Zimbabwe "A" Squad to Tour Nepal

And now they've just obstructed the field. Changed the course of his run to obstruct. Same guy should have been run out twice now. Bit of a joke. Our lads should be furious.

sam_ahm wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 11:47 am

Zimbabwe were atleast 25 runs short after the start they got.

Isn't this every single game we've ever played? 😂

Although if we hadn't have dropped three catches and also had two terrible decisions against us, the runs would have been enough.

And now the most obvious edge ever is given not out. Our lads have been very hard done to here. Cheating f****rs.

Imagine if Chivanga was there 😂 There'd be on-field murders

I did not see the match today, but it looks like there were quite a few bad decisions which doesn't do Nepal any good, because this is not an international series, it is List A and they need to be looking to improve here rather than be biased.

Having said that, this is no excuse, Zimbabwe have been bad. Brad Evans was hands down the best player of the series, I agree, and Marumani looked good in patches which is a good sign.

For me Nyauchi was a bigger disappointment, he was expected to do a lot better here and equally Jongwe, who was the most experienced of the lot.

While the result is disappointing, let's not forget that this is only a Zim A Team. A full strength Ireland team lost twice to UAE in the Global Group A Qualifiers 3 months ago. So these opponents in Asian conditions can be tricky. Again not an excuse, I still admit this is a poor result for Zim.

Was anyone expecting our inexperienced third string to beat Nepal’s best team in Nepali conditions though?

As appropriate for an ‘A’ side, we showed bits in glimpses and were there or thereabouts in most games apart from that disaster the other day. Should be a big learning curve for some of these boys.

Evans and Marumani have probably secured places in the Namibia squad.

That will be the true test. They are a good side. But we should be expecting our first team (minus Blessing?) to win that series.

Marumani really does punish poor or average bowlers, and there will be plenty of them in the qualifiers. He cashes in when the opportunity is there. He still hasn’t quite figured out shot selection against good balls though. I still think he and Ervine is a very good, balanced opening partnership in the shortest format and I’d like to see it tried.

And you are raising the profile of unlicensed vegetable vendors the world over.

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 1:16 pm

Was anyone expecting our inexperienced third string to beat Nepal’s best team in Nepali conditions though?

As appropriate for an ‘A’ side, we showed bits in glimpses and were there or thereabouts in most games apart from that disaster the other day. Should be a big learning curve for some of these boys.

Evans and Marumani have probably secured places in the Namibia squad.

That will be the true test. They are a good side. But we should be expecting our first team (minus Blessing?) to win that series.

Marumani really does punish poor or average bowlers, and there will be plenty of them in the qualifiers. He cashes in when the opportunity is there. He still hasn’t quite figured out shot selection against good balls though. I still think he and Ervine is a very good, balanced opening partnership in the shortest format and I’d like to see it tried.

Why is that our third string side?

TapsC2 wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 5:26 pm

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 1:16 pm

Was anyone expecting our inexperienced third string to beat Nepal’s best team in Nepali conditions though?

As appropriate for an ‘A’ side, we showed bits in glimpses and were there or thereabouts in most games apart from that disaster the other day. Should be a big learning curve for some of these boys.

Evans and Marumani have probably secured places in the Namibia squad.

That will be the true test. They are a good side. But we should be expecting our first team (minus Blessing?) to win that series.

Marumani really does punish poor or average bowlers, and there will be plenty of them in the qualifiers. He cashes in when the opportunity is there. He still hasn’t quite figured out shot selection against good balls though. I still think he and Ervine is a very good, balanced opening partnership in the shortest format and I’d like to see it tried.

Where would you then play Wes and Regis in the T20s? Ervine up top is probably his best bet so that he can anchor the innings. Or does Marumani then keep?

I think in a T20 I'd have Ervine and Marumani open. Reggie (if fit) at 3. Williams at 4. Raza at 5. Shumba at 6 and Burl at 7. Wes probably doesn't get in at the moment. But would be first in to replace anyone injured/underperforming.

Googly wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 5:51 pm

Why is that our third string side?

Maybe a mix of 2nd and 3rd.

If we include Williams, Ngarava and Blessing alongside every player that has toured Nepal or featured against SA - that takes us to about 33 or 34 players. Many of those in Nepal (but not all) would be near the bottom if you tried to rank them from 1st to 34th. This is all a bit pointless though haha. Our playing pool is so thin man, either way

I was trying to get some background on Nepalese cricket.

Their population is 23 million and 6000 people play cricket and its growing fast and very popular. Top players are endorsed by multiple companies. They lack infrastructure but its played on the streets. As soon as you hear that it's inevitable that they're blowing right by us in the not too distant future. 99% of our population think cricket is a noisy little burrowing insect.

They had a couple of accomplished looking batters and bowlers by the looks of it. I didn't watch all the games, but the little I saw they looked sharp.

The vegetable vendor has a point, we are great targets- the mileage that an associate side gets from beating us is immense. We're caught between a rock and a hard place. We've got no chance against a fellow full member side plus they don't want to play us and we appear to not want to play them so the few games we get are against up and coming associate sides with superior numbers, enthusiasm and in many cases, ability. We basically need to field a full strength side minus a couple of players, call it an A side and excuse the loss because we're rebuilding.

From what I've read over the past few months it seems, like many countries, Nepal have been hampered over the years by a terrible admin and board and a lot of infighting, nepotism and general shithousery. Pretty standard for cricket 😂 This is the worst administered sport in the world, 100%.

And ya, 20 years ago if you drove through Highfield you might see kids playing cricket on the street. We are so far removed from that now it's unbelievable. If I drove into my nearest town now and started asking people to name a current Zimbabwean cricket player I think I'd be waiting a long while until I found someone who could. Might have more luck in Harare I suppose. How we still produce the few players we do from such a minuscule pool is remarkable.

Meanwhile I get the impression cricket is the sport in Nepal.

The Namibia series is the real test, they are a serious team - a step up from Nepal, but probably a step down from the SA A team tbh. If we don't win that series at home then we'll be really in the s**t. Big week next week.

Although I think we will win, if we select a sensible squad/XI.

Also amongst all the doom and gloom, I think Hammy's heart is in the right place and he is trying.

And I think/hope the big board cretins running the show have finally worked out that it's in their own interests for us to be at least decent.