Just seen on twitter that Derbyshire will be touring Zimbabwe for a pre season tour in March, basing themselves in Bulawayo. It says they will play 2 games each in T20, 50 Over and 3-day formats.
Dave Houghton is the Derbyshire coach so I'm sure he would have had something to do with this. It's come from Derbyshire's official twitter page, so seems genuine.
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Derbyshire to tour Zimbabwe in March
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Good news.
Funny that overseas expats with no affiliation to zim cricket but hold a soft spot for the country are doing more for ZC and cricket than the elected and highly paid officials who’s job it is to run cricket here.
I’d like to see more of this stuff.
Funny that overseas expats with no affiliation to zim cricket but hold a soft spot for the country are doing more for ZC and cricket than the elected and highly paid officials who’s job it is to run cricket here.
I’d like to see more of this stuff.
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Good news indeed !!!
Hopefully more County sides follow, although I guess ZC are footing the bill, if they were you'd think more County teams would be keen.
The other issue maybe player availability on the Zim side of things, last thing we want is for ZC to roll out some local Bulawayo club sides, unless ZC can put out some sides that can give the Derbyshire guys a good hit out, they won't return for the following year.
Hopefully more County sides follow, although I guess ZC are footing the bill, if they were you'd think more County teams would be keen.
The other issue maybe player availability on the Zim side of things, last thing we want is for ZC to roll out some local Bulawayo club sides, unless ZC can put out some sides that can give the Derbyshire guys a good hit out, they won't return for the following year.
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It would have to be full strength Zimbabwe to give them a decent hit out.
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Jemisi wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:16 pm
It would have to be full strength Zimbabwe to give them a decent hit out.
Zim A or a full strength Tuskers at the very least
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Save for some home conditions I’ve underestimated, it can’t be the Tuskers, would be a joke.
What it will be is one of those ‘zim select 11’ which would be virtually 80% of the national side, with some experimental selections here and there. They have done this before. They can save face if they are slaughtered if only 9/11 selections are national team and they can get away with some privilege 11.
That’s exactly what I would do. Zimbabwe national side can give these guys a hit out but I don’t think anything less than the 9/11 scenario I spoke about can.
Pick your best 9. Add Murray and whoever is showing form this season.
What it will be is one of those ‘zim select 11’ which would be virtually 80% of the national side, with some experimental selections here and there. They have done this before. They can save face if they are slaughtered if only 9/11 selections are national team and they can get away with some privilege 11.
That’s exactly what I would do. Zimbabwe national side can give these guys a hit out but I don’t think anything less than the 9/11 scenario I spoke about can.
Pick your best 9. Add Murray and whoever is showing form this season.
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A Full strength Turskers' side could be -
Chari
Madhevere
Ervine
Williams
Raza
Shumba
Murray
Jongwe
Masuku
Ndlovu
Mpofu
9 of those guys have played international cricket and the other two are players of the future
That's not too bad of a side all things considered and they'd be decent opposition for Derbyshire
Would a Zim A side be much stronger??
Chari
Madhevere
Ervine
Williams
Raza
Shumba
Murray
Jongwe
Masuku
Ndlovu
Mpofu
9 of those guys have played international cricket and the other two are players of the future
That's not too bad of a side all things considered and they'd be decent opposition for Derbyshire
Would a Zim A side be much stronger??
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Add Taylor, Jarvis and Chatara, + the cream of the Logan cup season + cream of the Tuskers season and sure?
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That's a decent tuskers side jaybro and still inadequate. I am all for them coming. And make it a Zim a match but as Dogg says, have almost our best on the field and for goodness sake make it 11 a side
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As I said Zim A or Tuskers full strength side at the very least to give a competitive hit out for Derbyshire's preseason tour which includes T20, 50 over matches and a couple of 3 Day games
Hardly outrageous
Not doubt this will likely re-ignite the argument about the quality of County 2 Championship sides, but looking at the list on the link below this is hardly a squad of world class players
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... tournament
Hardly outrageous
Not doubt this will likely re-ignite the argument about the quality of County 2 Championship sides, but looking at the list on the link below this is hardly a squad of world class players
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... tournament
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Invited by Zimbabwe Cricket, the team will compete across three formats in matches against select opposition during the three-week tour.
Looks like ZC are behind this and most likely going to be their favourites who play the matches.
Also noticed that Derbyshire has a Zimbabwean in their ranks, Dustin Melton.
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I actually hope they play the winners of our domestic comp. Which I hope will be a full strength mountaineers. Would be really interesting and will solve our argument about how strong county cricket really is. After that they can play an A team and then lastly a full stregnth team.
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TapsC wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:50 am
I actually hope they play the winners of our domestic comp. Which I hope will be a full strength mountaineers. Would be really interesting and will solve our argument about how strong county cricket really is. After that they can play an A team and then lastly a full stregnth team.
