Tour of Bangladesh moved up to October 2018

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Beware of the GAZI adverts during the tour

Eggy Stix or Eggy Pillows?

[zimstarr]

Egg stix

[Kriterion_BD]

This could be a very ugly tour for Zimbabwe especially if the big 5 don’t return !!! We really struggle against spin and Bangladesh don’t even attempt to make a fair pitch.

The pitches will likely be flat and take a bit of turn from Day 4 onwards. The last time ZIM toured the Khulna and Chittagong pitches were flat and started turning a bit only at the end of the match. Typical subcontinent wicket. The Dhaka pitch had turn and bounce, but also offered some pace and bounce for the quicks. Panyangara and Elton both did most of their damage in the Dhaka pitch because they were able to get some assistance from it. But they both struggled in Khulna and Chittagong which offered typical BD wickets.

We put out rank turners against England and Australia after watching what Sri Lanka did and realizing that was our only way competing with those teams. Same tactic against Sri Lanka backfired miserably in Chittagong after the dead produce a draw in Dhaka.

Very much a horses for courses approach from the BCB.

That being said, keep an eye out for the Sylhet wicket. Its *supposed* be the most seam friendly track in BD, but that is probably not saying much.

And if ZIM sends their current 2nd string side, there is no reason to make anything other than a dead flat track.

[The Robot]

This could be a very ugly tour for Zimbabwe especially if the big 5 don’t return !!! We really struggle against spin and Bangladesh don’t even attempt to make a fair pitch.

The pitches will likely be flat and take a bit of turn from Day 4 onwards. The last time ZIM toured the Khulna and Chittagong pitches were flat and started turning a bit only at the end of the match. Typical subcontinent wicket. The Dhaka pitch had turn and bounce, but also offered some pace and bounce for the quicks. Panyangara and Elton both did most of their damage in the Dhaka pitch because they were able to get some assistance from it. But they both struggled in Khulna and Chittagong which offered typical BD wickets.

We put out rank turners against England and Australia after watching what Sri Lanka did and realizing that was our only way competing with those teams. Same tactic against Sri Lanka backfired miserably in Chittagong after the dead produce a draw in Dhaka.

Very much a horses for courses approach from the BCB.

That being said, keep an eye out for the Sylhet wicket. Its *supposed* be the most seam friendly track in BD, but that is probably not saying much.

And if ZIM sends their current 2nd string side, there is no reason to make anything other than a dead flat track.

Zimbabwe should play two leg spinners against Bangladesh in Test with Raza & Williams as other two spinners. Muzarabani, Jarvis & Mire should be the pacers. Cremer & Mavuta should play as Bangladesh isn't comfortable playing leggies.Neither they have a quality leggies in their domestic cricket

H Masakadza
S Mire
C Ervine
P Masvaure
B Taylor
S Raza
S Williams
B Mavuta
G Cremer
K Jarvis
B Muzarabani

[zimbos_05]

For mine, Hamilton is done. Keep him as a backup if needs be, but as a starter he is finished. At least not as a guaranteed starter. In tests, Give the slot to Kamunhukamwe or Musakanda. Also promote Moor to the top of the order. Mire for me is a one day player, unless he is coming in down the order like a Gilchrist type.

[Jemisi]

After the evidence of this winter there is no way we are ready to be Hamiless.

[Black Mamba]

For mine, Hamilton is done. Keep him as a backup if needs be, but as a starter he is finished. At least not as a guaranteed starter. In tests, Give the slot to Kamunhukamwe or Musakanda. Also promote Moor to the top of the order. Mire for me is a one day player, unless he is coming in down the order like a Gilchrist type.

Kamunhukamwe sure....but Moor & Musakanda can be declared now as inconsistent, both are talented but have deep problem in their mindset,always throws away their wickets

[Black Mamba]

Playing two leg spinners in test might be a great idea, as pacers are least effective in Bangladesh and moreover both can bat

[jaybro]

Playing two leg spinners in test might be a great idea, as pacers are least effective in Bangladesh and moreover both can bat

Finger spinners have plenty of success in Bangladesh, there’s no way I’d be playing Cremer & Mavuta.

Cremer is clearly the main guy and I also think Chisoro would do very well, but the fact is our weakness will be batting so we’ll likely have to revert to the controversial 8-3 lineup with Raza and Williams doing plenty of bowling.

Raza is probably the 2nd best spinner now in the country so he can be looked as a genuine all rounder imo.

I’d even be tempted to play 1 seamer and play Chisoro depending on what type of pitch they prepare, Kriterion thinks the pitches will be flat but I have my doubts. I can’t see any of our seamers being effective in BD and considering there are already questions marks over Chatara’s fitness over 5 days I doubt he would even be considered.

I think we should play at least 3 if not 4 left hand batsman to try and negate Shakib & Taijul, although with Mehidy they have a good offie who could cause problems for the lefties.

I know the first test is ages away and who knows who’ll be available, but best case scenario this is my XI for the first test

Hami
Prince
Ervine
BT
Burl
Raza
Williams
Murray wk
Cremer
KJ
Blessing / Chisoro

[Kriterion_BD]

Raza and Williams are good enough spinners to bowl 20-25 overs per innings. Cremer of course will be the leader. Bangladesh have a lot of LHBs so Raza will be even more important. If the pitches turn, those 3 will be even more of a threat, as Malcolm Waller proved in the last tour.

Two leg spinners could be risky as leg spinners are prone to bowling horror spells.

I think the best XI would be:

Hamilton
Chari
Ervine
Taylor
Raza
Williams
Murray
Cremer
Chisoro
Jarvis
Blessing