Match Thread - 2nd T20i Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan 13 December 2024

[andrea lanzoni]

This is a very poor batting performance. 154 is very much a chasable score. They did well with the ball but totally clueless with the bat.

Very poor and brainless: hoping to go for boundaries against Rashid Khan is meaningless. Playing aggressively against the best spinner in the world turns out in wickets.
Also Raza is continuing to show a weird attitude: he bats well, then it seems as if he feels tired to stay on crease, so he attempts for a boundary that is inevitably short and caught by opposition fielder.

[Marshmallow]

Mayavo carrying drinks in this match

[Kriterion_BD]

Wez and maru fail again. Tf is going on with these kids man?? Are they just not good enough or thick as pig shit?

Both I think.
Only look good against mid tier club level attacks in the Logan cup.
Once the balls get faster, more accurate and spin, hasn’t got the smarts or ability to adapt

They are like Zimbabwe's version of Liton Das...massively overhyped by a majority of fans but for little substantive reason.

These guys averaged under 20 I think in the under 19 world cups...that equals a senior level average of 10-15, as a general rule. Marumani is on par, and Wez is actually overachieving a bit. If you take out Wez's debut season in 2020, he's about right there of averaging 15 across formats.

Marumani has improved quite a bit, but he's still a guy who requires luck, numerous outside edges, to get 30 and then almost surely won't kick on. If you take out the battering of Gambia and Djibouti from that qualifer, his T20 numbers go back to teen averages at a sub 100 strike rate.

Wessley is a lot better in the sense that he can middle the bat, but his problem is a lack of playing the ball along the ground. You can't play aerially 80% of the time and expect to cross 25 often at the highest level.

But a lot of white ball batting is also about overall batsmanship...being highlight by the much younger and "less talented" Brian Bennett who seems to ge a score/start in every innings. You have got to be able to score off a majority of deliveries in white ball cricket, against even the best bowlers. Marumani and Wess can probably do that against the Logan Cup or Pro50 attacks, but against even a Scotland or Netherlands, if you get bogged down, you see them reaching for the pressure release shot and that is a sure fire recipe for walking back to the dressing room quick.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Raza can win it from here if he’s as awesome as people say he is. 5 overs is plenty of time

No one wants to hear even though I said it a few times but he will just be stranded coming at number 5
He should be opening in this format.

Totally agree bro

Credit where it’s due you only one that agreed back then

[ZIMDOGGY]

Wez and maru fail again. Tf is going on with these kids man?? Are they just not good enough or thick as pig shit?

Both I think.
Only look good against mid tier club level attacks in the Logan cup.
Once the balls get faster, more accurate and spin, hasn’t got the smarts or ability to adapt

They are like Zimbabwe's version of Liton Das...massively overhyped by a majority of fans but for little substantive reason.

These guys averaged under 20 I think in the under 19 world cups...that equals a senior level average of 10-15, as a general rule. Marumani is on par, and Wez is actually overachieving a bit. If you take out Wez's debut season in 2020, he's about right there of averaging 15 across formats.

Marumani has improved quite a bit, but he's still a guy who requires luck, numerous outside edges, to get 30 and then almost surely won't kick on. If you take out the battering of Gambia and Djibouti from that qualifer, his T20 numbers go back to teen averages at a sub 100 strike rate.

Wessley is a lot better in the sense that he can middle the bat, but his problem is a lack of playing the ball along the ground. You can't play aerially 80% of the time and expect to cross 25 often at the highest level.

But a lot of white ball batting is also about overall batsmanship...being highlight by the much younger and "less talented" Brian Bennett who seems to ge a score/start in every innings. You have got to be able to score off a majority of deliveries in white ball cricket, against even the best bowlers. Marumani and Wess can probably do that against the Logan Cup or Pro50 attacks, but against even a Scotland or Netherlands, if you get bogged down, you see them reaching for the pressure release shot and that is a sure fire recipe for walking back to the dressing room quick.

I think Wes is simply too small for t20, he can only hit sixes off express pace

[Kriterion_BD]

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I think Wes is simply too small for t20, he can only hit sixes off express pace

I don't think size/strength has that much to do with it. It can help, but timing, technique, and knowing which ball to hit where and how hard is 80% of hitting big. Suryakumar isn't a big bloke. Neither was Shahid Afridi. The other thing is just nudging 50% of the balls you face for singles plus a few boundaries gets you a healthy strike rate.

Think of an innings where you face 50 balls...a solid T20 knock in terms of duration. 50% singles means 25 runs. 10% doubles means 10 runs. Total 35 so far with 40% remaining. lets say 25% dots (13 balls) as thats not a unreasonable to expect from a skilled player. 15% boundaries (2 sixes, 5 fours). Thats a total of 67 runs off 50 balls (134 strike rate), with a quarter of balls faced being dots. And you only need to hit one six per 25 balls to get there. Obviously harder said than done.

[Googly]

This is really depressing. Two batters got 65 runs and the other 8 got 35, that's 4 ea basically.
You do see plenty of T20 scorecards like that though, at the end of the day you only need 3 batters to come off to post a decent total.

Even BB's and Raza's scores came at a run a ball, which is a bit slow chasing 150, and they would have needed a couple of lower order guys to make decent scores at at least 150% strike rate. If our 2 best guys can't do much better than a run a ball that's a tall order.
Brian, who has done pretty well, is struggling to up his strike rate. Its just a couple of boundaries before he goes out to make it 130% though. He's growing in stature and composure and confidence all the time. Run a ball 20's and 30's make him our best player atm.

Whilst Zolsky and ZC remain adamant that this is our best team it doesn't change the fact that even our 3rd best batting string should be able to give a better account of themselves.
It's a damned good bowling attack and it's not easy.

Why would they be playing the decider today and not tomorrow?

This is no longer the customary dead rubber where they can give the bench a run or arrange the single win to keep the dream alive. Hammy has to put his best team on the park.
I fear we're in miracle territory...again.

[zimfan1]

Apparently Kaitano has been selected to be the back up wicket keeper.

[zimfan1]

Rain this afternoon from looking at the forecast.