Well its a Sunday and I do have a little time in this fuel line.
First in terms of Tests and T20s I dont think we play enough games to have a development programme there so we should play our best teams. For ODIs I believe we need a development programme as it guarantess our survival.
Secondly in ODIs I believe Hami and Mire going is good. Mire was living off reputation for over 18 months. I also believe we should "retire" 1 of the senior players a year. Hami being the first. Then Ervine end of next year. Raza in 2021 and both Williams and BT after the 2023 world cup. I genuinely believe those 2 can last the distance. Raza for me looks uninterested. Even when he is playing ODIs. Forever in t20 mode. So maybe he can start instead of Ervine. This is for ODIs only by the way. At the same time efforts must be made to bring in players.for example Murray to takeover Hami's contract. Welch for Ervine. Blessing for Raza. I also dont count Jarvis as a senior player. He is slightly younger.
ODIs
Kamunhukamwe(healthy list A average)
Burl(coming good)
Musakanda(needs to be given a run)
BT
Ervine
Williams
Raza
Mutombodzi(best batsman out of all those spinners)
Jarvis
Chatara
Mpofu(very good slower ball)
8 of those guys would still be around for the 2022 qualifiers with only Bobby Raza and Ervine being replaced. Hopefully for Murray Blessing and 1 other batsman brought back into the system. Rumour has it Matigimu wants to try his luck down south so I wont include him and thats why Jarvis probably survives. Not too sure about Mumba in ODIs but we will see I guess
Tests
We only play like 2 a year so pick the best you can
PJ(decent test player)
Burl(good FC average)
BT
Ervine
Williams
Raza
Chakabva(wk)(no other choice until Murray commits)
Mutombodzi(we dont have a good frontline spinner)
Jarvis
Mumba
Chatara
T20
Again pick the best you have. I would even bring back Hami and Mire and Waller . Its only 3 hours.
Basically all these guys up to number 9 can hit a clean 6 without having to get out of their comfort zone. Im sorry but Burl Ervine and Williams will always have to do something out of their skillset to accelerate which is too risky for me if we are serious about qualifying for a t20 world cup
I didnt use conditions etc because I am now at the front of the fuel line
This is good Taps. We can quibble, but in the main you're showing the kind of structure that ZIM need to focus on in order to improve. That's a lot of faith Mutombodzi in Tests though, and strange absence of Chisoro in LOIs.
All in all it's safe to agree Kasuza is the batting version of Rainsford.
To this day, no one can tell you why Faf and Philander were picked so late. I read countless of criticisms of David Miller and Farhaan Berhadien in LOIs, and I argue they excelled in development for SA A/XI in 4-day more than 1-day, and should never have been punished/boxed for some brilliant limited overs performances. They are long format players, but none of them has a Test cap. Considering their small pool, ZIM must not waste the likes of Kasuza, Sauramba and Jongwe.
How much faith do you have in Mashinge? He's ZIM's best u19 since Jongwe. That says something.
Well its a Sunday and I do have a little time in this fuel line.
First in terms of Tests and T20s I dont think we play enough games to have a development programme there so we should play our best teams. For ODIs I believe we need a development programme as it guarantess our survival.
Secondly in ODIs I believe Hami and Mire going is good. Mire was living off reputation for over 18 months. I also believe we should "retire" 1 of the senior players a year. Hami being the first. Then Ervine end of next year. Raza in 2021 and both Williams and BT after the 2023 world cup. I genuinely believe those 2 can last the distance. Raza for me looks uninterested. Even when he is playing ODIs. Forever in t20 mode. So maybe he can start instead of Ervine. This is for ODIs only by the way. At the same time efforts must be made to bring in players.for example Murray to takeover Hami's contract. Welch for Ervine. Blessing for Raza. I also dont count Jarvis as a senior player. He is slightly younger.
