Zimbabwe Emerging vs Namibia

[secretzimbo]

Only one of the 6 matches ended up being a contest in this series.

I think they whitewashed SA emerging too so I'm not surprised

Precisely.

[secretzimbo]

So to sum up this series, yes it was disappointing. It's a shame the guys couldn't pick up a win or at least be a bit more competitive.

However, this isn't too much of a concern imo. Let's be clear about this being our third team;

Firstly, there is an 18-man squad currently in Ireland. Then we have Kaitano, Maruma, Chisoro - all have been in national squads more recently than almost all of these players in Namibia. Plus Chipungu who has been talked up by both Rajput & Hondo in recent interviews but is apparently currently unavailable (not sure why - injury? passport?). That's 22 ahead of them in the selection order.

Therefore this effectively means that the 18 guys who were involved in Namibia this week are essentially 23rd-41st in the pecking order currently. Hopefully some of the poor performances this weeks drops some of them down even further.

Do the maths. These players are (currently) our third or in some cases fourth choice XI. This lot getting trounced by a full-strength Namibia isn't that terrible, when you consider Namibia beat a much stronger South Africa A a couple of months ago.

In terms of positives, all of the U19's did okay I suppose. That bodes well for the U19 WC, and this will have been excellent prep. Carl Mumba bowled very well at times and clearly can bat. I don't think he is consistent or accurate enough with the ball yet but he's had a very good week and should be staking a claim for senior selection soon. It's good to have him & Nyauchi challenging Blessing/Ngarava/Chatara. Chivanga continues to disappoint.

Also, we all rightly hate on Chamu, Chari, Mutumbami, Maruma etc. But, I pose this question; is Roy Kaia worse than them all?!?! He seems to have added catastrophically bad bowling to his already bad batting. Across 3 matches, 0-140 off 15 overs!

[Donald]

got ourselves an arse whooping there.

Only Mumba enhanced his reputation, and that as a lower order pinch hitter rather than any bowling prowess.

The under 19 lads did as well as can be expected.

heads should roll but you can bet the partisan zimbabwe press will not cover this embarrasement as extensively as they should

[secretzimbo]

got ourselves an arse whooping there.

Only Mumba enhanced his reputation, and that as a lower order pinch hitter rather than any bowling prowess.

The under 19 lads did as well as can be expected.

heads should roll but you can bet the partisan zimbabwe press will not cover this embarrasement as extensively as they should

Why is it an embarrassment? Disappointing, sure. But an embarrassment? Steady on.

[zimbos_05]

I get the point being made about we could have expected this, and it's not surprise, but I'm not accepting it gleefully.

SA Emerging was a true emerging side. It had no true national players, or players with national experience, and was purely a side sent to identify talent. The most experienced player in the side was Qeshile. He has only 2 T20Is to his name and never batted in either of them.

We sent a side that has players with a wealth of international experience, and those players failed to perform.

Now, I don't want some of these players back in the national side or anywhere near it, but the fact is, some of these players will be getting sniffs, probably selected, for the national side in the very near future.

When you take that into consideration, then you have to assess this is as quite a dismal performance that demands some answers on where we are going as a cricketing structure.

If this had been a purely emerging side, I'd accept the result and pay more interest to see how we learn from it and develop from it. We didn't send a truly emerging side. This is why it is being harsher judged.

[Kriterion_BD]

Firstly, there is an 18-man squad currently in Ireland. Then we have Kaitano, Maruma, Chisoro - all have been in national squads more recently than almost all of these players in Namibia. Plus Chipungu who has been talked up by both Rajput & Hondo in recent interviews but is apparently currently unavailable (not sure why - injury? passport?). That's 22 ahead of them in the selection order.

Therefore this effectively means that the 18 guys who were involved in Namibia this week are essentially 23rd-41st in the pecking order currently. Hopefully some of the poor performances this weeks drops some of them down even further.

I'm sorry but I think zimbos_05 is making the stronger case here.

Of the 18 first teamers in Ireland, Jongwe, K-long, Marumani, Wellington, Musakanda, and Tiripano have yet to nail down their spot. That knocks it down to 12 first teamers who are guaranteed picks. As for Maruma and Chisoro, I don't believe there is any substantial qualitative difference between them and the Emerging team.

[Yvmnaidu]

chisoro should pick up for Ireland series.

[slcricfan1]

jesus who cares, we know zim isnt that strong a circketing side and namibia is a fast developing side which is up there in terms of new test nations. We also know that some of these selections are questionable. This side isnt a good indicator of bench strength

[Yvmnaidu]

garethchirawu, ashleymafauadya, rodneymufudza, trevormutsamba, williammashinge, kudamachake, syndey murombo, tonymunyonga, keithjaure, tashingamuseikwa, Clive madande, chipangu, chesa. these are emerging players

[secretzimbo]

I get that people are collectively scarred and terrified by the likes of Chari, Chibhabha, Mutumbami etc - but the fact is - and this is a fact - we've played a lot of senior cricket this year and those guys haven't been involved in any of it. Chari and Chibhabha have missed out on the last 4 or 5 national squads and Mutumbami the last 3. Kasuza & Kaia have never been involved in limited overs squads before. As I have very clearly demonstrated, there's about 12 or 13 people who have been recently picked for their batting alone ahead of any of these guys. Unless we suddenly have 6 or more injuries amongst batsman, none of these guys are anywhere near the team.

I respect opinions Kriterion. But there's very clear fact that there at least 22 guys who are being consistently selected ahead of any of the guys in Namibia. This is just fact from current and recent selections. Some of the players in Namibia are third choice, some are fourth choice. A week ago I bet half the poster son here would never have heard of Steven Saul, Bennett or Tendekai Mataranyika. They probably would have been about 10th choice for their positions a week ago.

I actually reckon even Bangladesh would struggle in Namibia if they sent third or fourth choice players. So would Ireland, Afghanistan and probably even the Windies. So our depth isn't fantastic, but who is surprised by that? The fact we could field two full XI's before any of these guys were picked is decent depth for a small cricketing country with its multitude of problems. Not even mentioning the dozen or two dozen players unavailable overseas.


There's three points here;

- People are being overly fearful that some of these guys are near the national team when they pretty clearly are not anymore.
- Namibia are a much better team than people think.
- The use of the word 'Emerging' for this team was wrong, yes. In reality it should have been Zimbabwe C. I think there might be some regulation about using 'A' etc if it isn't against a full member, so I guess they just plumped with 'Emerging' - probably the first word they thought of. Yeah its frustrating, as half the squad aren't emerging. And yeah, I'm as frustrated as any of you about these guys being involved this week. But who else do we have other than sending an entirely U19 or unknown side, which presumably Namibia would have been very pissed off about and wouldn't stand for, seeing as this is crucial prep for their world cup.

The tour was disappointing. I'm disappointed. But it's not 'embarrassing' and I'm certainly not too worried about it really.

garethchirawu, ashleymafauadya, rodneymufudza, trevormutsamba, williammashinge, kudamachake, syndey murombo, tonymunyonga, keithjaure, tashingamuseikwa, Clive madande, chipangu, chesa. these are emerging players

The majority of these are worse cricketers than the guys we sent. But you wouldn't know this, because you've never seen a single one of them play.