[MATCH THREAD] 2nd Test Afghanistan v Zimbabwe @Abu Dhabi

[sloandog]

I thought the wicket keeper had a great day behind the stumps in terms of his chat. Was funny and whitty and far from personal. Got no issues with that as long as he can back it up with the bat

[Zimco]

You know what. Maybe prince is a bit overweight and maybe he looks scratchy at times but I respect him because he has put the hard yards in at domestic and he values his wicket. He is a grinder.

[sam_ahm]

Zimbabwe have made a mess of it, difficult to save the game from here on.

Only chance if the openers bat through the morning session tomorrow and even after that Zimbabwe will have to bat another 3.5 sessions, so in total Zimbabwe should bat 4.5 more sessions to save this game.

[ilovearsenal04]

Prince says he loves him

heard that as well, the keeper is a comedian i have to give that to him. Prince is also up there mentally so good laugh allround. No wickets lost is a plus i guess?

What happened I missed it

The keeper was messing with Prince and Prince just responded with i love you and they both laughed it off. Was good banter as the keeper was trying to wind Prince up but he just shrugged it off and gave it back to the keeper.

[zimbos_05]

Understand the larger point, but we certainly did not lose wickets in the first dig trying to just block. Not sure of the context here.

Constantly blocking creates unwanted pressure. You may not get out to a blocking shot, but the more pressure you create for yourself results in you getting out to a shot that is not needed.

[Jemisi]

I don't think we engaged in a blockathon. We rolled along at three an over. And we probably need to keep scoring at that rate even if we manage to bat into day five. The problem was loose shots, and running by Blessing, he was not switched on for that and ought to have made it back.

[eugene]

My prediction that Madhevere would use this series to show that he is our next big talent is not looking good. Quite simply, none of our batsmen know how to play a long innings and bat time. South Africa have the same issue interestingly. Even on the most docile wicket most of our batsmen struggle to get past 60 or 70 runs.

[Kriterion_BD]

My prediction that Madhevere would use this series to show that he is our next big talent is not looking good. Quite simply, none of our batsmen know how to play a long innings and bat time. South Africa have the same issue interestingly. Even on the most docile wicket most of our batsmen struggle to get past 60 or 70 runs.

Taylor, Williams, Ervine, Raza have all hit a good number of hundreds tho. Every series someone is hitting a hundred. One thing is on a flat pitch you need big daddy hundreds beyond 125 or 150 and that’s perhaps lacking.

Main issue is not enough guys fire together and that leads to subpar totals.

ZIM got 250 on a greentop and basically the same total on a flattish track. It really means the pitch doesn’t really matter for Zimbabwe.

[CrimsonAvenger]

I don't think we engaged in a blockathon. We rolled along at three an over. And we probably need to keep scoring at that rate even if we manage to bat into day five. The problem was loose shots, and running by Blessing, he was not switched on for that and ought to have made it back.

Exactly!

[zimbos_05]

I did say my biggest fear was rushing Wes into Test cricket. He has only played 4 First Class games and most his experience is in white ball cricket. Nothing wrong with that, but taking that step up to the long form requires a special type of prep and training, which none of our coaches can provide.

I don't think we engaged in a blockathon. We rolled along at three an over. And we probably need to keep scoring at that rate even if we manage to bat into day five. The problem was loose shots, and running by Blessing, he was not switched on for that and ought to have made it back.

It's not so much actively engaging in blocking as opposed to mentality and shot selection. We block balls that we should turn in to runs which in turn creates pressure. All of our top 5 had a SR under 50 and very similar, which suggests they played with less scoring intent. I'm not saying they all need to above 50, but there needs to be some sense of scoring intent at the other end. Asghar had that for Afghanis, which allowed Hashmatullah to hold down an end. It's not just about the action of blocking, but the mentality too. We know our guys tend to have this mentality to shelter and some of their shots last night were a result of them creating pressure on themselves.