It would be a good incentive to win the Logan Cup if the reward was playing against a county side.
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So 'select opposition' doesn't ring certain alarms....fair enough.
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This is the team I’d like to see against Derbyshire. In order.
1. Chari
2. Burl
3. Ervine
4. Taylor
5. Williams
6. Mouyonga
7. Raza
8. Moor (w)
9 Tiripano
10 Jarvis/Chatara
11 Mumba
Basically a Zimbabwe A plus team. Similar to their usual strategy.
Our top 4 batsman in the middle for competitiveness and experimentation with Burl opening, Moor included as his tenure is shaky. Chari And Moutonga I want to have a further look at to see if they have it in them.
The bowling virtually unchanged except we are having a look at Mumba against a higher level.
If there’s a spinning pitch, if Cremer isn’t available still I’d almost be inclined to throw in the under 19 chinaman for Mumba or Donald.
If any of the batsmen withdraw, either from the experimental guys or the usuals, bring in Musakanda.I pray they don’t bring in a has been like Elton as a ‘Thankyou for your service’ which they are inclined to do.
1. Chari
2. Burl
3. Ervine
4. Taylor
5. Williams
6. Mouyonga
7. Raza
8. Moor (w)
9 Tiripano
10 Jarvis/Chatara
11 Mumba
Basically a Zimbabwe A plus team. Similar to their usual strategy.
Our top 4 batsman in the middle for competitiveness and experimentation with Burl opening, Moor included as his tenure is shaky. Chari And Moutonga I want to have a further look at to see if they have it in them.
The bowling virtually unchanged except we are having a look at Mumba against a higher level.
If there’s a spinning pitch, if Cremer isn’t available still I’d almost be inclined to throw in the under 19 chinaman for Mumba or Donald.
If any of the batsmen withdraw, either from the experimental guys or the usuals, bring in Musakanda.I pray they don’t bring in a has been like Elton as a ‘Thankyou for your service’ which they are inclined to do.
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If one of the guys do really well against this county side they may have a chance (granted, a very outside Chance) of being invited for a trial for the next English summer.
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If they happen to have a British passport. They ain’t wasting an overseas or Kolpak slot on anyone that’s not an international.
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Googly wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:22 am
If they happen to have a British passport. They ain’t wasting an overseas or Kolpak slot on anyone that’s not an international.
Big assumption that Kolpak would still be a thing next season.
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The dissolution and purge of the Kolpak player from English domestic cricket sill be the greatest thing to happen for international competition in the last decade.
Gives Africa, Ireland and the Netherlands a real shot at being competitive.
Gives Africa, Ireland and the Netherlands a real shot at being competitive.
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The Derbyshire players are putting their final preparations in place ahead of their tour to Zimbabwe next month.
The squad and coaches will be based in Bulawayo for most of their three-week stay, starting on Sunday 8 March, where they will play a total of six matches, across three formats, against strong opposition.
The team will also intersperse regular training sessions with community-focused activities and training sessions with local clubs, as well as a visit to Victoria Falls.
The players will return to Derby on Sunday 29 March, three weeks before the County Championship opener against Leicestershire at The Pattonair County Ground.
Zimbabwe Tour match schedule:
Wednesday 11 March: Evening Reception with British Ambassador to Zimbabwe
Saturday 14 March: T20 vs Zimbabwe Select XI
Sunday 15 March: T20 vs Zimbabwe Select XI
Tuesday 17 March: 50-Over match vs Zimbabwe Select XI
Thursday 19 March: 50-Over match vs Zimbabwe Select XI
Sat 21 – Mon 23 March: Three-Day match vs Chairman’s XI
Wed 25 – Fri 27 March: Three-Day match vs Zimbabwe Select XI
Head of Cricket, Dave Houghton said: “We will be facing some strong opposition during the tour, which will provide ideal preparation for the 2020 season.
“We also want to give the players some life experiences because as cricketers, we can become solely focused on the game sometimes and it’s important to make the most of these opportunities.
“Hopefully this tour will open the door for further English County tours in future, which may help Zimbabwe Cricket get back on its feet.”
Last game of the Bangladesh tour is March 11th, same they the tour officially starts with the dinner thing, 1st game is a t20 on the 14th.
I’m eager to see what way ZC go squad wise, do they play their best players and get some decent match practice in before Ireland arrive, which is a very important series. Or do they try out some younger guys who they want to test against stronger opposition?
They could decide to go with younger guys at the start of the tour before playing the big guns in the last couple of 3 Day matches. Looking at it now it would have been better for Zimbabwe to have the tour the other way round, try the younger guys out in the 3 Day matches, then bring the big guns back for the 50 over & t20 matches in prep for Ireland
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