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We have a real problem up front as we all know. We all watch in anticipation of a big platform but it’s more in hope than expectation.
Our last resort is hoping for an explosive start over 5 overs that the others can take advantage of. That’s T20 stuff and not 50 over cricket. It’s a stop gap.
Let’s rightfully assume we qualify. Are they going to stick with Cephas? If he doesn’t have a decent innings soon he’s probably on thin ice. All things being fair and equal he should be given some opportunity to step up, but we’re fast running out of time before the WC, or will we be just happy with a participation medal and the Admin with their loot? Were they hoping he’d be a fairly consistent opener at 200% strike rate or that he’d come off one in three? Or were they hoping he’d be more circumspect and have the ability to adapt his game and be more consistent at 100% strike rate?

I’m not knocking the guy, I love his brand of cricket and I’m sure he was given free license, but they will be getting worried around about now, it’s crunch time and they have to back him for this next game, but it’s unrealistic to expect him to be successful like that against the big teams. Is he that talented that he can make some changes to his game? Only a bit of time will tell and we don’t have much of it.
There isn’t an opener in world cricket that can average more than 20 and strike at above 100% in 50 over, plus it’s not how you set it up nowadays. The pinch hitting openers died with Jayasuriya and Gilchrist. Even guys like Dharwan and Sharma have to get settled and see off the new ball unless it’s right in the slot. Solid platforms and intact wickets and T20 style at the back end seems to be what works.
Then we have Solly at the other end who was anchoring and hoping Cephas would fire and not really playing his natural game. We’re all waiting for that blistering start that will set us up for a big total and we’re in long shot territory.
Even Solly has been erratic, as has Hammy, who has also not had his fair share of luck this tournament, but this aside, the big guy has been frustratingly inconsistent.

We have the right mix of pretty good batters, but they’re not making it happen.

I think the Cephas plan was an X factor as no one had seem him before and therefore couldn't plan for him. I think he was just brought in for this tournament and to ensure ZIM qualifies and it looks like its paid off handsomely. The Nepal game was always in the bag, and Afghanistan was beaten without any contribution from Cephas. But take Cephas out and the Scotland game would have been a loss. That being said, I don't think he's done enough to earn a spot for the WC. But if the alternative is Chari, then I guess Cephas can't hurt.

Let's have a full domestic season and make sure Lance is there the whole year. Identify who can do it and who can't and work on it. The time for working on assumptions or people's belief that someone will do the job is wrong for me. Let's just look at the numbers and work on the guys who are doing well.

The problem for me is balance. You can't have 2 guys playing like that but you can definitely have one. The only logical thing to do here for me is to drop Mire down the order. He didn't look too bad at the end and he can knock it around better than Zhuwao I guess(this is a big assumption because we honestly haven't seen enough of Cephas to make a fair judgement) It also makes perfect sense to play 8-3 in England because we will collapse time and time again.

So I would say Mire down the order and he works on his bowling whilst Cephas stays up. Why I will back him is simply because if Sean Ervine is not coming back then the possible replacements will NOT do a better job. 8-3 will need an extra batsman coming in anyway and they are already mediocre or still too raw. For me personally I would add Tari into the team and get him into form because at his best he looked the part. PJ and Waller just don't get in for me and their numbers prove it. Burl hasn't had any knock of significance yet.

My main point is that we already probably have an extra batter coming into the team anyway so unless somebody can do a better job and stick around from the bench I would prefer that 45 from 25 coming once every 3/4 games because that could be potentially match winning compared to putting Burl up top and he scores 25 off 45. The best way to solve the imbalance up top is to move one of them down the order. The time for Burl to establish himself can come after the world cup. We want results. This world cup thing is not a given anymore.

Ryan Burl to open, simple.

Tari in the middle order as he has more of a flamboyancy. Burl is a top order batter, not a number 7. Give him the openers role

My feeling with these guys is not so much that they are not good enough, but they just need to work on their technique and getting that right. Keeping their head steady and ensuring their movement is right. When it comes off from Mire it looks so good, but he so often loses that form.

We’ve never really had any good openers since Johnson & Grant left, but Hami is imo still the best we have

Cephas will struggle in English conditions against the big teams. He’s played club though. I recall there being an issue and not sure how he did.