Do or Die Match: Zim vs WI

As spotted by a CI commenter: assuming there's no more play today, Zim have played 4, won 1, lost 1, tied 1, no-result 1. Full house, collect your prize of a place in the final. :D

brmtaylor.com admin wrote:Ten Sports just aired an ad for the final "Sri Lanka vs West Indies" 😂

Obviously they didn't have much faith in Zimbabwe for this series.

Either than, or they're on the phone now to the umpires, impressing on them how much money they think they'll lose if WI aren't given just one more over to clear that D/L deficit. ¬_¬

brmtaylor.com admin wrote:The worst thing about this rain delay is I don't know which brand of deodorant or shaving foam I should buy.

So many choices.

brmtaylor.com admin wrote:OR... why not send some of our batsmen to play in the Ranji Trophy? They've got like 600 FC teams over there. Even someone like Chari would make a first XI somewhere you'd think.

😂 There are 28 FC teams. And that does not mean the standard is so low for a Chari kind of guy to walk in to a side. To give an example, Karnataka have been in finals in 3 out of last 4 seasons and are table toppers again this season in one of the groups. They have won the Ranji Trophy twice out of those 3 occasions. At any point, there are 25 guys fighting to be in the final 15 this season. And you can see at least half a dozen former Karnataka cricketers with more than decent FC records who have left the state in search of regular first team opportunities in teams like Vidarbha and Assam.

https://twitter.com/RoshanCricket/statu ... 7397511168

The West Indies vs @ZimCricketv ODI game has been called off due to rain and bad light. So its @OfficialSLC vs @ZimCricketv in the final!

A glorious victory.

eugene wrote:A lucky victory.

FTFY. :D

I don't think it was entirely a lucky win. Raza/Chisoro put on a big chanceless partnership. And when we were bowling we had the momentum.

Maybe we were lucky to be on the right side of DL when the rain hit, but if weather hadn't intervened I think Zim was in a good position to win anyway.

Say what you will, but zim are still knocking over established sides every year. Great comeback win...

Kriterion_BD wrote:

CrimsonAvenger wrote:

brmtaylor.com admin wrote:OR... why not send some of our batsmen to play in the Ranji Trophy? They've got like 600 FC teams over there. Even someone like Chari would make a first XI somewhere you'd think.

😂 There are 28 FC teams. And that does not mean the standard is so low for a Chari kind of guy to walk in to a side. To give an example, Karnataka have been in finals in 3 out of last 4 seasons and are table toppers again this season in one of the groups. They have won the Ranji Trophy twice out of those 3 occasions. At any point, there are 25 guys fighting to be in the final 15 this season. And you can see at least half a dozen former Karnataka cricketers with more than decent FC records who have left the state in search of regular first team opportunities in teams like Vidarbha and Assam.

Yeah. Chari might not even make a first xi in a bangladeshi first class side. Although chari has decent technique...at least he looks like he can hold a bat.

But in india you probably have a talent pool of several million...equivalent to the entire zim population competing for 300 first team slots. So yes there are a lot more first class roster spots in india, but the number of people competing is magnitudes more.

Simple math. 60 fc spots in zim (15 man squad x 4 teams), and lets estimate 5000 club cricketers in the country. But in india there would be 500 spots but the entire country would have say 1,000,000 serious cricket players.

Having a Test player on the books though - deserved or not - is probably something some teams would like just from a prestige perspective.

A bit like how average FC players from Zimbabwe seem to be in hot demand among the English club teams.

Kriterion_BD wrote:So my 5000 number is pretty close.

The problem is of that 5000, maybe a couple hundred are white and most of them wont stick around. But 90% of the talent is in that group of 200 odd white players. Maybe with streak some will come back and or not leave.

Well you're not that close. If we had 5000 we'd have triple the depth we do now and we'd be smiling. Whites in club cricket number less than 15, in franchise there's less than 6. For the overall numbers we do have we're pretty good.

Googly wrote:

Kriterion_BD wrote:So my 5000 number is pretty close.

The problem is of that 5000, maybe a couple hundred are white and most of them wont stick around. But 90% of the talent is in that group of 200 odd white players. Maybe with streak some will come back and or not leave.

Well you're not that close. If we had 5000 we'd have triple the depth we do now and we'd be smiling. Whites in club cricket number less than 15, in franchise there's less than 6. For the overall numbers we do have we're pretty good.

Can you name the 15?

Are any of the former internationals (I'm thinking of the Duffin/Coventry/Lamb ilk) still playing at any level?