoudt, 38.5 ov),
5-168 (Fick, 60.2 ov), 6-178 (Terblanche, 62.5 ov),
7-195 (van der Schyff, 71.1 ov), 8-197 (van Zyl, 73.3 ov),
9-200 (Erlank, 74.2 ov), 10-208 (Kops, 77.2 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
EC Rainsford 16.2 2 39 4 2.38 (1nb)
T Muzarabani 9 3 30 0 3.33 (2nb)
AM Manyumwa 11 3 36 1 3.27 (2nb, 1w)
NB Mahwire 13 3 24 0 1.84 (1nb)
AG Cremer 28 6 71 4 2.53
Zimbabwe Provinces 1st innings
TMK Mawoyo c Fick b van der Schyff 37
F Kasteni lbw b Saliwa 1
T Duffin c Mosena b Kops 0
B Mujuru run out (Saliwa/Mosena) 11
NB Mahwire c Rossouw b Terblanche 0
RW Chakabva c Mosena b Terblanche 25
SK Nyamuzinga c Mosena b Terblanche 44
AG Cremer c & b Kops 42
AM Manyumwa b van Zyl 10
T Muzarabani c Mosena b van Zyl 7
EC Rainsford not out 0
Extras (b 2, lb 5, w 8, nb 11) 26
Total (all out; 64.3 overs; 270 mins) 203
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Kasteni, 3.3 ov), 2-9 (Duffin, 4.5 ov),
3-47 (Mujuru, 18.1 ov), 4-47 (Mahwire, 18.4 ov), 5-83 (Mawoyo, 29.5 ov),
6-120 (Chakabva, 40.1 ov), 7-149 (Nyamuzinga, 44.2 ov),
8-182 (Manyumwa, 55.1 ov), 9-190 (Muzarabani, 57.6 ov),
10-203 (Cremer, 64.3 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
BB Kops 21.3 7 38 2 1.76 (2nb, 3w)
MN Saliwa 7 1 28 1 4.00 (4nb)
CJD v.d. Schyff 9 0 25 1 2.77 (4nb, 3w)
RK Terblanche 11 2 40 3 3.63 (1nb, 2w)
WJ van Zyl 16 0 65 2 4.06
Free State 2nd innings
LN Mosena c Chakabva b Manyumwa 25
MP Fick c Kasteni b Cremer 30
RR Rossouw c Cremer b Manyumwa 24
H v. Rauenstein c Manyumwa b Rainsford 4
G Nieuwoudt lbw b Rainsford 2
M Erlank b Rainsford 0
RK Terblanche lbw b Rainsford 1
CJD v.d. Schyff b Manyumwa 4
WJ van Zyl lbw b Rainsford 0
BB Kops b Rainsford 0
MN Saliwa not out 0
Extras (lb 7, w 2, nb 2) 11
Total (all out; 39.2 overs) 101
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Fick, 17.3 ov), 2-82 (Rossouw, 23.3 ov),
3-85 (Mosena, 27.3 ov), 4-91 (van Rauenstein, 32.2 ov),
5-91 (Erlank, 32.3 ov), 6-94 (Nieuwoudt, 34.4 ov),
7-95 (Terblanche, 36.3 ov), 8-95 (van Zyl, 36.4 ov),
9-100 (Kops, 38.2 ov), 10-101 (van der Schyff, 39.2 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
EC Rainsford 14 8 21 6 1.50 (2w)
NB Mahwire 5 0 19 0 3.80
T Muzarabani 6 3 11 0 1.83
AG Cremer 6 1 30 1 5.00
AM Manyumwa 8.2 2 13 3 1.56 (2nb)
Zimbabwe Provinces 2nd innings (target: 107 runs)
TMK Mawoyo b Kops 0
F Kasteni c & b Saliwa 0
T Duffin c Mosena b Kops 0
B Mujuru c van Rauenstein b van der Schyff 10
RW Chakabva c van Rauenstein b Saliwa 25
AG Cremer not out 31
SK Nyamuzinga not out 21
Extras (w 4, nb 16) 20
Total (5 wickets; 27 overs; 102 mins) 107
Did not bat NB Mahwire, AM Manyumwa, T Muzarabani, EC Rainsford
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Mawoyo, 0.2 ov), 2-0 (Kasteni, 1.6 ov),
3-6 (Duffin, 8.3 ov), 4-33 (Chakabva, 15.5 ov), 5-62 (Mujuru, 21.5 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
BB Kops 12 3 34 2 2.83 (2nb)
MN Saliwa 9 3 26 2 2.88 (2nb, 1w)
RK Terblanche 3 1 21 0 7.00 (4nb)
CJD v.d.Schyff 2 0 19 1 9.50 (4nb, 2w)
WJ van Zyl 1 0 7 0 7.00
Graeme Cremer has to be our first choice Test spinner.
