Story Zimbabwe Down Under - 2nd ODI - Zimbabwe Win Toss & Bat, Two Changes

Aislabie

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Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Tour Preview

Today, Zimbabwe, led by Brendan Taylor, embark on their first test tour in six years. It would be impossible not to improve on the diabolical season of 2005, but there couldn't be a tougher place to go for your comeback tour than Australia. Zimbabwe will have to hope that their young squad will be able to stand up to the rigours of playing against the team which, until recently, have been number one in the world for almost ten years.

Watch Out For
At just 25 years of age, Brendan Taylor has already accumulated a wealth of international experience. In 118 ODIs, he has scored three centuries against top eight teams. With twelve tons and an average of almost 40 in his 65 first class matches, it is clear that he knows how to build an innings. Alongside him in the top order will be Craig Ervine who scored 231 runs at almost 40 in the recently concluded World Cup, including three excellent half centuries. His brother played test matches for Zimbabwe too, and Craig has the highest first class average of any current Zimbabwean Batsman.

Strengths and Weaknesses
With four of them in their squad, it looks like Zimbabwe will be relying heavily on spin bowling. Ray Price (left arm), Prosper Utseya (off spin), Graeme Cremer (leg spin) and Timycen Maruma (googlies) each offer something completely different to the bowling attack. They have 326 international appearances between them, including 25 test matches, and Price was for a while the number one ODI bowler in the world. However, the strength in the spin bowling leaves them somewhat unprepared for the fast, bouncy wickets of Australia. Their lack of quality seamers could really count against them when push comes to shove. They only have three regular seamers in their squad: Tendai Chatara, Shingi Masakadza and Keegan Meth, who have only fifteen international wickets between them. They could end up relying heavily on Elton Chigumbura who is also key to the batting department.

Tour Predictions
Observers tend to expect Zimbabwe to be comprehensively whitewashed by the Australians. Indeed, it is difficult to see where, if anywhere, they are stronger than the hosts, and it could be a long and difficult tour.

Fixtures
T20I - Australia v Zimbabwe at Melbourne
ODIs - Australia v Zimbabwe at Brisbane
ODIs - Australia v Zimbabwe at Adelaide
ODIs - Australia v Zimbabwe at Perth
Test - Australia v Zimbabwe at Sydney


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Thanks to Zaxotes for the logos.
 
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Pakistani Army

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Indeed it will be a very difficult tour in terms of competitiveness. Although, it will pinpoint Zimbabwe as to which areas they have to brush up on in order to compete internationally. I feel if anything, their strength lies in the shorter format of the game. The Zimbabweans have been out of Test Cricket for a while so i feel the single test as appose to the traditional three - four match series should be a lot beneficial. Personally, I would have liked to see another T20 International in there.

Best of luck Zimbabwe! :thumbs
 

Aislabie

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Aussie Team

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Can't figure out who is the captain of Aussie.

Don't worry, your team will do it.
 

Aislabie

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Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Australia v Zimbabwe
Only T20 International at
The Melbourne Cricket Ground


Zimbabwe Bowlers Take a Hammering

With the new ball, Keegan Meth started very well, trapping Khawaja in front of his stumps, the left hander saved only by the virtue of the ball having pitched outside his leg stump. Unfortunately, the nervous Meth kept straying onto the leg stump, and was hammered for four three times in his first over. From the other end, the usually erratic Shingi Masakadza started very well, conceding just five runs from his over, all of them singles. Unfortunately, Meth undid all of that hard work by continuing to stray onto Khawaja’s legs and continuing to get the treatment. In his first twelve balls, he had conceded 23 runs, including five fours, and it was obviously time to get him out of the attack. Masakadza continued his good work in his second over, giving Cosgrove the bouncer-yorker treatment. Cosgrove missed them both, and was bowled.

David Hussey strode out to the crease bristling with confidence. After backing away and running his first delivery through the vacant third man area for four, he gave Khawaja the strike. Khawaja then hit two good balls from Masakadza through cover for four, and a total of thirteen had come from the over. With Australia on top, captain Taylor made a bowling change, bringing Chigumbura on to replace Keegan Meth. The all rounder started his over superbly, conceding just one from the first four balls and very nearly claiming the wicket of Dave Hussey. Unforgivably, he wasted that start by giving debutant Khawaja two easy long hops, which got hammered for boundaries. Shingi Masakadza’s third over began very frustratingly. He conceded three boundaries to Khawaja, each tonked through the leg side. He then produced a perfect yorker to castle Khawaja in full cry. He got mobbed by his teammates, but it begs the question: why was he persevering with bowling back of a length?

