Zimbabwe v New Zealand, Only Test, Bulawayo, 1-5 November, 2011

Clash of the big guns. I may actually fly over there, watch every day and stay in the stadium at night.

You might bump into Mark Vermeulen carrying a can of kerosene.

One can only hope, I always lose lighters.

McCullum goes early but Guptill and Williamson could put on a million.

Guptill gets a soft ton.

Taylor to follow tomorrow.

JGK wrote:Guptill gets a soft ton.

Taylor to follow tomorrow.

PMSL

He fell to the 5th ball he faced on the day. Poor bugger had no hope after JGK did his business.

His power is immense ... after all this time he should have learned to use it only for good.

**eyes wide, drops to one knee**

Bow down to the mighty creator of wickets, bow down to our Lord JGK.

The PCB is interested in a long-term contract.

And there it is:

143.3
Price to Martin, OUT, Oh cruelty. Quicker, flatter, doesn't turn much, stays low, and squeezes under the bat of the great man. Martin tucks the bat under his arm and walks off. That's duck No. 30
CS Martin b Price 0 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Brass Monkey wrote:Clash of the big guns. I may actually fly over there, watch every day and stay in the stadium at night.

Where are you getting your supplies from?

I brought three bags of Monster Munch with me. I'm fine.

So Coldplay made his 30th duck, ay? That includes a creditable 6 pairs. Add the 25 x 0* he has made and it means he has failed to score in 55 of the 90 times he has gone to the wicket. He is also sitting on 199 Test wickets so should pass 200 in this Test. He probably won't add to his 109 runs. Ace.

Batting definitely stronger than the bowling for the Zimboks at the moment. Taylor, Sibanda, Masakadza.....there's some good players there. Probably more solid than the Bangers batting.

Definitely more solid than the Bangers... I reckon a composite team would be quite a competetive unit.

Reasonably solid response from Bots, although at 5-284, they may have thought they get closer to the Sheep's 428 than the 313 they mustered.

Congrats to Coldplay on his 200th Test wicket. He is rapidly heading into the very rare "Test player with twice as many wickets as runs" category.

NZ not running away with it in their second dig, either. Vettori needed again to boost the total.

Having said that, with a 320 lead and counting, it looks like a comfortable win for the visitors.

Yeah, can't see the Bots coming back from this one. It's Ross Taylor who be the man. Nice one for mentioning him.

Brass Monkey wrote:Yeah, can't see the Bots coming back from this one. It's Ross Taylor who be the man. Nice one for mentioning him.

Taylor is selected purely as a batsman - he is expected to make some runs.

Vettori is a lower-order batsman, principally selected for his bowling - runs are a bonus (although often in fact close to essential for NZ).


Slightly strange that Taylor scored the double trombone in this game. Legs short of Australian Nelson both times. (87 - 11 = 76, if that was too abstruse)

Go you Zimboks. Dear God, I never thought I would ever utter those words

Bit hard to see them making 300 on the last day v Vettori.

And possibly the Toad's offies as well as Patel's.

Not to mention the seam attack of The New Pidge (batting-wise).

skully wrote:Bit hard to see them making 300 on the last day v Vettori.

Lets see what Vettori is made of - it 's not often that his batsmen have put him in the position of being an attacking bowler.

Zimbks are a chance here if they have some luck.