Queens and BAC?

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Bertus de Jong
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Queens and BAC?

Post by Bertus de Jong »

Hey guys, BdJ here, long time lurker occasional commenter. Being as this is the only place on the internet where people talk sense about ZIM cricket was hoping I could outsource some research.
Has anyone had a look at Queens and BAC recently? How are the squares looking? What can we expect for the Qualifier coming up?

secretzimbo
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by secretzimbo »

Hey Bertus.

Queens is going to be spin friendly I assume. The decks for the Namibia series were very slow indeed and that’s likely to be the case even more as we head deeper into winter.

I can’t say how BAC will play, but the square has generally been kept in an okay condition for club cricket over the years but the outfield was a hot mess last time I saw it and presumably they will be putting some effort into improving it.

there will generally be early swing and seam for the bowlers in the morning, although not quite as pronounced as at Harare usually. Then spin will be the key.

secretzimbo
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by secretzimbo »

Also Queens is a massive ground so if you couple that with the slow pitches it probably isn’t going to be a run fest.

Bertus de Jong
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by Bertus de Jong »

Cheers, SZ. Much obliged.

secretzimbo
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by secretzimbo »

How are the Netherlands shaping up? Thought they did relatively okay from the bits of the England games I saw despite the results. I'm assuming none of the county players will be around?

I fear Zim will end up drawing them in the semi and losing tbh.

Bertus de Jong
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by Bertus de Jong »

This tourney will be a bit of a different game from the England series, from what you tell me about the grounds at Bulawayo. The Dutch have been playing on absolute roads the last two series. Losing Seelaar not ideal, never a proper bat but they've no defensive spinners now apart from maybe Floyd. The rest are pretty attacking and also basically children (assuming Roela doesn't go which he almost certainly won't). Snater's definitely a no, as is Ackermann. They won't risk a semi-fit TvdG given the schedule and the fact that they're only taking the 14 players the ICC will pay for. Klaassen a maybe as Kent are out of the Blast, but they'll probably keep him anyway for red ball injury cover. PvM also a maybe at best, Glover's still yipped from what I hear. So yeah probably zero County players, leaving the seam attack looking very samey.

Tom Cooper back does help the batting, Myburgh's still in contention for T20, and there's chat about Barresi possibly coming back too. Edwards and O'Dowd are both in good nick (though if Myburgh does come back you do have the three openers issue - Vikram and Mybs both need to bat powerplay and O'Dowd won't be moved) though I guess that's a good problem to have. Nidamanuru's a decent player but I'm not sure this will really be really his cricket, likewise a question of how well de Leede will adjust to less fun wickets. After that you're into the "bowlers who bat a bit" pretty quick.

All told the slow bowling is untested, the seam is samey, and the batting decent but shallow. I am cuatiously pessimistic.

>I fear Zim will end up drawing them in the semi and losing tbh.

My prediction is NED end up scraping second, then ZIM and USA both want to throw the last game to avoid them. Then whoever accidentally wins that beats the Dutch anyway and whoever manages to lose it gets knocked out by Uganda or whoever.

Googly
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by Googly »

Jeez you've got them dialed in. Well played.

sam_ahm
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by sam_ahm »

Ah! Zimbabwe and Netherlands should and will qualify. I mean come on, they are not that bad, with all due respect to the rest of the teams.

Bertus de Jong
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by Bertus de Jong »

Yeah Zimbabwe and Netherlands definitely still favourites. I usually come over as very down on the Dutch but it's mostly just because weaknesses are more interesting to talk about and sometimes less obvious than strengths. Also it's a bit of a hedge because then when they lose at least I have the consolation of looking like I know what I'm talking about.

That said, the rest of the field is not as weak as some might think. Most of the other teams are entirely capable of beating ZIM or NED if it's their day, and because of the deeply, deeply shitty format of this bargain basement tournament that the ICC are running, it really only takes one game.

sam_ahm
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Re: Queens and BAC?

Post by sam_ahm »

Bertus de Jong wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 1:41 pm
Yeah Zimbabwe and Netherlands definitely still favourites. I usually come over as very down on the Dutch but it's mostly just because weaknesses are more interesting to talk about and sometimes less obvious than strengths. Also it's a bit of a hedge because then when they lose at least I have the consolation of looking like I know what I'm talking about.

That said, the rest of the field is not as weak as some might think. Most of the other teams are entirely capable of beating ZIM or NED if it's their day, and because of the deeply, deeply shitty format of this bargain basement tournament that the ICC are running, it really only takes one game.
Yeah agree on that Bertus, it is a pretty poor format. USA are a bit of a threat as we've seen them beat Ireland, but then I'm thinking some of these teams like the USA may not like the slow surfaces of Bulawayo.

Any idea if Tim David will turn up for Singapore?

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