South Africa vs Zimbabwe

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by Ahmed_B
It's interesting that ZIM scored almost 250 runs for just 4 wickets against a strong SA side... because if they had been chasing something like 250.. they (ZIM) might have scored merely 200+ runs for 7/8 wickets in 50 overs. This same thing also happens to BD.. that they score less when they are chasing a smaller total but they(BD) easily score 250+ when they are chasing a 300+ total.

This statistics shows a different side of the mindset of weaker teams like BD or ZIM... that they don't really know what they are capable of scoring. When they are aiming for 300+.. they get to 250 quite easily (which proves that they are capable of doing it).. but when they have to reach 250 for winning.. they struggle to cross 200(and this shows their lack of self-belief).

Great observation.

Teams except BD and Zim have a decent stable lineup. Each player already know their roles in the team. Stability goes hand in hand with consitency. For us and Zim, talent and experience wise we are not there yet. Consistency is unknown in our vocabulary. Once the lineup is stable, once the players are consistant, we would not see the above phenomenon.

Andy,
Smith is crazy. On a knockout stage (semis and finals), you target a 350 and go out 240 with 15 overs remaining will be suicidal. I must say teams of those calibre adjust to the situation in the middle of the games.

As for Curren, he can't let them run lose yet. The average age is on 20+. Those ODI strategy will haunt the test team once they get back in the fold. Looking at the big picture with 418 to chase, his strategy was fine. The boys did great. It is a loser mentality but that keeps them out of the record books as much possible.

[fai_hasan]

bangladesh went to Africa, why didn't they play with South Africa? they played with Zimbabwe and Kenya but not South Africa. i think they should have played at least a test series with them.

[battye]

Originally Posted by fai_hasan
i think they should have played at least a test series with them.

At least a Test series? An ODI series would be much easier to organise. Anyway, weren't South Africa in Sri Lanka at the time?