My worry, though, is that the UAE have no more pressure; they've kept their ODI status, all their guys have kept their jobs and won't be deported back to Pakistan.
ZIM have a NRR of +0.520 accumulated over very nearly 200 overs. So that gives them a cushion of 104 runs. So unless the lose by 100 to UAE they will still have a positive NRR.
But the other teams also have NRR's very close to ZIM. So a tied on points scenario could get tight.
The only time Zimbabwe and the UAE have faced off in an ODI was at the 2015 WC and they gave us a fright after setting a good total of 285 the UAE had Zimbabwe in trouble at 5-167 in the 33rd over before Williams and Ervine guided us home.
Only 3 guys survive from that UAE side Mustafa, Naveed & Anwar
The only time Zimbabwe and the UAE have faced off in an ODI was at the 2015 WC and they gave us a fright after setting a good total of 285 the UAE had Zimbabwe in trouble at 5-167 in the 33rd over before Williams and Ervine guided us home.
Only 3 guys survive from that UAE side Mustafa, Naveed & Anwar
How the hell do you turn over 70% of your team in three years? Especially when they were at their best.
Actually reminds me of the team that has the opposite issue.
Ireland has been around forever. I counted 7 starters still in the team from the 2011 World Cup.
Australia only has steve Smith and maybe Warner from that team, and surprisingly we only have 4, even though it feels like our cores been around forever.
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:
FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay
How the hell do you turn over 70% of your team in three years? Especially when they were at their best.
Actually reminds me of the team that has the opposite issue.
Ireland has been around forever. I counted 7 starters still in the team from the 2011 World Cup.
Australia only has steve Smith and maybe Warner from that team, and surprisingly we only have 4, even though it feels like our cores been around forever.
Hire and fire, I suppose. It probably makes more sense to look at the UAE as a professional club (a mediocre or struggling one) than as a national team. For example, the football club I support has also only two or three players from three years ago still on its books.
How the hell do you turn over 70% of your team in three years? Especially when they were at their best.
That is because the UAE cricketers are part-time cricketers. They basically form a team around who is available. It is hard for all the best cricketers there to be available at all times.