There may have been only one person who was not panicking when Zimbabwe were shot out for 164 in the first innings of the first Test against New Zealand. The same person knew they would do better as the series wore on. That person was their captain Graeme Cremer.When you dont play enough cricket you can come into a Test match and be shell-shocked and thats what happened, he said. I knew guys were going to fight back.Even in that first innings, Zimbabwe rallied hard with Prince Masvaure and Donald Tiripano posting 85 for the ninth-wicket. They sunk again, to 17 for 4 in the second innings, but found their first hero. Craig Ervine scored the first fifty for a Zimbabwean batsman in the series and Sean Williams scored the first hundred.Zimbabwe did not get to a second new ball in either innings of the first Test but kept New Zealand in the field for 143.4 overs the next time they batted. Ervine picked up where he left off and scored a career-best 146, Chamu Chibhabha showed his potential as opener with 60 and Peter Moor delivered with 71 on debut. Although their final effort was a flop - bowled out for 132 after being 97 for 3 - Cremer was pleased with the progression.It was good to see the guys learn and willing to get stuck in. For two of the guys to get hundreds was excellent, he said. And then Donald, with bat and ball looked like he had been playing for a couple of years now. He is one of the guys that really put up his hand. Prince also showed he can play. Our younger guys just need that little bit of confidence.Zimbabwes biggest problem has been their bowling, which lacked variation. The seamers did not make New Zealands batsmen play enough and although Cremer was the pick of the spinners on either side, he needed too much from his part-time options, which took pressure off. Zimbabwe had to settle for a mere six New Zealand wickets in the second Test.Despite that, Cremer defended his attack for bending their backs on a surface so helpless even New Zealand were wondering how to bowl the opposition out twice. The bowlers worked hard. When we prepared a wicket like that, we knew it was going to be tough to take 20 wickets and theyve got a good batting line-up that a lot of teams would struggle to get wickets against so credit to our guys for working hard.Despite losing 0-2, that Zimbabwe showed improvement from one Test to the next, which spoke to their ability and desire to keep playing at the highest level, even as world cricket regularly ignores them. New Zealand, though, seem interested and impressed. Their polite press-conference chatter about how hard Zimbabwe made it for their bowlers was backed up by genuine observations of the improvements Zimbabwe made between matches. Kane Williamson even predicted that with more game time, Zimbabwe will get better quickly.Cremer felt the same way. There are a lot of people in the system now who have realised that we need to play more cricket, he said. We are heading in the right direction, if we can keep getting a lot more cricket. We are getting some A team tours and our first-class structure is going to be a lot longer.As things stand, there has been no announcement about the format of the new domestic system except that Zimbabwe are moving away from a franchise competition to a provincial one. There is also no clarity about upcoming international fixtures. Zimbabwe are not due to tour anywhere in the next year and the Sri Lanka series scheduled in the country for later this year may not include Tests. After two weeks of capturing some attention, Zimbabwe may fade into obscurity again. But there is one person who is unlikely to be panicking about that. Their new captain Graeme Cremer. Melvin Frazier Jersey . 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The Flyers recorded a 5-0 win in Ottawa on Nov. 12 and then earned a 5-2 home decision on Nov. 19. The Flyers have claimed three straight and four of the last five encounters with the Sens overall and Philly has won two in a row and three of its past four tests in Canadas capital city. Michael Doleac Jersey . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. NEW YORK -- Bright lights, big city, ol country hardball.Madison Bumgarner against Noah Syndergaard with the season on the line. A pair of towering tough guys you probably dont want to mess with.Playoff pitching matchups dont get much better.Toting his outstanding October resume to the mound, Bumgarner will start for the San Francisco Giants against Syndergaard and the New York Mets in the NL wild-card game Wednesday night.The winner moves on to face the major league-best Chicago Cubs (103-58) in a best-of-five Division Series. The loser heads home for the winter.Its going to be an exciting game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Tuesday, when both teams worked out at Citi Field. I mean, this is the fun thing about postseason is youre going to get great matchups like this.It took 162 games to set it up.San Francisco, the top team in the majors at the All-Star break, struggled badly throughout the second half before finishing with a four-game winning streak. That was enough to hold off St. Louis by one game and secure the last NL playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.New York, the defending NL champion, was two games under .500 on Aug. 19 after losing two straight in San Francisco. But with slugger Yoenis Cespedes and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera back from the disabled list, the Mets posted the top mark in the majors (27-13) from that point on and jumped over four teams in the pennant race, booking their postseason trip Saturday with one game to spare.Both teams finished 87-75, and New York earned home-field advantage by winning the season series 4-3.Good major league players, when it comes crunch time, they turn it on, Mets manager Terry Collins said. So Im not really sure that momentum going in means a whole lot. Both of us have had to play good at the end -- we did.Citi Field should be rocking Wednesday night, but Bumgarner and the Giants know all about thriving in playoff pressure. The team is 8-0 under Bochy when facing postseason elimination, all since 2012. And after winning World Series titles in 2010, `12 and `14, the Giants want to extend their pattern of even-year championships with another run through October.The last time Bumgarner pitched in the postseason, he saved Game 7 of the 2014 World Series in Kaansas City with five scoreless innings on two days rest to cap one of the greatest postseason performances in baseball history.dddddddddddd His 0.25 ERA in five career outings is the lowest for any pitcher with at least 25 innings in the Fall Classic.He was 15-9 with a 2.74 ERA and 251 strikeouts this season.With us finishing up the way we did, I feel really, really good about our chances, Bumgarner said.The 6-foot-5, 250-pound lefty, born in Hickory, North Carolina, started San Franciscos playoff surge in the 2014 wild-card game by striking out 10 in a four-hit shutout at Pittsburgh -- a similar assignment to Wednesday.We have been through this before. Weve been down this road. I like this wild-card thing, Bochy said. I love it. I have to. We have a ring because of this wild card and have a chance now.The 24-year-old Syndergaard, with long blond locks and the nickname Thor, is no inexperienced sophomore.The 6-foot-6, 242-pound righty from Mansfield, Texas, joined Bumgarner on the All-Star roster this summer and went 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA and 218 strikeouts over 183 2/3 innings. Featuring a 100 mph fastball, sharp slider and impressive control of several secondary pitches, he won a pair of postseason starts as a rookie last year -- including Game 3 of the World Series against the Royals.He has the best stuff for a starter in all of baseball, Bumgarner said back in San Francisco.Last fall, Syndergaard caught everyones attention with his first World Series pitch: a sizzling fastball well above Alcides Escobars head that dusted a hot hitter who liked to swing at the initial offering.Hes not intimidated by anything, Collins said. Hes not afraid. He wants to take charge. His stuff speaks for itself. I think hes grown as a pitcher. I think he trusts his stuff a lot more now.Syndergaard, for his part, is eagerly anticipating Wednesday night.Its just a dream come true, he said. Its going to be really exciting and Im looking forward to getting out there and feeling the energy from the hometown crowd, just having an awesome time.---AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report. ' ' '