After turning his first ball through the leg side for one to complete the PowerPlay, Watson settled down to face Graeme Cremer who replaced Chigumbura after only one over. Cremer also started excellently, a string of dot balls culminating in the second LBW against David Hussey. This too was turned down, but this time Brendan Taylor used his first review. Unfortunately the ball was shown to have pitched just outside leg. Hussey decided to fight fire with fire, and dispatched Cremer for a couple of boundaries from his last two balls. Taylor took a big risk bowling Masakadza out, but it paid off as he conceded just three runs off the over.

Cremer continued, and conceded nine more runs off what was a respectable over, but against a class batsman like Dave Hussey, even good balls get hit for four now and again. Maruma came on in the tenth over as the fifth bowler and settled onto a good length, but still conceded eight runs off his over. At the halfway stage, Australia had clocked up 93 runs for the loss of just two wickets, and something had to be done to stop the rot. Unfortunately, it soon transpired that Chigumbura wasn’t the man to do it, conceding twelve runs from a dreadful over of long hops and half volleys.

Maruma too was dispatched, conceding a four and a six to Dave Hussey from decent balls. It looked like a double change was in order, and Keegan Meth was reintroduced. He bowled too short and too straight again, leaking a huge fourteen from his over. Coming back for his third over in three different spells, Chigumbura still looked ropey, getting planted for a six off a failed bounced, and then three fours on the bounce. On his fifth delivery, though, he pulled his length back just enough that Hussey played around a straight drive and was trapped in front of his stumps.

One Hussey replaced another, and Hussey senior came out to face the final ball of the fourteenth over. He hit it for a single, finishing the over off on nineteen runs. Graeme Cremer’s reintroduction saw possibly the best over of the innings so far. After starting off criminally by bowling a no-ball, Cremer trapped Watson in front of middle stump on the free hit. A misfield then went through a fielder for a boundary that shouldn’t have happened; a stumping was missed and an easy catch went straight to slip... who had been removed the previous over.

Taylor then turned to Sean Williams for some part-time spinners. Frankly, they looked part time, with four boundaries being hit from an over that went for eighteen. Cremer finished his spell with another excellent over containing another edge and only one boundary. Still, with three overs left and his two best bowlers now bowled out, Taylor looked very short of options. He turned to Timycen Maruma, who conceded ten runs but picked up the vital wicket of Shane Watson caught behind..

Now completely out of bowlers, Brendan Taylor decided that he’d have a bowl. He conceded twelve, which was fairly respectable in the context of an innings which had by now cruised past 200. And so, the final over went to a somewhat dejected Maruma. He went for two fours and a six to conclude an innings which had completely obliterated any self-belief the bowlers may otherwise have had.

SCORECARD
Khawaja | b Masakadza | 52 (22) || Meth | 3-0-37-0
Cosgrove | b Masakadza | 5 (7) || Masakadza, S | 4-0-35-2
Hussey, D | lbw Chigumbura | 76 (35) || Chigumbura | 3-0-40-1
Watson | ct Taibu, b Maruma | 36 (31) || Cremer | 4-0-35-0
Hussey, M | not out | 38 (19) || Maruma | 4-0-47-1
Hodge | not out | 17 (7) || Williams | 1-0-18-0
| Extras | 1 || Taylor | 1-0-12-0
Total |for 4 wickets | 224 |||

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timchrist984

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Good to see Hodgey back in the Aussie set up. He deserves it!
A good team effort from Australia has taken them to 224. Zimbabwe are no chance to chase it down.
 

Prithvi

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I'd have love to see Watto smashing the ball all round!
Nevertheless, good effort by Aussies! Would love to see Zimbabwe giving a healthy competition to Aussies.
 

Gaurav_7

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Very good presentation man, keep it up. Looks neat. Already liking the story, and coming to the match, Aussies have put up huge total. Don't think Zimbabwe will get there but would like to see them getting near at least. Taylor to go berserk!
 

