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Imagine before the tour of Sri Lanka this year, Zimbabwe were given two 4-day FC matches against India - played in India.

Who would you play in the games against India A? The first choice Test XI, the A team or a combination?

I think it would be good to play a combination to give guys experience in sub-continental conditions ahead of SL but also to give quality non-Test game time to emerging players.

SL Test Squad: Mawoyo, H Masakadza, Burl, Musakanda, Raza, Moor, Cremer, Mumba, Chatara, C Ervine, S Williams, R Chakabva, Tiripano, Chisoro, Mpofu
A Team (only): Mire, Ngarava, W Masakadza

Game 1

1. T Mawoyo
2. H Masakadza
3. R Burl
4. T Musakanda
5. S Raza
6. S Mire
7. PJ Moor (wk)
8. G Cremer (c)
9. C Mumba
10. W Masakadza
11. T Chatara

Game 2

1. T Mawoyo
2. R Burl
3. C Ervine
4. T Musakanda
5. S Williams
6. S Mire
7. R Chakabva (wk)
8. G Cremer (c)
9. D Tiripano
10. T Chisoro
11. R Ngarava

----

Possible SL Test XI:

1. T Mawoyo
2. R Burl
3. H Masakadza
4. C Ervine
5. S Williams
6. S Raza
7. PJ Moor (wk)
8. G Cremer (c)
9. D Tiripano
10. T Chisoro
11. T Chatara

Ngarava over Tiripano for sure. The seamer depth chart ought to be

Chatara/Mumba
Ngarava
Panyangara
Mpofu
Tiripano/Madziva

The first 3 would make a pretty solid attack and Panyangara is an excellent 3rd or 4th seamer. Quality drops off substantially after the top 4.

Can't afford to play Mpofu, Chatara and Ngarava in the same test side due to their shit house batting .....

jaybro wrote:Can't afford to play Mpofu, Chatara and Ngarava in the same test side due to their shit house batting .....

Anything you can get from the 8 down should be a bonus in the Test side. LOIs I can see the need to have bowlers who can bat a bit. The top 7 need to score 90% of runs every time otherwise you're in trouble. You've got to pick your best bowlers for the Test team regardless of their batting ability.

Zimbabwe have relied too much on Tiripano' batting recently to disregard it .....

If Zimbabwe are to make any progress towards being a decent side and meriting their place against the other test playing nations, then a 15/18 man squad needs to be picked and stuck to like glue, no messing around, no bringing back players from the past and no deviation from that squad in any fixtures against any opposition

I vote for option D (which you don't have):

The entire Zimbabwean test XI AND some A team players.

How so?

Well you have TWO four-day first class matches against India A. In India.

Absolutely no reason you couldn't have the entire Zimababwean Test squad of 14-15 play over the 2 matches with some A team players mixed in.

Match 1 could see 5 of the first pick test XI + 3 of the test reserves + 3 A team players

Match 2 could see 6 of the first pick test XI + 1 of the test reserves + 4 A team players


Thus every test player gets at least 1 match against India A and between 4-7 A team players could also get a chance to play.

Can we pick 22 guys in our XI, that way we might get to three figures.

eugene wrote:Can we pick 22 guys in our XI, that way we might get to three figures.

Get 22 in the team !

Too bad I can't name 22 Zimbabwean cricketers I actually think deserve selection.