2024/25 franchise teams

Googly wrote: ↑Sat Oct 26, 2024 11:41 am

If all the squads are at full strength they're all very very competitive this year.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Ireland series coming up means most of the national players probably won’t play any franchise at all this season!

I'll put money Green Label have told him to come back coz he will make the team.

Musical chairs. They are grimly determined to have a 9-2 quota. They'd rather sink the cricket than pick the strongest team.

This scoring domestic runs is a red herring that is used when it's convenient. They have to identify the guys that have the potential to play international cricket and work with them with proper coaches. Instead they wait for guys to make runs or take wickets on their own in domestic and perhaps give them a long rope or a short one depending on who they are. We're not a country with thousands of players, we're tiny and have about 15 guys with some potential and they're mostly all left to try and figure it out for themselves. We have to do things differently.

We've seen Solly, it's unlikely (but not impossible) that he's better now than previously.

We've seen Wes, Clive, Maru and Co for some years now. They're going to have the odd good game, especially against teams like Seychelles and Gambia. Are they going to perform occasionally against Pakistan, Afghanistan and New Zealand? It's not guesswork, the answer is probably not. Maybe with some real quality coaching one or two of them might go up a notch, most of it is between the ears. Personally I think Wes is shot, has skills but his mental game is damaged badly.

I still see Maru swinging and missing at balls over 4th and 5th stump and clearing to 6th and trying to hit behind square, nobody seems to have cleared these glitches from his head when he's under pressure. He could be a really good player.

They're going to panic and try and get BT to play when he should be part of the batting coaching set up.

Knackers could very easily have a mediocre season. Does that mean he's out of the equation until he pulls off 4 hundreds, another triple hundred and has a purple patch? Doing another 18 months will certainly test his resolve. He's as likely as anyone we have to do ok on the international stage but they'll pick Faraz off the back of a mediocre season before they pick Antum off a poor season, but it's clear who's the better player. They'll pick Makoni again off the back of a good domestic season and I don't think he's good enuf to play at the highest level.

We're surely better off picking Ervine, Williams, BT and Cephas ahead of Faraz? Nothing against the guy, beautiful guy and decent enough, but he's not an international. You have to question Raza's input into team selection when he keeps punting his mate.

Curran disingenuously made a grand announcement that he's back, despite having been here for 3 years and he's on his way to a double today. Watch folk start calling for his inclusion. He's another that I think is a bit limited, especially in T20. I'm not saying he's not good because he is, but is he good enough? I'd have to say no. Having said that I'd prefer him to get an opportunity ahead of Wes. I'm not saying Ben specifically, I'm using him as an example. We've seen Wes ad nauseum, give someone else with real ability an extended go.

I think Mavuta, depending on circumstances is often a better bet than Wellie, but he's been kept out far too often. I'm going to be very curious how Mike Frost goes this season. He's a left arm spinner and very good. Of course in Mutendira's infamous words he'll

have to be twice as good. 😂

Is there a position in the line-up where they haven't tried Wes, Clive and Maru? Nobody can hold down that second lower order pinch hitter position. They're currently giving Musekiwa a go, he's a talented guy, but if you wanted a guy who can bomb them down the order a lot more convincingly than any of them look no further than Welch, but he'll only get another shot up the order off the back of a huge domestic season. He couldn't even get a start in the Africa Games squad 😂

That was Mangongo actually, who's now his coach and made him captain. Clearly that instruction came from Green Label or Mangongo would not have gotten him to captain Zim A and Mountaineers. If you ever doubted hierarchy interference .... 😂

We're going nowhere with Mutendira as selector, and whoever advises him.

They had a chance to give Musekiwa a run in these qualifiers to give him a taste of "pressure" and they kept him down the order where he never got opportunity? Just nonsensical. His next shot will be under extreme pressure against the good three sides coming and he'll be in at 75-5 with Zim hoping he's Miracle Max.

Another year gone without an HPC headed by Brent, Houghton and BT..

The best guys imaginable and we don't use them.

The jury not in for me yet with Brian Bennett.

He doesn't move his feet and relies a lot on great hand eye to squirt balls thru the backward point area. It's been very effective, but he's had limited exposure against good bowling attacks. We'll see how he goes against really good bowlers who will now have a plan for him. It's possible that he'll frustrate them and keep clearing and keep getting bat on ball thru excellent hand eye.

He's got other shots and it's about shot selection. His technique makes seamers change the way they bowl at him, which is half the battle. I just think the good guys will figure him out and he'll have to make some changes. Let's see...

He has self belief, which is 90% of it. I hear Harris Rauf is coming? That will be a proper test for Brian.

I'm not sure Carl is playing this season?

Mountaineers have registered a guy called Mohamad Sagir. Anyone know who that is?

It appears to be either: a 18 year old from SA who hasn't played professionally, or a guy from the UAE who recently played some trial/audition fixtures for the ILT20 league.