Aislabie

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Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Australia v Zimbabwe
Only T20 International at
The Melbourne Cricket Ground


Run Chase Falls Short as Watson Claims Hat-Trick

Needing north of eleven an over to win the game, openers Hamilton Masakadza and Gary Chirimuuta had no choice but to go out swinging. Things started badly when Masakadza senior was trapped in front of his leg stump by Mitchell Johnson’s first delivery. The ball looked to be slipping down leg, but on the batsman’s review, hawk-eye said umpire’s call, and Masakadza had to start the long walk back for a diamond duck. Irvine and Chirimuuta both hit nice boundaries before Shane Watson, opening the bowling for the first time in his career, removed the number three. However, debutant Chirimuuta counterattacked brilliantly, hammering a four and a six so that the over went for twelve runs.

Even Chirimuuta couldn’t get Johnson’s next over away, though, as he followed the batsman beautifully to restrict them to only four singles from the over. Watson’s next over was much better. After settling into a good line and length, he was his for a boundary. Rather than losing his head, he kept cool and produced an excellent leg cutter to get Brendan Taylor caught at slip for just four. With three wickets down after four overs, Watson took Johnson out of the attack and replaced him with debutant James Faulkner. The Zimbabweans had no choice but to go after his military medium bowling, and it was not a surprise when Sean Williams played around a straight ball to make it four down from five overs.

The introduction of spin in the sixth over didn’t faze Chirimuuta who hung back and cut a boundary. Tatenda Taibu also cashed in on a long hop to take the nine off the over, which was still three and a half short of what was needed. Another beautiful over from James Faulkner, then O’Keefe was back. Despite his first four balls going for eleven, he kept a cool head and fired a yorker under Chirimuuta’s bat to trap him LBW. The debutant’s rear guard was over.

All that was left for Australia to do was mop up the tail, but Chigumbura stole eight runs from Faulkner’s third over. It was clearly too little too late as the required rate climbed up to fourteen runs per over, but at least Zimbabwe weren’t intending to go down without a fight. From O’Keefe’s next over, the veteran all rounder unfurled a huge slog sweep and a powerful flat-batted thump to take twelve runs from the over. James Faulkner continued, and in his fourth and final over, the Zimbabweans seemed to have the measure of him. Taibu drove him for three classy fours to plunder fifteen runs, and to get above the required rate.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and the introduction of ginger medium pacer Andrew McDonald saw the end of Chigumbura’s cameo. He was hit on the back leg in front of his off stump to become yet another LBW victim. In came Cremer at number eight, whose tactic of swinging from the hip brought him two boundaries and two swings and misses from the last four balls of the over. Spinner Steve O’Keefe came back after changing ends to bowl a magical over that leaked just two runs. No matter what Tatenda Taibu tried, he just couldn’t hit the ball off the square.

McDonald’s second over continued to produce misses from the Zimbabweans, although a swatted six brought a brief respite for Graeme Cremer. With the comeback of Mitchell Johnson’s searing pace, it was hardly surprising to see Taibu’s stumps rearranged as he just couldn’t get down on a yorker. After the loss of their last batsman, Meth and Cremer decided just to see out the rest of the overs, and not to worry about the target.

Shane Watson had other ideas. After forcing Meth to fend a ball into the hands of Cosgrove at short leg, he sent Shingi Masakadza’s off stump cartwheeling and then claimed the wicket of Timycen Maruma LBW to finish off a comprehensive thrashing with a hat-trick.

After the match, winning captain and man of the match Shane Watson said, “I’d first of all like to thank my teammates and the Australian management for giving me this opportunity. Dropping down the batting order was a difficult choice, but it meant I could take more responsibility with the ball, like I did today. We always had about forty too many runs, and the Zimbabweans did well to keep fighting in the run chase. They really needed a quality quick bowler today, because on a flat pitch we could really take their medium pacers to the cleaners.”

We look forward to the first ODI, but hope it can be a bit more of an even contest.

SCORECARD
Masakadza, H| lbw Johnson | 0 (1) || Johnson | 3-0-23-2
Chirimuuta | lbw O’Keefe |41 (27) || Watson | 3.2-0-24-5
Ervine | ct McDonald b Watson | 6 (5) || Faulkner | 4-0-30-1
Taylor | ct Hussey b Watson | 4 (7) || O’Keefe | 4-0-35-1
Williams | b Faulkner | 1 (2) || McDonald| 4-1-19-1
Taibu | b Johnson | 36 (30) |||
Chigumbura | lbw McDonald | 17 (10) |||
Cremer | not out | 19 (21) |||
Meth | ct Cosgrove b Watson | 5 (7) |||
Masakadza, S | b Watson | 1 (2) |||
Maruma | lbw Watson | 0 (1) |||
| Extras | 1 |||
Total |all out| 131 |||

Australia won by 93 runs


 
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Pakistani Army

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This margin of victory was expected. I felt that chasing 225 runs, that too against a fairly experienced Twenty20 line-up. The only negative i can take from this game is that during the run-chase, the Zimbabweans should have played out their full allotment of 20 overs.
 

