Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

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TapsC2
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by TapsC2 »

secretzimbo wrote:
Mon May 09, 2022 1:16 pm
Was anyone expecting our inexperienced third string to beat Nepal’s best team in Nepali conditions though?

As appropriate for an ‘A’ side, we showed bits in glimpses and were there or thereabouts in most games apart from that disaster the other day. Should be a big learning curve for some of these boys.

Evans and Marumani have probably secured places in the Namibia squad.

That will be the true test. They are a good side. But we should be expecting our first team (minus Blessing?) to win that series.


Marumani really does punish poor or average bowlers, and there will be plenty of them in the qualifiers. He cashes in when the opportunity is there. He still hasn’t quite figured out shot selection against good balls though. I still think he and Ervine is a very good, balanced opening partnership in the shortest format and I’d like to see it tried.
Where would you then play Wes and Regis in the T20s? Ervine up top is probably his best bet so that he can anchor the innings. Or does Marumani then keep?

Googly
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by Googly »

secretzimbo wrote:
Mon May 09, 2022 1:16 pm
Was anyone expecting our inexperienced third string to beat Nepal’s best team in Nepali conditions though?

As appropriate for an ‘A’ side, we showed bits in glimpses and were there or thereabouts in most games apart from that disaster the other day. Should be a big learning curve for some of these boys.

Evans and Marumani have probably secured places in the Namibia squad.

That will be the true test. They are a good side. But we should be expecting our first team (minus Blessing?) to win that series.


Marumani really does punish poor or average bowlers, and there will be plenty of them in the qualifiers. He cashes in when the opportunity is there. He still hasn’t quite figured out shot selection against good balls though. I still think he and Ervine is a very good, balanced opening partnership in the shortest format and I’d like to see it tried.
Why is that our third string side?

secretzimbo
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by secretzimbo »

TapsC2 wrote:
Mon May 09, 2022 5:26 pm
secretzimbo wrote:
Mon May 09, 2022 1:16 pm
Was anyone expecting our inexperienced third string to beat Nepal’s best team in Nepali conditions though?

As appropriate for an ‘A’ side, we showed bits in glimpses and were there or thereabouts in most games apart from that disaster the other day. Should be a big learning curve for some of these boys.

Evans and Marumani have probably secured places in the Namibia squad.

That will be the true test. They are a good side. But we should be expecting our first team (minus Blessing?) to win that series.


Marumani really does punish poor or average bowlers, and there will be plenty of them in the qualifiers. He cashes in when the opportunity is there. He still hasn’t quite figured out shot selection against good balls though. I still think he and Ervine is a very good, balanced opening partnership in the shortest format and I’d like to see it tried.
Where would you then play Wes and Regis in the T20s? Ervine up top is probably his best bet so that he can anchor the innings. Or does Marumani then keep?
I think in a T20 I'd have Ervine and Marumani open. Reggie (if fit) at 3. Williams at 4. Raza at 5. Shumba at 6 and Burl at 7. Wes probably doesn't get in at the moment. But would be first in to replace anyone injured/underperforming.

secretzimbo
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by secretzimbo »

Googly wrote:
Mon May 09, 2022 5:51 pm
Why is that our third string side?
Maybe a mix of 2nd and 3rd.

If we include Williams, Ngarava and Blessing alongside every player that has toured Nepal or featured against SA - that takes us to about 33 or 34 players. Many of those in Nepal (but not all) would be near the bottom if you tried to rank them from 1st to 34th. This is all a bit pointless though haha. Our playing pool is so thin man, either way

Googly
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by Googly »

I was trying to get some background on Nepalese cricket.
Their population is 23 million and 6000 people play cricket and its growing fast and very popular. Top players are endorsed by multiple companies. They lack infrastructure but its played on the streets. As soon as you hear that it's inevitable that they're blowing right by us in the not too distant future. 99% of our population think cricket is a noisy little burrowing insect.
They had a couple of accomplished looking batters and bowlers by the looks of it. I didn't watch all the games, but the little I saw they looked sharp.
The vegetable vendor has a point, we are great targets- the mileage that an associate side gets from beating us is immense. We're caught between a rock and a hard place. We've got no chance against a fellow full member side plus they don't want to play us and we appear to not want to play them so the few games we get are against up and coming associate sides with superior numbers, enthusiasm and in many cases, ability. We basically need to field a full strength side minus a couple of players, call it an A side and excuse the loss because we're rebuilding.

secretzimbo
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by secretzimbo »

From what I've read over the past few months it seems, like many countries, Nepal have been hampered over the years by a terrible admin and board and a lot of infighting, nepotism and general shithousery. Pretty standard for cricket :lol: This is the worst administered sport in the world, 100%.

And ya, 20 years ago if you drove through Highfield you might see kids playing cricket on the street. We are so far removed from that now it's unbelievable. If I drove into my nearest town now and started asking people to name a current Zimbabwean cricket player I think I'd be waiting a long while until I found someone who could. Might have more luck in Harare I suppose. How we still produce the few players we do from such a minuscule pool is remarkable.

Meanwhile I get the impression cricket is the sport in Nepal.

secretzimbo
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by secretzimbo »

The Namibia series is the real test, they are a serious team - a step up from Nepal, but probably a step down from the SA A team tbh. If we don't win that series at home then we'll be really in the shit. Big week next week.

Although I think we will win, if we select a sensible squad/XI.

secretzimbo
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by secretzimbo »

Also amongst all the doom and gloom, I think Hammy's heart is in the right place and he is trying.

And I think/hope the big board cretins running the show have finally worked out that it's in their own interests for us to be at least decent.

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Rajkumar Sharma
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by Rajkumar Sharma »

Two critters going mad after getting hammered from Nepal :lol: Its a shame on ICC distributing the full membership in such an easy way, not taking into account the performances

slcricfan1
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Re: Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

Post by slcricfan1 »

secretzimbo wrote:
Mon May 09, 2022 8:26 pm
From what I've read over the past few months it seems, like many countries, Nepal have been hampered over the years by a terrible admin and board and a lot of infighting, nepotism and general shithousery. Pretty standard for cricket :lol: This is the worst administered sport in the world, 100%.

And ya, 20 years ago if you drove through Highfield you might see kids playing cricket on the street. We are so far removed from that now it's unbelievable. If I drove into my nearest town now and started asking people to name a current Zimbabwean cricket player I think I'd be waiting a long while until I found someone who could. Might have more luck in Harare I suppose. How we still produce the few players we do from such a minuscule pool is remarkable.

Meanwhile I get the impression cricket is the sport in Nepal.
It really is. Nepalese people are essentially the same as all other brown people and for the most part are cricket crazy. Zimbabwe should not be too disheartened. In all honesty, I have no idea how ZImbabwe do manage to keep up when cricket seems so unpopular and with the population under so much stress as well as the obvious white exodus

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