[MATCH THREAD] Zim v Afg WCQ Group B 7th Match

[PSR]

A bit of overreaction from Taylor tbh. It's Afghanistan after all not India or Australia

It's not about the opponent...It's about the context of the game in the tournament..

[Googly]

How’s that an over reaction? He’s been brought back here and expected to deliver and until the last two games has had a shocking time of it, and we need every run, every win and every wicket. The pressure on these lads has to be unbearable. Giddy up boys!! You can do this.

[firebreaker]

Poor ICC went into this tournament thinking in the back of their minds that WI and Afg will steamroll through the other teams but to their horror Afghanistan is almost gone from the tournament. I won't be shocked if ICC plant few matches to get both of the teams to WC

[foreignfield]

The final wicket and ensuing celebrations from a different angle: https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/637399

Raza, stump in hand, leading the QSC pavillion in a "Vitori, Vitori" chorus, has made my day even brighter

[Kriterion_BD]

Firstly, what an impressive win from ZIM. Back from the dead. Hats off to Chatara and Vitori who only conceded a single boundary in the final 8 overs when just 1 more would have iced the game for the AFG.

What a Bangladesh type choke job from the Afghans though. They are an excellent bowling side, but their braindead and quadriplegic batting is what will hamper them. And they don't even have that idiot Stanikzain in the squad to gift free wickets to opposition for no runs. Highly disappointing that their selectors continue to pick ridiculous players. The team is basically just 5 players: Rashid, Nabi, Rahmat, Dawlat, and Mujeeb. 6 of the players don't add any value 90% of the time, with the captain being the most useless of the lot. Can't bat, doesn't bowl, and drops sitters. That being said, they still have a chance to qualify if the sweep their remaining games - which they are of course capable of doing. Their net run rate is basically 0 at this stage so a couple of big wins may be enough for them. But they have to bank on two of WI, IRE, and ZIM to lose two or more super 6 games, which is again of course entirely possible. It will really come down to which is the form team and which team can minimize their mistakes. We've already seen here between two poor batting sides, AFG blinked first with their epic collapse.

I've been saying it for years now, Afghanistan are just like BD. The parallels are almost uncanny.

1) Both teams that developed rapidly. AFG went from Division 5 to Test status in 9 years. Bangladesh went from being worse than UAE/Kenya in 1996 to winning Test matches against England/Australia in 20 years.

2) Both teams provide a decent market for the ICC.

3) Both teams have obnoxious fans (all Asian teams do, haha).

4) BD will lose to Hong Kong in one series, then beat India in another. Afghans will thump the Windies in a game, but might lose the next one to a PNG or UAE.

5) Both teams are prone to ridiculous batting collapses. AFG were 156-3 today and still found a way to lose despite having all the momentum for 85% of the match.

6) Both teams have had some successes at the U-19 level.

[zimlover]

How did we win that game? That was a shocker from the boys hats off to Muzarabani for his 4 wickets

[Flakeman]

Wow, stopped watching at 117/3. This makes me too happy, just absolutely amazing.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Can somebody please tell me how many more games to go?

Is it 5 or 7?

Two more pool games plus three (other pool teams) or all 5 in the sixes stage?

[Andybligzz]

What a win , that is the biggest confidence booster for the lads that they needed ! I thought we were gone and buried , I honestly did. Great effort by Taylor , raza ( all round performance ) and especially my boy blessing he seriously is getting better every time he plays it’s great signs for Zim. Hopefully now these arrogant twats can’t qualify and it’s a massive wake up call they need , zim showing the experience of years of being a test playing nation . Obviously meant more to the boys ! So proud and happy today

[TapsC]

Should be 5 more games. We won't play Afghanistan or Scotland again

We win 4 of those games and we are home. Scotland shouldn't be taken lightly. Funny thing about the format is that a loss to Hong Kong would mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things as they probably won't qualify. This is perfect to experiment some combinations we might need to implement as the tournament progresses.

Hong Kong are up next so I would stick PJ Cephas and Chisoro in the team and see how they play. Williams too to see if he has recovered and if he can bowl a bit. Give Ervine another proper go and hopefully he can hit some form. Switch up the order just a lil bit. Play a 8-3 to see how it goes.Give Mire some bowling responsibilities and see how he goes.

I would go with

Cephas
PJ
Hami
BT
Ervine
Williams
Raza
Mire
Chisoro
Blessing
Jarvis

I think this team would still be good enough to beat Hong Kong and it will at least give us a better picture of where some of these guys are before making tough decisions going forward. Just drop Waller completely

Or we could just stick to the usual and keep the momentum going.