The Zimbabwe Independent reports that the selection of a new coach for the Zimbabwe national side has been deferred to May, after ZC unexpectedly received a deluge of applications for the post. There are apparently 15 names currently in the hat, with that list expected to be cut to a shortlist of 6 that is in no way short on quality - the paper names the likely shortlist as Zimbabwe greats Grant Flower and Heath Streak; former South Africa and Australia Test players Kepler Wessels; former Surrey coach Alan Butcher; former SA Test player and Western Province coach Gary Kirsten; and current Mashonaland Eagles coach Chris Silverwood. Compare that list to the four applications received last time the coach's post was advertised, and it's clear to see how ZC has turned the appeal of the Zimbabwe side around.
Zimbabwe Independent - Kirsten, Butcher Want Zim Coaching Role
February 08, 2010
ZimCricketNews
Selection of New Coach Deferred After Deluge of Interest
Riki Wessels Planning to Return Next Year
Midwest Rhinos player Riki Wessels (son of Kepler Wessels, one of the applicants for the position of national coach) has indicated that he plans to return to the side next season. Wessels has had a fairly successful time with Rhinos so far, 313 runs at an average of 34.17 in the six Logan Cup matches he's played so far, and in an interview with the Zimbabwe Standard had good words to say about the standard of play in the competition this year:
"I am busy trying to sort out my papers so that I can return to play next season. I really enjoyed my time here with the Rhinos and cricket has a bright future in Zimbabwe. It is not long before Test cricket returns to the country because I have seen they have got quite a few exciting young cricketers like Vusi Sibanda, Brendan Taylor and Graeme Cremer."
"If you see these guys performing like this at their age it means they will get better as they grow older. [The franchise system] has helped a lot because the cricketers are now playing a lot of competitive cricket regularly and a lot of former players have also returned. The future is good and what is needed is a bit more exposure for the cricketers by playing against quality sides. The first year of running a franchise is also the difficult part. But this year it has gone rather well and the challenge now is to improve on the next season."
Wessels is expected to return to Northamptonshire during the upcoming English season.
Zimbabwe Standard - Wessels Set for Comeback
Rhinos Draw with Rocks to Keep Final Hopes Alive
Midwest Rhinos battled out a draw with Sean Ervine.. er, Southern Rocks to keep their chances of a place in the Logan Cup final alive - just. It was a match that was dominated by a few key players, most notably returning 'rebel' Sean Ervine, who scored a career-best 208 & 160 with the bat, going on to take 3 wickets in the match. Rhinos won the toss and opted to bat, and put on a disappointing 267 before being bowled out, with Malcolm Waller's 124 being the one performance to impress. Blessing Mahwire took 3/26 for Rocks. In reply, Rocks got off to a very shaky start, being 4/13 at one point, before the Ervine brothers joined forces at the crease to add 178 for the fifth wicket. Craig was eventually out for 81, while Sean went on to 208. With the best score beyond the brothers being a paltry 26 from Tendai Chisoro, it really was Ervines versus Rhinos.
Facing an unexpected first-innings deficit, it was Rhinos' turn to step up to the plate, and with a little help from Brendan Taylor, who one-upped Sean Ervine by scoring 217, they did. Innocent Chikunya chipped in with 75, with Graeme Cremer reaching 53 not-out before the side declared on 443/5. That left Rocks chasing 337 to win, a target that the side threw themselves into in much the style of a Twenty20 match. While the third-wicket partnership of Steve Marillier and Sean Ervine was at the crease, there even seemed to be a chance for an unlikely Rocks win, but Marillier's removal with the score on 152 was the beginning of a procession of wickets, and also saw the run-chase drop well below the required rate. Ervine finally went for 160, and the match drew to a close 2 overs later with Rocks still 59 runs short.
That leaves Mountaineers in the driving seat for the remaining spot on the final, with Rhinos needing to beat them next week, and out-score them on bonus points, to claim the place. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 267 (77.5 overs; Waller 124, Mahwire 3/26) & 443/5 decl (94 overs; Taylor 217, S Ervine 2/63), Rocks 374 (105 overs; S Ervine 208, Cremer 5/125) & 278/8 (82 overs; S Ervine 160, Muzhange 3/58). Match Drawn.