Aislabie

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Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Fantasy Cricket Competition for you all to Enter

Hello everyone, and welcome to the fantasy competition I’ll be running while I play my way through this story. It will be free to enter, and the winner will be awarded the opportunity to pick the Zimbabwe World T20 squad for the tournament coming up after the test match. You can enter up to five teams each, so good luck.

Team Rules
- You must pick exactly six (6) players.
- Your team must cost no more than v$1 million.
- Your team must cost no less than v$800k.
- You can make transfers, but at a cost of 25pts each.

Available Players
Player | Cost
Brendan Taylor | v$250k
Tatenda Taibu | v$250k
Elton Chigumbura | v$200k
Craig Ervine | v$200k
Ray Price | v$200k
Charles Coventry | v$150k
Graeme Cremer | v$150k
Hamilton Masakadza | v$150k
Shingi Masakadza | v$150k
Prosper Utseya | v$150k
Sean Williams | v$150k
Tendai Chatara | v$100k
Gary Chirimuuta | v$100k
Timycen Maruma | v$100k
Keegan Meth | v$100k

Points Scoring
Action | Value
Scoring a run | + 1
Getting out | - 10
Conceding 3 runs | - 1
Take a wicket | + 20
Catch / Stumping | + 10

How to Enter
Enter by Private Message within a day (by midnight Friday, BST) of this post, or your entry will not be counted. Also, enter with your team name and the FULL NAMES of each player. If your team does not comply with the team rules, then your entry will not be counted.

Good luck.



 
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6ry4nj

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Is it one team per PM, or can you include all your teams on one?
 

Aislabie

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All in one. And also, I've changed my mind - made a slight tweak to the team rules.
 

Aislabie

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Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Australia v Zimbabwe
First One Day International at
Woolloongabba, Brisbane


Four Changes For Zimbabwe

Australia
BAT.png
Usman Khawaja
WK.png
Brad Haddin
AR.png
Shane Watson
BAT.png
Mike Hussey
AR.png
David Hussey
BAT.png
Ricky Ponting
AR.png
Cameron White
AR.png
James Hopes
AR.png
Mitchell Johnson
BWL.png
Clint McKay
BWL.png
Peter Siddle

With several changes to their winning formula from the T20, Australia have opted for something like their strongest side for the first ODI. They have replaced Cosgrove, Hodge, McDonald, Faulkner and O’Keefe with Ponting, White, Hopes, McKay and Siddle. There is a lot more pace in their bowling line up, and pace is something that Zimbabwe’s batsmen haven’t faced much of. They also have an absolute powerhouse middle order, and will be almost impossible to beat.

Zimbabwe
BAT.png
Charles Coventry
BAT.png
Hamilton Masakadza
BAT.png
Craig Ervine
BAT.png
Brendan Taylor
AR.png
Sean Williams
WK.png
Tatenda Taibu
AR.png
Elton Chigumbura
AR.png
Prosper Utseya
BWL.png
Shingi Masakadza
BWL.png
Ray Price
BWL.png
Tendai Chatara

After their drubbing in the T20, Zimbabwe will be looking to bounce back with a bang, and they have utilised the full depth of their squad to do so. Young Gary Chirimuuta will be feeling aggrieved to be left out, but replacing him is one-time ODI world record holder Charles Coventry, who opens with Masakadza who is on the back of a diamond duck. The middle order is unchanged down to number seven, while the only specialist bowler to be retained is Shingi Masakadza. He’ll open the bowling with Tendai Chatara, while the massive experience of Ray Price and former captain Utseya will certainly add some quick thinking to the bowling.

Shane Watson has won the toss for Australia, and has put Zimbabwe in to bat. “Hopefully,” he says, “we can put them under pressure from the start and keep the upper hand throughout, just like last week. Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson are bowling rapid at the moment, and will roll this top order.” Will he be right? We’ll be back soon to find out.
 
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timchrist984

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Ponting in the t20 side! Zimbabwe will win this comfortably

EDIT: Ah, cricket australia messing around with fixtures! This will unsettle the aussies. Zimbabwe will win this comfortably.
 
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