Blessing, Raza and Richie pick themselves, every other place is fair game and not enough room for everyone.
Marumani will probably open. There’s the other opener up for grabs.
Bats 3,4 and 6 are up for grabs with about 10 guys vying for a place. Now that is a tough call. Common sense says Ervine, Williams and one other, but who? 😂 this is the one area there is genuine competition and some deserving guys will be overlooked.
Two keepers vying for a place, where would you bat gumbie though? 7 or open?
Spinner? Do we even need one? Could we get away with an extra batter who bowls a bit?
Third seamer? They’re all equally impotent, Faraz can bat a bit though.
Not having Bennet would be criminal. Reckon Burl/Campbell make way for him. A seaming all around like Evans would surely add some balance to the team though.
Basis the available players I think this looks the best
Gumbie
Ervine
Myers
Williams
Bennet
Raza
Campbell
Mavuta
Maposa
Blessing
Ngarava
Would have loved to see matt Welch part of this as he solves both the issues of being an opener and wicketkeeper at once. Also evans deserved a go here
We're all reasonably similar. I'm sure the selectors have an occasional read of this forum and they genuinely don't know what they're doing so maybe we've been of assistance
I see Mawoza is hell bent on TK. His argument is that although he averages 10 in internationals over 18 games he's only had 2 games per year and it's not enough exposure to find your feet.
I'm in the minority but am in full agreement. As I said in an earlier post give him 2 or 3 series to see if he can get it together, he'd be damned good if he could.
But.. if he fails then give other guys the same extended opportunities. If they were even-handed about this the legitimate complaints would be a lot less.
By now TK would either be a regular member or we'd be looking at someone else.
Wes would be back in domestic trying to reinvent himself and tidy up his act.
Ditto Maru- give him a fair crack and if he fails it's the same thing.
Ditto all the guys playing musical chairs.
The worst thing you can do to a guy is drop him after a couple of poor outings, particularly if you're replacing him with someone who's doing no better.
Guys like Williams, Ervine and BT became good by playing multiple internationals simply because ZC weren't spoilt for choice. Now all of a sudden there are options and they are like headless chickens.
BUT their main aim is to find good black cricketers, there's no escaping that fact, but they'll deny it by pointing at Bennett and Campbell. Let's see how they view Bennett if he has a lean spell. As a fact he won't get as much rope as Wes. In fact that will be the cue to give Madhevere another 20 games to get it right.
Campbell has come this far and messed it up by some disastrous run-outs which should actually be ignored....unless he keeps doing it
Give him a fair chance now he's there. Also make him work on his bowling. In reality he's Ryan's direct competition. Leg spinning lower order batters.
Burl is on thin ice. They've messed him up by keeping him as a lower order hitter and a save the blushes guy and I believe he could have been a much better player had he been given opportunities further up the order. Plus they should have insisted that he make himself a front line leggie, not a part timer.
The supposed determination to reward guys doing well in domestic is flawed. They're using this narrative only when it suits. Of course it's the main criteria, but it's not the only one. There's a long list of good domestic players that don't cut it at the higher level. Evans' bowling is a good example. He doesn't take wickets, but he's our most accurate seamer. I'd rather have him than Chitaira bowling quick but going for plenty.
A third regional team of Curran, MW, Bhawa, NW, Knackers, Chari, Moor, Campbell Jr, Jongwe, Evans and Banks would have made this an embarrassing trial.