Taibu speaking to AFG, IRL, SCO for fixtures

[Kriterion_BD]

I think we would have to win a shit load of games against Afghanistan, Ireland and Scotland if we want a top 8 spot ....

Yeah...beating then 20 games to 5, and then picking up some 2-1 or even 3-0 series wins vs India or NZ second string sides when they tour is the way to move up the rankings table. But even that will take 2-3 years.

[TapsC]

organising fixtures against any team ranked from 6-9 is going to be so difficult this year because of that cut off date for automatic qualification. why would the west indies or Bangladesh risk coming to Zim and losing a few games before the cut off date?. don't even know why any team not in the top 5 would have let the idea of a 10 team world cup stick anyway with all the money that's at stake. I have a funny feeling if a nation with a huge following like Pakistan doesn't make it they will change the rules. you cant rule out losing an ODI to anybody. if I was ZC I would push to host the qualifiers and play it in our own conditions.

[Kriterion_BD]

They wont change the rules for Pakistan. You have realize why its a 10 team World Cup vs a 12 or 14 team tournament.

10 teams, means India plays guaranteed 9 matches with at most 1 being against an associate team. In a 12/14 team tourney they'd only play 5 or 6 games with only 3 against stronger sides. Those additional 3 India games are worth far more money than 10 world cup campaigns for Pakistan. So if Pakistan doesnt make it, they wont change the rules, and Pak would be in no position to argue either.

And the Big 3.due to their money and player base will.never fall outside thr top 5 in any format.

[jaybro]

As football expand their World Cup from 32 to 48 cricket goes from 14 to 10 ....

[Kriterion_BD]

FIFA is going to 48 teams? Holy shit thats a lot.

[Kriterion_BD]

I think we would have to win a shit load of games against Afghanistan, Ireland and Scotland if we want a top 8 spot ....

Yeah...beating then 20 games to 5, and then picking up some 2-1 or even 3-0 series wins vs India or NZ second string sides when they tour is the way to move up the rankings table. But even that will take 2-3 years.

I actually remember Bangladesh's recent ODI rankings.

Before the 2014 series vs Zimbabwe...Bangladesh had 68 points and ZIM had 55. Bangladesh won 5-0 and went up to 75 points only. That is a 7 point increase for 5 wins or 1.4 points per win. Given that ZIM and IRE/AFG have a slightly smaller gap in points, a 5-0 win for ZIM would probably yield a slightly higher 8-9 point rating boost. But the marginal increase would get smaller as the gap grows larger. Thus it would take 7 or 8 series, at the least of 5-0 whitewashes to gain the 40 points to topple past Pakistan into the top 8.

Series wins against top 8 sides makes that jump much easier.

For example, Bangladesh went from 75 points before the 2015 world cup to 97 after the South Africa series. Those 22 points came from beating AFG in the world cup (no points from Scotland as far as I know because they aren't on the ODI rankings table), beating England, then winning 3-0 vs Pakistan, and 2-1 vs India and South Africa. So that is a total of 8 wins fetching those 22 points. So that is an average of almost 3 points per win.

So Zim would need about 10 wins vs top 9 sides now to gain 40 points on the ratings table. Which means about 30 wins vs Afghanistan or Ireland.

[CrimsonAvenger]

This is all academic. Playing regular cricket is the only priority in planning for these matches, not automatic qualification. That train passed the station long ago. Hope is, this regular cricket would stand us in good stead come qualifying. Not holding my breath for that to happen too.

[jaybro]

This is all academic. Playing regular cricket is the only priority in planning for these matches, not automatic qualification. That train passed the station long ago. Hope is, this regular cricket would stand us in good stead come qualifying. Not holding my breath for that to happen too.

Exactly right Crimson auto selection for Zimbabwe isn't in the radar. These games are all preparation for the qualifying tournament. Streak and Taibu should sit down and look at which players they think will be primed by the time the tournament comes around, even if that means picking someone like Burl who hasn't had much cricket but is definitely a guy who with some exposure to international cricket could win games. Also sticking with a guy like Carl Mumba even though someone like Tiripano is right now a better odi bowler than Mumba he is a guy who could turn into a strike bowler with the new ball if he finds his feet. Something Donnie will never be dispite his whole hearted performances.....

[brmtaylor.com admin]

This is all academic. Playing regular cricket is the only priority in planning for these matches, not automatic qualification. That train passed the station long ago. Hope is, this regular cricket would stand us in good stead come qualifying. Not holding my breath for that to happen too.

Exactly right Crimson auto selection for Zimbabwe isn't in the radar. These games are all preparation for the qualifying tournament. Streak and Taibu should sit down and look at which players they think will be primed by the time the tournament comes around, even if that means picking someone like Burl who hasn't had much cricket but is definitely a guy who with some exposure to international cricket could win games. Also sticking with a guy like Carl Mumba even though someone like Tiripano is right now a better odi bowler than Mumba he is a guy who could turn into a strike bowler with the new ball if he finds his feet. Something Donnie will never be dispite his whole hearted performances.....

Totally agree CrimsonAvenger, and jaybro.

We've got no chance of reaching the top 8, it's not even worth pursuing that. We've got about a 50/50 chance of finishing above Ireland and Afghanistan at best, so we need to maximise our chances of doing that. I feel by playing Ire/Afg a lot more we're actually helping them and giving them more chances of finding weaknesses they can exploit... but it's probably a risk worth taking.

[Kriterion_BD]

I feel by playing Ire/Afg a lot more we're actually helping them and giving them more chances of finding weaknesses they can exploit... but it's probably a risk worth taking.

Yeah. My observation has been that ZIM dont make adjustments which the opposition makes and thats why ZIM progressively slip as a series goes on. Any sport is about making continuous tweaks to your game. Its read and react. Its going to be interesting for sure. Ireland seem to be slipping and they could well crash put of the qualifiers in embarassing fashion based on their current form.