Zimbabwe tour of Namibia 24 Oct-30 Oct 2023

[CalZim]

Been thinking about squad selection and I came up with this for a 15 (obviosuly depends on availability for selection etc):

N Welch
C Ervine
S Williams
A Naqvi
S Raza
R Burl
C Madande
L Jongwe
W Masakadza
R Ngarava
B Muzarabani

I Kaia
W Madhevere
B Evans
T Marumani

Plenty of bowling options in there. I'd go Kaia over Shumba but glad he has found recent form. There is also Bennett in contention but think he needs a decent domestic season alongside his great club season.

Bowlers pick themselves, Nyauchi has gone downhill, knowing Zim, Larry will probably have to fit in there somewhere but he has had a very good club season to be fair. But then again so has Chris Mpofu, rolling back the years! Those legends games must have helped.

[secretzimbo]

Think you are on the right lines there although I don't think Naqvi will be in quite yet.

Also look like you've got one too many bats in the squad - think you need another seamer as cover. Probably Chatara.

Im not sure why we havent seen Evans or Marumani recently. Hopefully not injured.

[CalZim]

Think you are on the right lines there although I don't think Naqvi will be in quite yet.

Also look like you've got one too many bats in the squad - think you need another seamer as cover. Probably Chatara.

Im not sure why we havent seen Evans or Marumani recently. Hopefully not injured.

Yeah I was thinking that but we do have loads of bowling options so could probably afford the extra bat.

Haven't seen Evans for a while but Marumani played in the NPL and didn't do great to be honest so that's a concern.

[Googly]

Luke has to be on thin ice. He's always been a zc favorite, fell out of favor for a while, but he's back in the fold.
There's no doubting his ability and he does have a golden arm, but he did not bowl or bat well this NPL.
He not only has competition from Evans, but Musekiwa will enter the fray at some point.
As a 19/20 year old he was a great athlete and was quick. He's hardly old now and should be in his prime, instead he's carrying too much weight and has built a reputation around change up deliveries which do take key wickets, but he should be a lot better than that. He's shared selection with Evans for a while, but as I said at some point Musekiwa will be knocking and he's a superb athlete and he's hungry!
I watched Luke bowl a couple of really quick deliveries recently, but he generally just trundles in and essentially bowls dibbly dobblies. It's mostly enough to get a decent return locally but the better guys usually carve him up. He's a lot better than that.

There has to be a shift in mind set where players want to be able to compete favourably internationally and not just be better than their peers to sneak a selection.

[Googly]

Of course we need the international fixtures so players can see what they need to do, otherwise they're just trying to stay a nose in front of local competition

[Googly]

Afghanistan positively smashed England the other day. We were beating those guys some time back in the distant past.

[Pat_Bee]

Larry
Luke

The cupboard is indeed bare however.

[Pat_Bee]

Afghanistan positively smashed England the other day. We were beating those guys some time back in the distant past.

We’d have beat England easy I think. Raza put them to the sword or some such.

[55727835]

Raza is in the Middle East at the moment for the Hajj so he may not be back for the series.

Willy likely isn't interested at this point in his career in competing in the lower-end international games so I wonder if he'll play. If both of them are out, it's a pretty safe bet for Welch to slide into the Namibia squad. I'd imagine a Wes/Marumani will safely take the other slot.

[Googly]

Thats not good timing for Raza. The Middle East is not a good place to be. Zim is a good place to be if things kick off.