[Match Thread] Bangladesh v Zimbabwe : 3 day Practice Match

[CrimsonAvenger]

Can anyone confirm if Mpofu would be in BD well in time to play the first test? We need him in the XI badly given our bowling options.

Sends shivers down the spine imagining Mavuta bowling those half trackers every now and then. He is nowhere near ready for test cricket. Badly needed a Raymond Price kind of accurate spinner in the absence of Cremer. Sadly Wellington does not seem to be that guy.

[Black Mamba]

Inexperienced Aussies XI thrashed strong Proteas. Usman Qadir son of Pakistan great leg spinner Abdul Qadir will represent Australia.

www.espncricinfo.com/series/18694/score ... us-2018-19

[Kriterion_BD]

If the pitch is seamer friendly would it be a risk if we dropped Mavuta and played Mpofu Jarvis Tiripano and Chatara?Raza and Williams would cover the spin gap

I don’t think we’re going to see a green monster here, maybe a slightly harder deck with a covering of grass? Again Kriterion should be able to shed more light.

I think 3 seamers max, if we’re not playing Mavuta I’d rather the extra batsman. People don’t like the ‘infamous 8-3 lineup’ but facts are the last three times we played it we were very competitive.

Yeah, there wont be any greentops. Sylhet's terrain is just a bit different from Dhaka's. Both the Dhaka and Chattogram venues are basically at sea level...Sylhet is probably a couple hundred meters higher. Its also a few degrees cooler than Dhaka usually. From what I have seen, the track doesnt look too different from other BD wickets, but batsmen do often struggle there. It might just be that after years of not producing many cricketers (Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Tapash Baisya, Nazmul Hossain and Enamul Haque Jr are Sylhetis who have played for BD), Sylhet seems to be producing decent quick bowlers now (Abu Jayed, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, and Imran Ali). For some reason Khulna has dominated the fast bowling stable for BD (the Fizz, Rubel, Mashrafe, Robiul Islam are all natives of Khulna).

[Mueddie28]

Who will be keeping wicket Taylor or Chakabva. I would go with Chakabva opening with Hami but I'm never a fan of people playing in positions they don't play in domestic cricket. I think that's why Mire's experiment hasn't come through. Ervine has been really disappointing of late. Would still pick him for the first game and hope that he comes through. He should really be on his last legs with Burl/Masukanda waiting in the wings.

Hami
Chakabva
Ervine
BT(wk)
Williams
Raza
Moor/Burl
Tiripano
Mavuta
Jarvis
Chatara

If Chakabva is not keeping wicket no need to play him
Chari is useless so no need for him in the starting X1
Burl or PJ Moor should open

[jaybro]

So the warm up game has thrown up more questions than answers unfortunately, although it’s hard to get many answers when over 2 of the three days were washed out.

Trying to read between the lines I’ve come up with the following-

Chari will open the batting which many expected although not many are happy with. If they were thinking about opening with Burl, Moor or Regis you would have thought one of them would have opened with him or at least came in at No.3

Regis will play and keep, the fact he came in at No.5 shows they wanted him to have some time in the middle before the first test.

Moor & Burl unlikely to play, I think the fact they both camemin late and didn’t get a chance to impress probably shows the coach was more interested in making sure his middle order or Ervine-BT-Williams-Raza-Regis had time in the middle.

If Burl is to play it may be as an extra batsman instead of the third seamer, he bowled and took a wicket so they might like his leggies as an option.

Chatara looks like he will end his ‘hiatus’ from test cricket after he was rested for the third ODI and opened the bowling in the warm up game.

Wellington, Nyumbu & Mpofu all very unlikely to play as none took any part in the match

Likely lineup

Hamilton
Chari
Ervine
BT
Williams
Raza
Regis wk
Tiripano
Mavuta
Jarvis
Chatara

[Kriterion_BD]

What do you guys reckon are Zimbabwe's chances in the Test series...?

The last time we had a bilateral Test tour, the Tests came first before the ODIs. This time around, ZIM have had 3 ODIs to acclimate to the local conditions and so will be better equipped for the red ball.

[jaybro]

What do you guys reckon are Zimbabwe's chances in the Test series...?

The last time we had a bilateral Test tour, the Tests came first before the ODIs. This time around, ZIM have had 3 ODIs to acclimate to the local conditions and so will be better equipped for the red ball.

I was confident last time of Zim being able to draw every Test as I expected flat batting tracks which BD had been preparing around that time, I expected BT to have a really big series and I didn't really rate the BD bowling attack.

As things turned out the 1st Test pitch was a beauty and produced a thrilling Test match where Zimbabwe could have won if not for some terrible shot selection, a long tail and some dropped catches. The 2nd and 3rd Tests were played on pitches I expected and after winning the toss on both occasions Bangladesh batted Zimbabwe out of the game.

Going into that series it was still disputable who was the better side with Zimbabwe winning 2 of the 3 Tests played in Zim and the last two ODI series, but now there is no question who is the better side Bangladesh have left Zimbabwe way behind (although a BD tour to Zim would be interesting). I'm not really holding out much hope for a result especially without Cremer I feel finding 20 wickets will be tough if the deck is flat and if they produce some rank turner the Bangladeshi spinners will have a field day.

I do think the more 'sporting' the deck is the better chance Zimbabwe has, as always the shorter the contest the closer the contest. Zimbabwe need contributions from 11 players if they want to win, they can't afford to rely on 2 or 3 guys pitching up to get the job done.

[CrimsonAvenger]

I would be happy if we could miraculously draw even one of the tests...

[Nanctus]

What do you guys reckon are Zimbabwe's chances in the Test series...?

The last time we had a bilateral Test tour, the Tests came first before the ODIs. This time around, ZIM have had 3 ODIs to acclimate to the local conditions and so will be better equipped for the red ball.

I am an optimist when it comes to Zimbabwean cricket and, honestly, I can't see them winning. There might be a draw if the pitch flattens out, but unless Jarvis has the series of a lifetime I can't really see Bangladesh losing 20 wickets. I had a lot of confidence when Cremer was in the XI, it felt like he could take a wicket even against the momentum of the game.

Still, I am hoping! Please prove me wrong Zimbabwe!

[Jemisi]

What John said.

Plus, yeah Crimson, a draw would be worth a good deal to this side at the moment.