[MATCH THREAD] 2nd Test Afghanistan v Zimbabwe @Abu Dhabi

[tgk]

We're really handling Rashid Khan well, that six from Tary really felt great.

[sloandog]

My god people on this forum are so negative. Okay Sean played a poor shot and Wez got a first pip, but this wicket is still excellent and we're playing Rashid Khan extremely well. Just need to build a partnership here and keep ticking the runs off. We bat deep here so I'm not hanging my head just yet.
Burl needs to pull his finger out here and really stamp his authority. All the talent in the world but needs to make the mental leap now. He's also majorly wasted down at number 7

[zimbot]

Looks like we might be able to fit Ervine and Taylor in.

If you think Madhevere is a talentless newbie sure. But you don't pick a youngster, give him a couple of games (only batted once in the first Test), and then discard him. Even less so, when you only play 4 or 5 Tests a year. You drop a Tiripano, who hasn't scored many runs in a while and apart from the last game, never picks many wickets either.

I really have no idea why Don keeps getting picked. He's never going to win games with bowling. Apart one or two gutsy performances with the bat he's done nothing of significance. I like him, he looks like he's a decent bloke, but he's just not good enough. He needs to go.

[zimbot]

My god people on this forum are so negative. Okay Sean played a poor shot and Wez got a first pip, but this wicket is still excellent and we're playing Rashid Khan extremely well. Just need to build a partnership here and keep ticking the runs off. We bat deep here so I'm not hanging my head just yet.
Burl needs to pull his finger out here and really stamp his authority. All the talent in the world but needs to make the mental leap now. He's also majorly wasted down at number 7

Ja, there's a way back into this and it's up to the batters. The wicket is good and the bowling really isn't anything special.

[TapsC2]

There has never been a better time for Burl and Tari to put their hands up. It’s a batter friendly track. Raza the only big gun left. It’s make or break for those 2 . This is the game

[grant]

I think he's underrated. He was their best batsman by a mile, just needed to get fitter. He's been mistreated a lot by the Afghan team's management. He's not the sharpest tool in the box though. That is one of the reasons why he seems to be universally hated. But he's actually a pretty good guy.

He may be well past his prime now though since Afghan cricketers seem to be a decade older than the age they state.

Shahzad? Shahzad was a hack. He was a decent WK from what I remember, but as a batsmen he was a walking wicket. On his day he'd get 50 but not much more. Nabi was the first decent AFG batsmen. Now they have Ibrahim and Rahmat plus Hashmatullah with Rashid who could be good enough to bat at 6 or 7 someday.

Yet he used to get more runs than almost all their other batsmen somehow...

He was the best batsmen in this match (in a team that included William Porterfield, Paul Stirling, Kyle Coetzer, and Mohammad Nabi) against a full-strength England side:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/eng ... -scorecard

Apart from the lean patch that he went through in 2014, I've never really seen him struggle much.

[sloandog]

Poor shot from Tari, lazy more than anything

[sloandog]

Burl and Raza now need to put an absolute minimum of 100

[sloandog]

Did the keeper bat well for Afghanistan

[Jemisi]

160 needed to avoid the follow on.would be nice if these two put that on