Tuskers Trounce Second-String Eagles
Matabeleland Tuskers deprived Mashonaland Eagles of their unbeated record in the latest round of Logan Cup matches, although any joy at the win should be tempered by it being over a clearly second-string Eagles side, as coach Chris Silverwood opted to rest his top players with his side already assured of top place in the tournament table and a place in the final. Put into bat after Eagles won the toss, Tuskers set a first-innings total of 425 before declaring with 2 wickets in hand, with Keith Dabengwa leading from the front with 136, and Bornaparte Mujuru (71) and Dion Ebrahim (74) also making significant contributions. Innocent Chinyoka (4/83) was the most effective of an Eagles attack that saw 9 different bowlers have a go.
The Eagles batting was even less effective than the bowling, too. In their first innings, they were bowled out for 264, falling short of the follow-on target and being forced to bat again as a result. Prince Masvaure led the first-innings scoring with 94, while Ryan Butterworth's 102 in the second added at least some respectability to the score as Eagles were bowled out again, this time for an even 300. Chris Mpofu claimed a 5-wicket haul in the second innings to top the bowling figures for Tuskers.
Eagles' capitulation left Tuskers with a fairly easy 140 to chase to win, which they managed for the loss of three wickets. Mujuru again played a key role with the bat, scoring 61 not-out as Tuskers eased home. That ends the 'regular season' for Eagles, who have a bye for the final round of matches but can rest assured that they can't be caught by the sides behind them, while Tuskers go on to play Rocks in a dead rubber that shouldn't affect their final standings. Full scorecard below the cut.
Tuskers 425/8 decl (105.2 overs; Dabengwa 136, Chinyoka 4/83) & 142/3 (32.4 overs; Mujuru 61*, Munyede 1/14), Eagles 264 (96.4 overs; Masvaure 94, Nyumbu 3/77) & 300 (following on; 102.3 overs; Butterworth 102, Mpofu 5/75). Tuskers win by 7 wickets.
AnimeVision
Cyberteam in Akihabara #1: Cyber Genesis
Take the hardsuits of Bubblegum Crisis, add the magical girl sensibilities of Sailor Moon, and add some cutesy mascots that could be straight out of Pretty Cure, and you have Cyberteam in Akihabara - and if that sounds like an unholy chimera of a show, you wouldn't be too far from the truth. Time for a trip to the anime basement...LiveJournal
Daily Tweets
- Getting an overnighter in London later in the month, courtesy of work. Plotting how to waste the free time I'll have... #
- In my day, I would've got a demerit and a strip of sandpaper: j.mp/cVbvTK #wtf #
- Wants: j.mp/9ZveCb (YouTube link) #
After a first volume that didn't make a whole lot of sense, X TV tries to make amends in volume two by spelling the show's basis out in words of one syllable. Despite that, I'm still not entirely sure what's going on - but at least it's a little more enjoyable to watch now...
Where Van and Hitomi go, the Zaibach Empire is never far behind, with death a destruction usually part of the scenery once they arrive. This time, it's the nation of Freid that's on the receiving end - and with Freid hiding some important secrets, the stakes may be higher than usual...
Probably no great surprise, this one, but FUNimation have confirmed that they'll be releasing Dragonball Z Kai later in 2010. Kai is a HD remastering of the original Dragonball Z series, with all the filler neatly stripped out (reducing the series from the original's 291 episodes down to around a hundred) and a re-recorded soundtrack. Not something I'll be rushing out to buy, but I'm sure there are plenty of DBZ fans who will.
Claymore's reputation has it somewhere alongside Berserk on the blood-and-guts scale, and the opening episodes of the anime adaptation waste no time in getting down to the blood-letting. Clare is a half-human, half-demon killing machine - but one with a heart, somewhere...
Crunchyroll's latest acquisition in Phantom Thief Reinya, a series of animated shorts following the adventures of the eponymous Reinya and her run-ins with the inept Oh-Edo Police Department. The series is a vehicle for Reina Tanaka, from the idol group Morning Musume. The first three episodes are already available (although at the time of writing, the videos were suffering from audio sync issues that CR are trying to fix).
