That's not strictly true. Muyeye and Matigimu have been spoken about at length. Muyeye has had quite a few opportunities at Kent and has only threatened to deliver. I see he's in the squad for today's T20. I really thought he would take to the T20 format, but the bowlers have kept him quiet so far.zimbos_05 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:13 amNot sure who this is aimed at, but I think the lack of honest reflection of Zim is one of the things holding it back.secretzimbo wrote: ↑Sun Jun 19, 2022 2:53 pmAlways nice to read people slating your country I’m guessing one or two of the posters haven’t ever even been here
As for the cricket, Houghton is in a very tight spot. The only players talked about as coming back are all white players. You just know if things don't work, ZC and their cronies will roll out the racism card yet again. We are in a cycle that is helpful to no one and the worst thing is that heaps of players are being lost to the game.
They sit him out, then bat him up front, then sit him out when he doesn't do well. He must be starting to feel the pressure big time. They should try him down the order, but they are persisting with him at 1-3.
Matigimu is a mystery. I've heard he was waiting to become eligible, which must have happened. We're into winter so presumably when the SA season starts in Nov we will finally get to see the guy after him being off the radar for years.
I'm fairly sure DH has been told he has to stick with the locally based guys. Gov elections are next year and one of their key electioneering strategies is "we'll never be a colony again," so it would not be a good look to have even one white import. We're a Chinese colony already, but thats an awkward conversation And if we're not a Chinese colony we certainly all work for a political party bent on making themselves filthy rich at the population's expense.
One surely has to believe that our existing team will get us through these qualifiers. One has to assume Ngarava, Masakadza and Williams will be back in the fray to boost our team. You'd like to think they've taken a look at footage of the teams we are playing and they feel as confident as one can. The first major hurdle for DH are these qualifiers and will buy time if we cruise it. If they stumble here it will cause much anguish for all concerned.
Our batters need to be able to get us to 170 plus fairly consistently and they are not able to do that against tight bowling. We have to hope that the opposition bowlers are nowhere near the quality we've faced against SA A, Namibia or Afghanistan.
I have some reservations about Kaia trying to play an anchor role and chewing up deliveries. If they're bowling well and you cant get them away in the power play, that's one thing, but you just can't bat too conservatively or the team isn't going to get above 150 ever.
I'm hugely interested where Burl will bat. Presumably DH will have a say in the line up and if he stays at 7 or 8 then the couch expert that I think I am, I'm not! He has shown that he can play some shots, but when he comes down the order and has to hit he brings out this wristy cramped hoik across the line that looks shit and frankly is shit.
We've got Ervine, Kaia and perhaps Williams who don't get going quickly. All 3 of them up front are a liability unless there's a new strategy. Ideally you need to go at 7's or 8's minimum in the powerplay, that's the benchmark. Williams plays the laps and sweeps well and should surely be facing more of the spin. We don't have guys that are particularly strong behind square, he ticks that box.
It's going to be intriguing to see them play. It's such a pity we didn't get DH earlier against the better opposition to see if there was a noticeable difference. These teams will not be as good and with a few tweaks we should be OK, in theory