Chris Bobby Mpofu in action earlier on in his career
The Coca Cola Tri Series came and it’s gone although it is one we would like to erase from our so ever quickly, there is a few positives we drew from it. There were however top cricketers who did not really rise to the occasion even though the we failed to produce the desired result as a team. So let’s take a closer look at how the individuals’ players did this series.
1) BEST BOWLER
Prosper Utseya, He took 9 wickets to be the top Wicket taker so far (Equal with Australia's Hastings). His performances were made even sweater as large sections of the fans didn't see him as a wicket taker; in fact, many don't wish to see him in the test side, but he seems to have answered these doubters.
2) BEST BATSMAN
Regis Chakabva, He is the highest scoring Zimbabwean bat of the series with 142 runs. These runs were scored at an average of 35.5 and despite his failure in the first match, he came back to be our most consistent bat. He also showed a great ability to read the game-he was able to play slowly and score runs when all around him were losing their wickets and he was able to score fast in the last game against SAA, where a bonus point was required for progression to the final. What he needs to do now is reach his potential, where he scores 40s and 30s, Taibu was scoring 50s and 70s.
3) DISAPPOINTING BOWLER
Ray Price, he went for runs and failed to pick up a wicket, leaving the more pessimistic to ask if his age has caught up with him. If we'd gotten in the final and Ray was fit, he probably would have gotten a bagful. He's still a top bowler despite the disappointing few games.
4) DISAPPOINTING BATSMAN
No, it's not Elton Chigumbura, it's Craig Ervine- He's ultimately to blame for both our losses against South Africa A. A few runs from him in the middle order-as is reasonable to expect, and we would have won. Unfortunately all he did was dither and fail-innings after innings. He needs to pick his game up again otherwise when guys like Taibu, Duffin and Mawoyo come back, he would be the man to make way (Well, such would be the case if selectors were little bit considerate).
5) MOST PERPLEXING PLAYER
Elton Chigumbura. While any other player (well, most of them-it is the ZC we're talking about here) would have been dropped for such poor/dodgy performances with bat and ball, Elton's hung in there despite 3 series' poor performances so, it would be fair to congratulate him for not only his resilience, but his influence-how else could he be managing to stay in the team? Better players like Hamilton and similar players like Chibhabha have been dropped yet he stays in there. But, it's not all doom and gloom and it's largely not his fault. He began to improve his bowling-in fact; it got better with every game! So, surely he can get in the team on his bowling alone? NOPE! Chatara, Vitori, Mushange, Nicholson etc are better bowlers and would give us better 10 overs. So to warrant a place in the team Elton has to be the ALLROUNDER-he has to bat well. Which he's still failing to do, something which was compounded by his golden duck in the last game against the Proteas second stringers where a few runs would have helped us get across the finish line, and bag the bonus point, he could even have taken his time and played himself in-we were quite ahead of the run rate, yet he went out to slog and got bowled.The general belief is that he has too much experience and skill for such mediocrity.
6) (PLEASANT) SURPRISE PACKAGE
Brian Vitalis Vitori. He should have been in from the start after his performances in the practice games. GIVE HIM MORE GAMES!
7) MOST CONSISTANT PLAYER
Chris Mpofu, Give the man a medal. He's turned into a premier seamer! If we only had a replica “Magwegwe Express” to open the bowling from both ends we would certainly be a different team wouldn’t we be?...
The analysis was a well magnified look at the events and performances done in conjunction with one of our biggest followers and friends on our facebook page, Cricket Zimbabwe.
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