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

[Googly]

Its uber tough not to surrender.
Salamander claimed we needed 4 seamers on this pitch a while back and now we go with two?
Plus Chivanga is injury prone. I thought that was the reason he didn't get the new ball, but then ended up bowling? One over to get his well deserved fifer and before he breaks down completely just in time for the second innings?

Not to sound like a broken record, but we need Evans. I'd bet my shorts and house they wouldn't have reached 300. We had an extremely strong SA side by the absolute short and curlies and we let them off by not having Evans. Its just as simple as that. No more, no less. We are going to be plagued with these guys until we surrender. There's also Higgins of course, but theyre convinced we have better options and we don't. We wont.
The new ball was extremely difficult, but they were only having to face it every second over?? I'm sorry but that's a monumental blunder.

Pollock made an interesting comment- he recognized immediately that it was "a new ball deck". He's clearly seen them before.
It might deaden out and the 2 seamer option may end up not being a bad decision, but I highly doubt it. Are we the only team on the planet that never ever seems to pick a quality seaming all-rounder? We've got one on the books, one in waiting, and one thats been chased away.

[TapsC2]

Yes I know we clearly have some selection issues but the truth is we suffered from a bad decision by the umpire. That was the biggest issue. That was the moment. Madande's drop also cost us dearly. The umpires were the main culprits though. We are the home team but suffered 2 clear cut decisions against us.

The players themselves can't voice their concerns out loud but if they favour the SA bowlers tomorrow then crowd needs to make some real noise. It's the only leverage we have. A rowdy crowd can put the umpires under real pressure in these circumstances. Williams better not walk as well if he is not given out.

[Googly]

I think it was the same umpire- Illingworth. He made Iknowfuckall look like a saint. SA will be requesting him regularly now.
Ya Clive should have held that, tough chance, came fast.
Tsiga should have held onto his as well- another tough chance.
There are far deeper problems than the umpires-
They have to stop picking Masakdza for red ball. He went at 3.6 and bowled a lot of overs and didn't bowl badly, but its containment bowling. This isnt the format for that. We didn't need a like for like either, we needed a seamer, ideally one that can bat. He's our most accurate spinner and a decent player, but he just doesn't turn it. He absolutely has a place in the other formats, but this format is about taking 20 wickets.

I'm not sure too many of our players actually expect to win. They just seem happy to have been selected. If you feel privileged and slightly surprised you're playing the World Champions you don't belong and you're not going to win, or even do well. End of. It sounds stupid saying that but I query how badly some of our players want it. Sure they want to play, but do they believe they are good enough?

I dont like Craig's captaincy. He's a good player personally, but his win/loss streak I think is 14-1. I'm absolutely not laying that on his doorstep, but I dont think he knows how to win. Again sounds dumb, but is it? He's just too conservative as a captain, too quick to go defensive, and he's not vocal enough. Hes captaining a bunch of guys that dont know how to win either and I just think he needs to be more aggressive, which goes against his very nature as he's a very laid-back kind of guy. You've got to firstly have self-belief, but more importantly you have to believe in your team mates. How is that possible when you know that in most cases a few of the guys shouldn't even be there? Its a no win situation.
He's got bowlers that are either inaccurate or just dont listen and he's not helping the cause standing in slips.

Again we're not spoilt for choice. Williams is too erratic and there's no-one else that has the personal stats to captain confidently or is captain material. If I were in charge I'd deal with Sean's stuff and make him captain. He's a fantastic cricketer, knows the game better than most and is extremely combative. The problem is he is all over the place off the pitch and has a poor relationship with ZC, but the captaincy is that important that they need to reconsider him.

Theyre desperate for a black captain, not only for the look, but he's never going to query a selection.
Dion is absolutely captain material(he would query selections though ), but has to do well personally first. He was dubbed a generational gem and hasn't lived up to it..yet. What if he doesn't make it? Who's next in line? BT for a year? Knackers if he ever plays? The guys dont like him much. Higgins of course captained Middlesex.

I don't rate Raza's captaincy either. Take the T20 captaincy away from him and Williams would play. Thats a no brainer all by itself. Theyre willing to sacrifice our best player to humour Raza. That tells you how serious they are about winning.
They may well be grooming Wes for captaincy but he's not a leader at all, plus is yet to prove himself as a player.
Craig is going to need a score fairly soon or he's on thin ice.

[mnelson68]

Ervine is a poor captain full stop , makes very strange decisions for such an experienced campaigner.

[eugene]

I'm usually critical of Zimbabwe going with one specialist spinner, let alone TWO. Collectively today our two specialist spinners took 2-206 from 43 overs. I'm pretty sure our batsmen who are part time spinners could bowl just as well, plus actually score runs with the bat. We should at least have gone in with a third seamer.

[zimbos_05]

Not picking a third seamer is criminal. Not to mention opening with the spinner, and seeing that he was doing absolutely nothing, then sticking with him. When you have batters who can do that job, you need another option with seam, especially if you are not picking Evans.

The Pretorius decisions were also comical. This is what we get for being poor and can't invest in DRS. In saying that though, they were clear as day decisions and the umpires messed up big time. That wicket at that time, changes the context of the game and the momentum.

We definitely need a new captain, but I don't know who that option is. It's definitely not Wes - who I think the ZC group want as captain. Ervine makes decisions that are not ideal and he often makes the wrong one.

[Kriterion_BD]

Interesting game here. Also unfortunate about the LDP decisions. Bulawayo is more of a subcontinent like track so makes sense to only go with 3 seamers as the third quick (Nyauchi, Ngarava) are likely to be ineffective here as oppossed to Harare. I'm not understanding all the hype recently about Evans...that stats don't seem to suggest that he's the next Shaun Pollock as he's being made out to be.

[zimbot]

We definitely need a new captain, but I don't know who that option is. It's definitely not Wes - who I think the ZC group want as captain. Ervine makes decisions that are not ideal and he often makes the wrong one.

Contenders:

Bennett - too early perhaps? Is he leadership material?

Blessing - First name on the team sheet. Is he leadership material?

Nelch - Did well captaining the Mountaineers.

BT - Why not?

Williams - He has captained before and is well respected.

[tawac]

We definitely need a new captain, but I don't know who that option is. It's definitely not Wes - who I think the ZC group want as captain. Ervine makes decisions that are not ideal and he often makes the wrong one.

Contenders:

Bennett - too early perhaps? Is he leadership material?

Blessing - First name on the team sheet. Is he leadership material?

Nelch - Did well captaining the Mountaineers.

BT - Why not?

Williams - He has captained before and is well respected.

Zimbabwe Cricket just doesnt seem to groom people for any role. They just make things up as the go along. Remember when Chibhabha was made Captain even though he didnt even fit in the side. Utseya, Chigumbura they seemed to take the role in stride and were actually half decent captains. Williams would make the best fit at the moment. He has one heck of a cricketing brain but obviously he will challenge the status core. Something ZC wouldnt want. Dont know much about Muza but he does seem like a hot head as well. They had Myers who has largely been captaining the A side he needs to work on his game.

[Andy31]

Smart declaration by the saffers