BRm Taylor …what about Ray price ….Look at his first class stats….awesome …
Yeah. A couple of years ago Price had an amazing year of Test cricket, then the rebel crisis happened and Cremer played about half a dozen Tests.
In a lot of the First Class matches Zimbabwe play now, they manage to find room for three specialist spinners (Maruma, Price and Utseya), there is no reason why that couldn’t be Cremer, Price and Utseya. Graeme Cremer is almost a bowling allrounder now, he has had a wonderful season with both bat and ball - would have to be on the verge of international selection.
That is worrying me a lot …our reliance on spinners, all the big teams use one Spinner,Hogg/mcgill for australia,Vettori for NZ,Harris fo the proteas,Kaneria for Pakistan,Panesar for England only India go with harbhajan and Kumble but we play with four If I count in Williams who is also a good spinner. The last game against Pakistan shows we need more Pace, the addition on Mpariwa did the differrence. Well Cremer is becoming an allrounder well that may win him a place over Ray, but Maruma scored a good 70 recently against the Pakistan X1 doesnt he deserve to stay in. I would make the case more for Rainsford if we are to return to Tests we will need 4 good Seamers to ball the opposition out and with Ray and Prosper In we are definetely covered in the Spin department but I guess good backup and competition makes things better. Zimbabwe used to send students to that Pace academy in Indian any prospects of them sending maybe Mpofu and the other fringe bowlers there.
BRm Taylor what about rainsford hes really a macth winner i think he almost won the game single handedly he was awsome even cremer!!! duffin was not good how about giving ryan craig ervine a go for the provinces !!!
I know we have an unusual reliance on spinners, but they are decent spinners. Price is the wicket taker, Utseya the run-rate negater (and of late, increasingly becoming a wicket taker) and Cremer is the other wicket taker.
My plan to include these three in the first eleven is to promote Utseya to number 4 in Test matches. He is one of the few players who can knuckle down and build an innings. If you look at his last few First Class matches, he’s made a century as well as some reasonable not outs down the order (40’s and 50’s if I recall).
Playing Utseya at 4 opens room down the order for another bowler. Chigumbura of course bats at 7 as an allrounder as well - with these two playing as batsmen who can both bowl full spells, you then have space for 4 “specialist bowlers” at 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Cremer bats at 7, as he is the most talented batsmen of the “specialist bowlers” and is most likely to create a partnership with one of the established batsmen. Brent at 9, Price at 10 and either Mpofu, Mupariwa or Rainsford (or another deserving fast bowler) at number 11.
As it works out, you’ve got Chigumbura, Brent and another fast bowler in the team which makes for the three quicks that most teams have.
I hope I explained that well. Of course, it’s highly unlikely that it will ever happen, but that is how you include 3 quicks and 3 spinners in the lineup.
Fair and square …I guess we have to make the best of the resources we have and by giving everyone an opportunity natural selection will take place ie those who dont perfom will loose their places. I would rather not have brent for Tests though (Shaun Pollock got replaced by quicker bowlers. I would prefer to see a Test attack consisiting of Mpofu,Rainsford and Chigumbura and one day attack with Mupariwa and Brent but hey I am just a fan ferevently waiting to celebrate victories ….cmon BRM ….give me a century tomorrow….you guys are giving us hope that you gonna come right …Please cross the bridge more times.