South africa Tour of Zimbabwe | Test Series | 28 June - 10 July 2025

[zimbot]

Bennett
kaitaino
Welch
Ervine
Williams
Wes
Tsiga
Matigimu
Newman
Masekesa
Muzarabani

This is the side i would go from the squad.
Wes may be needing to bowl a fair bit of spin.

I wouldn't mind this eleven. I think they may go with 2 spinners in the 1st Test, so Wasakadza will probably play.

Bennett
Kaitano/Prince
Welch
Williams
Ervine (c)
Wes
Tsiga (wk)
Matigimu
Wasakadza
Muzarabani
Masekesa

[sloandog]

Feel a bit bad for Jono Campbell really. Not done a lot wrong but, I'm hoping his time will come again. Is turning to a 36 year old to open the batting really a good idea? Not so sure. Maybe opening with Welch and Bennett would have opened up the middle order slightly.

Still can't believe Evans is being overlooked. He's done so well so far this summer

[Andy31]

I feel Evan’s should be a shoe in for the white ball coming up.
Evan’s, and Matigimu and blessing.
The tail doesn’t start to look as long.

But Evan’s seems to be playing some real good cricket in the UK.

[sloandog]

I feel Evan’s should be a shoe in for the white ball coming up.
Evan’s, and Matigimu and blessing.
The tail doesn’t start to look as long.

But Evan’s seems to be playing some real good cricket in the UK.

He's been a great addition

[sloandog]

I feel Evan’s should be a shoe in for the white ball coming up.
Evan’s, and Matigimu and blessing.
The tail doesn’t start to look as long.

But Evan’s seems to be playing some real good cricket in the UK.

A serious batter too. Hits it hard and just attacks the spin. Good bloke too

[TapsC2]

I genuinely don't understand the hate towards Newman. How many left arm seam option are there? He isn't terrible either. 2 things can be correct at the same time. Should Evans be around the squad? Probably? Should Newman be in the mix too? Yes.

We are so lucky Blessing hasn't gotten injured. The big teams probably have 8 or 9 fast bowling options

[Googly]

The problem is our bowlers are not the finished article. Nyamhuri ticks a few big boxes- he gets it to swing, he's got decent pace, nice action and he's a leftie, but he's got no control. Barely any of our guys do.
Bizarrely we've only got 2 guys in the system that tick that box, maybe 3- we havent seen enuf of Gimu, the rest rely on hallelujah balls to get wickets, there's just no pressure on the batsmen.
Just hang around and youre going to get 2 loose deliveries an over at least. Just look at the stats- he's probably got a decent ceiling but he's currently just not in the same department store as Evans.

The last few games have really driven home how important it is to bowl relentless line and length.

[Googly]

Interesting squad as usual.
Very surprised Tanu isnt in the mix. The usual lads went to lengths to point out his Logan Cup average this season, which was very good, but skewed by two really big innings early on and then a poor run at the back end. He had a couple of A side opportunites based on his Logan Cup form but didn't do well. That's the natural order, you do well in Logan, get a shot at the tougher games and you've got to make it count. 3 no scores against Canada, 2 against Durham and 2 in the North/South games, and then a poor UK club start. Sorry but if other guys do that they're literally doomed. It would take a fantastic next season to come back from that.

A couple of good scores in the bigger games ideally should coincide with someone doing poorly or getting injured in your spot in the national side. A lot of planets have to align.

Prince is a solid opener, he had a good innings against Ireland, but almost a year ago. Tough to pick him ahead of Kaitano whom I think has what it takes. You can just see he's a quality player.

They're possibly going to go with Masekesa and Masakadza, which leaves a batter short.
I'd love to see Matigimu start. He could potentially replace Chivanga, but I think TK will get the nod, which means a shoot-out between Gimu, Nyamhuri and Gwandu. For me Gimu looks to be ahead.

[Googly]

Tanu is an interesting conversation actually. He had 7 opportunities against better opposition to make a score and didn't convert. Is he still next in line for the next A games or does someone else who didn't do as well in Logan cup but did better in the A games now get opportunity ahead of him?
Which level do they set the most store by?
Does he wait for another good logan Cup, hope to get selected for the A games after that and hope to convert spectacularly? That could be next season or maybe never?

Before you know it the years roll by and good players can and do get completely overlooked.

[tawac]

Gimu seems to be a great prospect indeed but has he really done enough to be getting a number 7 spot. This just goes to show how desperate we really are for a seaming allrounder. Indeed Gimu had a few good games at the back end of the logan cup 24/25 but he had a pretty ordinary run in the vigne cup in the few games he played and to parachute him to number 7 is setting him up for failure.