Losers vs Afghanistan | 2nd LOI | 19 December 2024

[55727835]

He might be struggling a bit right now but Gumbie was missed yesterday. He has a unique skillset which is critical for situations like yesterday's or even if we go back to that Scotland game. You just feel like if he survives 10 overs in a situation as tough as those 2 games, we have a different outcome

A healthy reminder that Marumani's last 5 innings have been 3,6,6,5 and 9. Gumbie's conservative style is critical for the top order and he needs to play the next game. He should be playing every ODI and Test we play.

[Googly]

I've always said Overlord has the skills to play these top guys.
However we don't know how he would have fared against that quality of swing and spin, but I'd sure like to see.

It's not a unique skillset, Taps. We have to move on from that generational gem thing. The second that shit stops on social media we will turn a very small corner, but for sure he is one of the few guys that has a defensive technique that helps him occupy the crease against quality seam, yet to see him against the spin trickery though.

I'm not sure a decent 30 off Overlord was going to change the outcome as such, but he's one of the few guys that look up for it. Our existing guys are suffering from PTSD already.

ZC only picks off form when it suits them, they only pick off past performances (waaay past) also when it suits them. However they are picking him off very very poor domestic form. I don't have a huge problem with it because we know he can play, but then they must stop making public podcasts about what their selection criteria is. They must just put an addendum that Green Label may affect final selection.

It's the law of averages that someone is going to make a Zimbabwean 50 shortly and the stories will start about how the belief has finally paid off. What a low bar we have set ourselves.

The one thing for certain is that this current squad they've been tinkering with for the last few months is not going to win us much. The Big 3 are going to leave us deep in the shit by the end of 2025, take poison on that as well.

[ZIMDOGGY]

People's bottom lines are not affected by the results. That's why you don't really see that fight in them in a lot of games. It's going to be a tough 3 weeks. 1 token victory here and there is enough I guess.

As I said before what is the point of playing Ervine and Williams if the end result is still humiliation? You are better off using the big 3's salary space to import the likes of Higgins and Byrom. You can even dream bigger and try pay top dollar for Tom Curran. Welch and co will also get to play once they are gone. It's the logical thing to do without using emotions here. You can then genuinely tell the world you are rebuilding.

Tom Curran is a seriously overrated player. He's literally stolen a career. Higgins is better.

Byrom is a perfect example of what I was saying- he comes here and does very averagely in domestic and yet he can absolutely play at this level.

Hard to tell with atom because county can be both super strong and weak (by first class standard) all at once. Due to the high number of teams and player availability in regards to internationals. I’d say they would suffer like how Logan cups suffers when the nationals team are playing. You remove the English squad AND international imports. That allows the medium players to shine, which is where you are placing Tom.

[ZIMDOGGY]

I’m thinking Tom will give himself one more season to re-break back into the England team then commit.
My maths says he isn’t eligible until June anyway? Have they reduced it to 3 years? Then maybe if so.
So what I’m thinking is he plays out another year in county and then he’s 32, and highly unlikely to claw back in, then he goes to Zim and leads into the World Cup, which is the big drawcard.