The final 15

I think Zhuwawo is a great choice as far as smokey's go... Kasteni was a shock, Marumisa was definitely out of left field, but Zhuwawo has a couple of good performances that back up his selection. I think Bradley Staddon will be the next "surprise" selection, ahead of the Sri Lanka series.

The disappointing thing about that squad is that there's no Ed Rainsford, but otherwise it's not too bad. At least ZC tried to contact Brendan Taylor... the important thing is they tried.

I liked seeing Utseya say in his interview that he wants to thrash Ireland and Kenya and silence them. That's the sort of aggression we need, hopefully Chawaguta is like Robin Brown and not Kevin Curran.

brmtaylor.com admin wrote:hopefully Chawaguta is like Robin Brown and not Kevin Curran.

There was an interview Chawaguta gave recently - can't find it right now - where he claimed he was fed up with hiding behind the "rebuilding" and "inexperienced" tags and felt it was time the players stepped up and played consistently to the level they've shown themselves capable of - very much in the Brown mould of being a proper taskmaster.

The only real question mark over him is how he'll handle the political side - he needs to be able to manage how he sees fit, and deal with under-performers without fear of being over-ruled (especially Takashinga players, I suspect), if he's to be a successful coach.

Maybe the Takashingalisation of the team is slowing down anyway, nobody would have questioned the selection of Shingi Masakadza (Tak) over Cephas Zhuwawo (OM), but it did not happen. And looking at the squad list it's hardly like the quotas are going to come into play on this tour.

So for Chawaguta that can only be a good thing, for him I can't see politics being a problem (not for these 2 tours anyway).

Of course, the big news now is that Taibu has manhandled a female administrator. This is really surprising and disappointing. I'm not sure how big a blowout this story is, The Herald say "manhandled", which isn't exactly assault but still not what you want in a headline either. Lovemore Banda pretty much confirmed The Herald's account of it, so things don't look great for Tatenda.

I doubt he will be dropped from the squad, but if there was some sort of unprovoked intentional physical contact (not really sure how to word it, The Herald were rather vague) he probably should be suspended for a couple of matches. It goes for any player, you don't want this sort of stuff going on... if you wouldn't approach someone on the cricket field in this way, why would it be okay for a (female) administrator? People make mistakes, so there's no need to hang him out to dry or anything, but if the incident did actually involve untoward behaviour (which it sounds like it possibly did) then I think a 3 or 4 match ban would be in order, even if it does weaken an already very weak squad.

In the past ZC have been quick to take action on players. Tino Mawoyo was stripped of the Zim A captaincy after inviting some girls into his hotel room in Bulawayo last year and then turning up to Queens SC drunk. Brendan Taylor did some pretty stupid things a few years ago and got slapped with a 6 month ban (later reduced). I think Masakadza might have missed (due to a ban) a Logan Cup match because of a clash with another player.

ZC can deal with this quickly if they desired... they say that they don't want to show bias by paying Taibu for bringing his family to Pakistan (God knows why he would want to take his family to Pakistan anyway). It would be showing bias if they didn't deal with this issue promptly like the other players. It's better for Zimbabwe's image to nip this in the bud, rather than sweeping it under the carpet because he's an important player. Andrew Symonds is an important player for Australia, but it demonstrates the professionalism of the Australian unit that they dropped him from the team even though he would have been a matchwinner in the upcoming India series.

Immediate disciplinary action should be taken against Taibu, if indeed the alleged incident was anything like how The Herald made it out to be.

jimbo wrote:Who would be a suitable replacement Batting wise should taibu not make the trip?. I would keep on ringing brendon's mobile phone if I was ZC, Certainly I think consideration should be given to someone like friday kasteni if taibu is slapped with a ban

Yeah, I agree. They should be trying to get Taylor (I'm not sure that Taibu is actually a better wicket keeper than Taylor anyway...), with Kasteni as the backup (I think he is an occasional wicket keeper too) and perhaps Tafadzwa Ngulube who is a very good wicket keeper / batsman.

jimbo wrote:One is that he missed Training camp twice and no reasonable excuses were provided

ZC didn't consider "I hit the nightclubs" to be a good reason 😂 😂

(Note: I don't know what his reasons for missing training were)

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/cricket50.18849.html

It looks rather serious, Taibu is facing court on charges of assault.

Taibu has withdrawn from the tour - official reason given is that his wife is unwell, but I don't think there's any doubt as to the real reason. Probably too late for a replacement to be named now - assuming they even travel, given the visa doubts.

http://sandbox.zimcricketnews.com/node/1811

I think that withdrawing was the responsible thing to do. I doubt Taibu would have been able to play to his full potential with this hanging over him even if he did travel.

According to the latest updates on Cricinfo, looks like the team is traveling to Canada after all, and Taibu has been successfully persuaded by the board to join the team. Can there be any more confusion? Icing on the cake would be to see BRMT turn up for the match on 10th October. :P

What would we do without Steven Price eh? :roll:

It underlines the problems within ZC that not only is Taibu - a bloke with assault charges hanging over his head - going to Canada and Kenya, but that he was encouraged to. He better damn well score half a dozen centuries so the excuse that he strengthens the squad actually holds up. :?