Zimbabwe vs South Africa | 2nd Test | 6-10 July | Bulawayo

[zimbos_05]

If the management of ZC is not prepared to act in the national interest then the Minister of Sport and the Sport and Recreation Commission must act.

Coltart obviously has an understanding, and he is not wrong it what he says. However, if this was to happen, Mukhulani would just run to the iCC again and be like, "oh no, they are politically interfering, kick them out, wah wah". Ignoring the fat that he himself is a ZANU MP and far more politically entrenched than the people they last tried to instil.

ICC will be like, "sure, we don't actually care about you, so let's ban you and not give you money"

[zimfan1]

Rumours that Naqvi is available from the 13th of July.

[Pat_Bee]

That’s what they said last July

[ZIMDOGGY]

David Coltart's comments below. Yeesh

Congratulations @ProteasMenCSA . This was indeed a dominant performance especially considering that you were missing some of your key players from the Test Championship Final team.

However what South African supporters need to understand is that you didn't play our strongest team either - in fact aside from a few players who deserve their place in our side there are numerous other players who do not deserve to be in this side. Whilst some of this was caused by the non availability of some key players, most of the problem is a self inflicted wound.

A quick read of the scorecards for the two Tests instantly explains what I am writing about. A more detailed examination of Zimbabwean players' objective statistics reveals more. There are players who do not deserve to be in this side and there are other players who deserve to at least be given a chance.

Sadly because of certain destructive personal, racial and regional policies we are not selecting teams on merit and this last Test has made that glaringly obvious.

It is time for Cricket Zimbabwe to have some serious introspection. Before we play New Zealand in the next Test series there needs to be a change in policy - our teams must be chosen solely on merit. The decision regarding "merit" must be based on actual performances and historical track records of players, irrespective of what Club they play for, where they come from or their race.

If the current selectors are unable to implement this policy professionally then they should be removed and replaced with former players who have the Nation and game at heart - rather than the pursuit of their own agendas.

If the management of ZC is not prepared to act in the national interest then the Minister of Sport and the Sport and Recreation Commission must act.

This is spot on, but they will attack him on a racial level.

[secretzimbo]

I suspect they might discard of Gimu already, but I think that would be a mistake. I also think it's grossly unfair - 1 match isn't enough! I'm pretty sure the next cab off the rank for the bowlers will be Alex Falao, who will be their next golden boy generational talent hope maybe. Unless they resent him for playing for Sogo. Absolute certainty that Nyamhuri is in the next Test XI as well.

I'd like to see more of Masekesa. Again, we just haven't seen enough of him to judge, but they'll think Wellington is the safe option and Vinny is the risky option, so no doubt they'll stick with Welly.

They might also dump Tsiga. I'm sure they'll go back to Madande. The alternative is Marumani, who has an excellent First Class record.

Hopefully Bennett is back. Not sure if Curran will be. Raza is available.

It's all potentially complicated by either or both of Knackers and BT being available. I can't see them selecting the latter straight away, especially in Tests. Also could he keep wicket? That's a huge ask for a 40 year old over 5 days, when he hasn't played for years, even if he is fitter than ever. Both he and Naqvi being selected will be papering over the cracks and saving face. Considering that Raza is available for the NZ Tests it is fairly incomprehensible to think we will have FOUR 40-year-olds in our XI. Unsustainable. FOUR 40-year-olds plus a foreign import who has scammed his citizenship. It's hardly a ringing endorsement of the current ZC administration and the past two decades, is it?

The other complication is that this is Zimbabwe so a good performance in a single T20I next week will probably see someone parachuted into the Test side. Hold on to your hats and get ready for Tashinga Musekiwa opening the batting in the NZ Tests after scoring 16 off 11 balls at number 8 in the T20's.....

[Kriterion_BD]

However what South African supporters need to understand is that you didn't play our strongest team either - in fact aside from a few players who deserve their place in our side there are numerous other players who do not deserve to be in this side. Whilst some of this was caused by the non availability of some key players, most of the problem is a self inflicted wound.

Apart from Bennet, who was missing who should/could have played this series? There's always been this endemic, pervasive grass-is-greenerism on ZCF and you would think it would have evaporated after 20 years of recycling just a handful of players (20-30).

For example, just a few weeks ago when Mayavo had the WK gloves, people were pining for Tsiga as if he was the next Gilchrist. Fast forward a month and Tsiga is probably first on people's axe list.

Before Tsiga, it was Kaitano, who was going to be a new age Gavaskar or at the very least a Kraig Braithwaite who could wear down the new ball. He's actually done pretty well in the last innings, so he might not be on everyone's hit list atm, but give it another 2 months and people will act like he's terrible.

Before Kaitano it was Gumbie. Gumbie was the favorite for a few series, but now he's probably not even in anyone's A team.

Before Gumbie it was the world class Ngarava because he was taking 3-fer-zilch vs Zambia and the Sahrawi Republic in some qualifier. FFW 6 months and he's probably not even 4th in the pecking order of anyone's Test squad.

Less said about Madhevere, Marumani, and Shumba the better.

Apart from Williams and BT, no one has performed for long enough to be tagged as irreplaceble at the current moment. Blessing could be added to that list, and so far Bennett too, but its still early days from Bennett and he's got to develop more shots than cutting the ball through point otherwise half decent attacks will have him neutralized by 2027.

