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Probably the biggest game Zimbabwe has played in since the 1999 super sixes and although bigger games may be to come in a weeks time this match is crucial and will have a massive influence on what happens in the later stages of the tournament. It's no secret Afghanistan has Zimbabwe's number having won 15 of the 24 ODI matches between the nations including 4 series wins. The Afghanistan spinners caused Zimbabwe's batsman massive issues in Sharjah so negating Rashid and co will be paramount to Zimbabwe's chances of winning this crucial match.

It will be interesting to see if Sean Williams is risked in this match having not fully recovered from a broken finger and having zero time in the middle, Zimbabwe will also be tempted to play Chisoro instead of Jarvis as the match is Bulawayo but will look to Scotland's early success with their seam attack in Sunday's upset match.

I think Zimbabwe's best chance is to win the toss and bowl first and hopefully get some assistance for their seamers to take some early wickets to restrict Afghanistan to a chase-able total, it will be interesting to see if Zimbabwe attack Rashid like Scotland did to put him off his game. Afghanistan will have to decide if they want to bring in another seamer or extra batsman to suit the conditions, they will be tempted to leave the squad as is and play 4 spinners and try to strangle the Zimbabwean batsman once more.

If Zimbabwe are able to beat Afghanistan then Rashid and co will know they can't afford another loss for the remainder of the tournament

A big game for Zimbabwe. I think a Zimbabwean win will make it very difficult for the Afghans to qualify. I assume points are carried forward to the Super Sixes?

eugene wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 06, 2018 12:12 am

A big game for Zimbabwe. I think a Zimbabwean win will make it very difficult for the Afghans to qualify. I assume points are carried forward to the Super Sixes?

Yes points from group stages are taken through to super sixes BUT the points you accumulate against the TWO lowest ranked sides are dropped off for some odd reason, so if Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan then it's likely Afghanistan will enter the super sixes with ZERO points

That would virtually kill of afghanistans chances.

Would make it a three horse race.

Any update on Sean Williams ? Is he fit for today ?

jaybro wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 06, 2018 12:49 am

Yes points from group stages are taken through to super sixes BUT the points you accumulate against the TWO lowest ranked sides are dropped off for some odd reason, so if Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan then it's likely Afghanistan will enter the super sixes with ZERO points

Its not an odd reason. It makes the Super 6 a virtual round robin league where all 6 teams use their points gained against the other 5 super 6 teams. That way points gained from beating the infra-minnows like UAE and Nepal don't skew the final tally.

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 06, 2018 3:54 am

jaybro wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 06, 2018 12:49 am

Yes points from group stages are taken through to super sixes BUT the points you accumulate against the TWO lowest ranked sides are dropped off for some odd reason, so if Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan then it's likely Afghanistan will enter the super sixes with ZERO points

Its not an odd reason. It makes the Super 6 a virtual round robin league where all 6 teams use their points gained against the other 5 super 6 teams. That way points gained from beating the infra-minnows like UAE and Nepal don't skew the final tally.

It’s wrong imo because it saves your arse if you slip up against Nepal or UAE etc I’d be pissed off if we finished in the same points as Afghanistan but lost out on NRR despite winning more games than them ( if Afghanistan were to lose to Nepal or Hong Kong )

jaybro wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:21 pm

I think Zimbabwe's best chance is to win the toss and bowl first and hopefully get some assistance for their seamers to take some early wickets to restrict Afghanistan to a chase-able total, it will be interesting to see if Zimbabwe attack Rashid like Scotland did to put him off his game. Afghanistan will have to decide if they want to bring in another seamer or extra batsman to suit the conditions, they will be tempted to leave the squad as is and play 4 spinners and try to strangle the Zimbabwean batsman once more.

Yes, agreed. I just get the feeling that if we bat first we'll get rolled over cheaply with the majority of our batters getting out trying to play the sweep/reverse sweep.

We win the toss, bowl first, take advantage of any movement there may be, grab a few early ones and watch them fall apart under pressure.

...and Jarvis has to take the new ball with Chatara. It doesn't look like Vitori can still bowl that big in swinger and he's just looking to run in and bowl at 140+ which didn't work in Sharjah. I wouldn't mind if Blessing came in for him.

Hopefully Williams comes in for Waller

jaybro wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 06, 2018 4:38 am

It’s wrong imo because it saves your arse if you slip up against Nepal or UAE etc I’d be pissed off if we finished in the same points as Afghanistan but lost out on NRR despite winning more games than them ( if Afghanistan were to lose to Nepal or Hong Kong )

Yeah but the rule is the same for all 10 teams. All 10 teams are aware or should be made aware by now that only points in games vs fellow Super 6 stages will count. This is actually a very old ICC rule anytime they have Super n phases (eg 2007 WC and previous). Its not used anymore because now its a knockout format. But I guess you would have favored a knockout format more (with semifinals after the group phase) rather than the super 6 format.

I like the rule for the following reasons:

if we can agree that after the group phase of 4 games each, the top 6 teams are in fact the best 6 sides at the tournament, then only points gained in matches between them should be used. Because essentially the super 6 is like the main tournament.

Lets say two teams have 2 wins in a hypothetical tournament. Team A beats India and Australia. Team B beats Sri Lanka and West Indies who have already been knocked out. I think its fair enough for Team A to progress. Granted, no system is going to be perfect.

I think the bigger concern is not having a reserve day for rained out games.

jaybro wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 06, 2018 4:38 am

It’s wrong imo because it saves your arse if you slip up against Nepal or UAE etc I’d be pissed off if we finished in the same points as Afghanistan but lost out on NRR despite winning more games than them ( if Afghanistan were to lose to Nepal or Hong Kong )

My bad. I see what you're saying. Yeah that would be pretty ridiculous. But I guess it evens out because the ICC has the NRR provision. At every stage of every game you have the option to ensure that you have a fallback by keeping a higher net run rate.