ZIM tour BD 2025 Pre-series thread

[Kriterion_BD]

Matigimu should have been there ahead of a couple of guys at the least. Probably in place of the reserve WK. Although you always do want to have at least a part time WK as a backup.

[zimfan1]

Can't go in with Mayavo at 7 and Welly or Vinne at 8. Can't have a tail starting at 7.

[secretzimbo]

Kaitano scores 139 in the warm-up match and bats beautifully alongside Curran but gets dropped from the squad

[TapsC2]

Quota system agenda going up in smoke this tour

This squad tells me they are assuming we will get the usual spin friendly conditions in Bangladesh. Only reason why it would make sense to go with 2 spinners and leave Kaitano behind. Still would have expected him and Matigimu to make the squad but it is what it is. Scotland will be a tough matchup as well. We will probably name a strong squad for those games.

Gwandu again... Let's just assume Sammons and Langeveldt see things in training we don't see. I saw him live and he looked ok but surely Matigimu has to be ahead of him now. We aren't blind.

[Andy31]

Quota system agenda going up in smoke this tour

This squad tells me they are assuming we will get the usual spin friendly conditions in Bangladesh. Only reason why it would make sense to go with 2 spinners and leave Kaitano behind. Still would have expected him and Matigimu to make the squad but it is what it is. Scotland will be a tough matchup as well. We will probably name a strong squad for those games.

Gwandu again... Let's just assume Sammons and Langeveldt see things in training we don't see. I saw him live and he looked ok but surely Matigimu has to be ahead of him now. We aren't blind.

Happy with Gwandu in the limited over stuff but yeah test are not his strong suit.
Matigimu would have strengthened the batting a fair bit.

[Googly]

Mayavo as the back-up keeper would not be my choice.
He's a decent keeper but a mediocre bat compared to the other options.

Everyone is waxing lyrical about Matigimu, as am I, but Evans is as good an option, if not better. How Gwandu keeps getting the nod ahead of these two is just a mystery.

I think Burl is currently a better option than Jonno. He's a better leggie and a better batsman.

I think Wellie is a bit lucky to be there. He's a much better player than people give him credit for, but there are other options thst would balance the side better.

Masekesa has probably earned a spot, but he doesn't do well when he's taking some tap and under pressure.

Hugely surprising that Kaitano has been left out. Thats an error. They're short an opener. They've categorically stated that Welch is not an opener, although at 3 you're as good as an opener.
They may surprise us and open with him because he's a lot more experienced than Bennett in that role in red ball. You've got to decide whether Bennett would be more effective opening or down the order where it's a bit easier.

Taps as far as the quota thing goes, I just don't think you can ignore the white monkeys that they've picked, with the possible exception of Jonno, who's best replacement would be Burl. I don't think they can afford to ignore Evans, but Matigimu is his like for like and they're similar. Evans shades it for me. He's our most consistent and parsimonious seamer by a country mile.

[Googly]

I forgot to mention Wes in the previous post. A good Wes is good. You just don't know what you're getting.

Kaitano
Curran
Ervine
Welch
Williams
Bennett
Burl
Tsiga
Evans
Ngarava
Muzarabani.

This is our best test line up. I've excluded Raza because he's too busy making cash elsewhere and accommodation in Bangladesh is probably not to his liking.

[Googly]

If and when Knackers gets a Green Mamba and Raza deigns (what a delightful word) to play for us, and BT joins the fray I just don't know how you'd pick a batting line up.

Curran has really surprised me. To be honest I've never really rated him and he's proven me magnificently wrong. He looks so organised and just doesn't ever look like going out.
He's shown a few chinks against real quality bowling, but that's understandable and unfortunately we don't play the big teams so we just dont know until we play them in essentially a one off. This is a big year against good teams though-
England, SA and NZ. Does it get tougher than that! I have heart palpitations just thinking about it.
That NZ bowling attack is downright scary.

[Googly]

I forgot to mention Wes in the previous post. A good Wes is good. You just don't know what you're getting.

Kaitano
Curran
Ervine
Welch
Williams
Bennett
Burl
Tsiga
Evans
Ngarava
Muzarabani.

This is our best test line up. I've excluded Raza because he's too busy making cash elsewhere and accommodation in Bangladesh is probably not to his liking.

My first choice squad will look quite a lot different to the team that takes to the field.
It's a game of mm and we always have at least 3 guys on the park that are not the best options. Selectors keep doing it with impunity, and the guys getting the opportunities rarely take them. Occasionally they do and then we never hear the end of it. We can ill afford to do that. I don't recall a single game we've played when we've got our strongest team possible. We're not Australia or India where they can do that without compromising the outcome.

[aydee]

I forgot to mention Wes in the previous post. A good Wes is good. You just don't know what you're getting.

Kaitano
Curran
Ervine
Welch
Williams
Bennett
Burl
Tsiga
Evans
Ngarava
Muzarabani.

This is our best test line up. I've excluded Raza because he's too busy making cash elsewhere and accommodation in Bangladesh is probably not to his liking.

I like that line up, but I would have Marumani for Tsiga.

What on Earth are they planning with that opening role? There is no one in that squad who has done it, even semi-regularly. A big gamble.

I agree that Burl is a much better option than Campbell. He has kind of paid the price for neglecting FC cricket over the years though. Never built an unanswerable body of work - which I think he probably would have done. He's playing well at the moment, and looks an excellent option in that team as a 7 bat and leg break bowler.

Wes is also ahead of Campbell for me.