[Googly]

On point Secret.

Ya Knackers' eligibility (if true, and i suspect it is) will show us where they are at. He can slot in 3-6.
He bowls decent offies so the logical replacement is Wes, and bats at 3/4 and batters move down a slot, but equally likely that he will replace Nelch.
That would be an ok line-up-
Bennett, Curran, Welch, Knackers, Williams, Ervine, Raza.

Theyre then most likely to pick Madande, Nyamhuri, Chivanga and Blessing.

If they retain Nelch then Masakadza or Madhevere sit out.
I just dont see Wellie sitting out, so Nelch becomes the casualty.

Raza and Knackers are pretty effective spinners so its hard to find a spot for Wes, but less hard to pick Wellie ahead of Nelch. Statistically Wellie performed ok against SA, but they were a bit flattering in the context of the games. If Ervine weren't the captain (and there's a very slim chance he may not be, but the only alternative is Williams) he'd also potentially be in the firing line.
Do the new bowlers - Knackers, Raza, and Nyamhuri get us the 20 wickets?

So it may look like this-
Bennett, Curran, Knackers, Williams, Ervine, Raza, Madande, Masakadza, Nyamhuri, Chivanga, Muzarabani. They'd be doing Nelch a disservice, which also ticks a box.

Could they parachute Knackers into the T20?

[Googly]

However what South African supporters need to understand is that you didn't play our strongest team either - in fact aside from a few players who deserve their place in our side there are numerous other players who do not deserve to be in this side. Whilst some of this was caused by the non availability of some key players, most of the problem is a self inflicted wound.

Apart from Bennet, who was missing who should/could have played this series? There's always been this endemic, pervasive grass-is-greenerism on ZCF and you would think it would have evaporated after 20 years of recycling just a handful of players (20-30).

For example, just a few weeks ago when Mayavo had the WK gloves, people were pining for Tsiga as if he was the next Gilchrist. Fast forward a month and Tsiga is probably first on people's axe list.

Before Tsiga, it was Kaitano, who was going to be a new age Gavaskar or at the very least a Kraig Braithwaite who could wear down the new ball. He's actually done pretty well in the last innings, so he might not be on everyone's hit list atm, but give it another 2 months and people will act like he's terrible.

Before Kaitano it was Gumbie. Gumbie was the favorite for a few series, but now he's probably not even in anyone's A team.

Before Gumbie it was the world class Ngarava because he was taking 3-fer-zilch vs Zambia and the Sahrawi Republic in some qualifier. FFW 6 months and he's probably not even 4th in the pecking order of anyone's Test squad.

Less said about Madhevere, Marumani, and Shumba the better.

Apart from Williams and BT, no one has performed for long enough to be tagged as irreplaceble at the current moment. Blessing could be added to that list, and so far Bennett too, but its still early days from Bennett and he's got to develop more shots than cutting the ball through point otherwise half decent attacks will have him neutralized by 2027.

You've escaped from that ICE detention centre spitting fire
Glad you're alive.

[CholeZimbo]

However what South African supporters need to understand is that you didn't play our strongest team either - in fact aside from a few players who deserve their place in our side there are numerous other players who do not deserve to be in this side. Whilst some of this was caused by the non availability of some key players, most of the problem is a self inflicted wound.

Apart from Bennet, who was missing who should/could have played this series? There's always been this endemic, pervasive grass-is-greenerism on ZCF and you would think it would have evaporated after 20 years of recycling just a handful of players (20-30).

For example, just a few weeks ago when Mayavo had the WK gloves, people were pining for Tsiga as if he was the next Gilchrist. Fast forward a month and Tsiga is probably first on people's axe list.

Before Tsiga, it was Kaitano, who was going to be a new age Gavaskar or at the very least a Kraig Braithwaite who could wear down the new ball. He's actually done pretty well in the last innings, so he might not be on everyone's hit list atm, but give it another 2 months and people will act like he's terrible.

Before Kaitano it was Gumbie. Gumbie was the favorite for a few series, but now he's probably not even in anyone's A team.

Before Gumbie it was the world class Ngarava because he was taking 3-fer-zilch vs Zambia and the Sahrawi Republic in some qualifier. FFW 6 months and he's probably not even 4th in the pecking order of anyone's Test squad.

Less said about Madhevere, Marumani, and Shumba the better.

Apart from Williams and BT, no one has performed for long enough to be tagged as irreplaceble at the current moment. Blessing could be added to that list, and so far Bennett too, but its still early days from Bennett and he's got to develop more shots than cutting the ball through point otherwise half decent attacks will have him neutralized by 2027.

You've escaped from that ICE detention centre spitting fire
Glad you're alive.

Was waiting for this comment

[CholeZimbo]

Kriterion is right though.

We hardly ever play our best 11 and we absolutely cannot afford that. Brad Evans has to be given a chance in the 2nd test at least. BT should start in ODIs to ease himself back into the game. Knackers will simply have to debut in for Wes. Raza in for Welly tbf, he is just better all round. Welly should know he will have his chance again and should focus on the shorter formats. Ngarava is still part of the plans, he just had a hectic workload from the end of last year. I think he was just tired.

Curran and Bennet up top have given us good starts which is vital. That was missing vs SA and we paid big time.