ODIs
Kamunhukamwe(healthy list A average)
Burl(coming good)
Musakanda(needs to be given a run)
BT
Ervine
Williams
Raza
Mutombodzi(best batsman out of all those spinners)
Jarvis
Chatara
Mpofu(very good slower ball)
8 of those guys would still be around for the 2022 qualifiers with only Bobby Raza and Ervine being replaced. Hopefully for Murray Blessing and 1 other batsman brought back into the system. Rumour has it Matigimu wants to try his luck down south so I wont include him and thats why Jarvis probably survives. Not too sure about Mumba in ODIs but we will see I guess
Tests
We only play like 2 a year so pick the best you can
PJ(decent test player)
Burl(good FC average)
BT
Ervine
Williams
Raza
Chakabva(wk)(no other choice until Murray commits)
Mutombodzi(we dont have a good frontline spinner)
Jarvis
Mumba
Chatara
T20
Again pick the best you have. I would even bring back Hami and Mire and Waller . Its only 3 hours.
Basically all these guys up to number 9 can hit a clean 6 without having to get out of their comfort zone. Im sorry but Burl Ervine and Williams will always have to do something out of their skillset to accelerate which is too risky for me if we are serious about qualifying for a t20 world cup
I didnt use conditions etc because I am now at the front of the fuel line
This is good Taps. We can quibble, but in the main you're showing the kind of structure that ZIM need to focus on in order to improve. That's a lot of faith Mutombodzi in Tests though, and strange absence of Chisoro in LOIs.
All in all it's safe to agree Kasuza is the batting version of Rainsford.
To this day, no one can tell you why Faf and Philander were picked so late. I read countless of criticisms of David Miller and Farhaan Berhadien in LOIs, and I argue they excelled in development for SA A/XI in 4-day more than 1-day, and should never have been punished/boxed for some brilliant limited overs performances. They are long format players, but none of them has a Test cap. Considering their small pool, ZIM must not waste the likes of Kasuza, Sauramba and Jongwe.
How much faith do you have in Mashinge? He's ZIM's best u19 since Jongwe. That says something.
Mashinge is still raw. He needs time. The problem is we dont play enough A cricket to test them. Playing against Nigeria doesnt count as A cricket.
Mutombodzi on his day can be as destructive as Cremer. The problem is I feel he needs to pick his bowling over batting instead of the other way round. He needs more control like Cremer but I personally believe he uses his googly a lot better than Cremer and he bowls it far more often.
Mashinge is still raw. He needs time. The problem is we dont play enough A cricket to test them. Playing against Nigeria doesnt count as A cricket.
Mutombodzi on his day can be as destructive as Cremer. The problem is I feel he needs to pick his bowling over batting instead of the other way round. He needs more control like Cremer but I personally believe he uses his googly a lot better than Cremer and he bowls it far more often.
In all fairness anyone would look raw on those Singapore pitches. The Namib has more life than those decks. But yes he does need time and good competition.
If Cremer had control he would have bowled earlier in innings. I think Mutombodzi's bowling is quite ok - much better than Raza, Williams and Burl(but compared to them he actually started as a frontline bowler so understandable). Having said that, I would pick Mavuta over him. The problem with asking Mutombodzi to give up his batting is counterproductive. He has the 6th highest score in Logan Cup history and Top 20 all time runs - averaging more than Chamu, Prince, Dabengwa and Mawoyo, and about the same as Raza. How is that possible? Simple - he's been doing unbelievable numbers in 4 of the past 6 Logan Cup seasons. He's Top 10 List A in the last 6 seasons.
So why aren’t they picking Kasuza?
Moor is definitely good enough for all formats in this side.
In my opinion we have one real T20 specialist, and that’s Cephas, but he’s too hit or miss for me, but awesome to watch when he gets hold of it. He got a bit lucky in the T20 and they spilt a couple of easy catches, it would have been a different game if he’d gone out a few overs before, but that’s cricket, especially against Associates.