Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan | First Test | 26 December 2024 - 30 December 2024 | Queens Sports Club

[Kriterion_BD]

Just watch this space. Just because it was done first by a different race doesn't mean it can't be replicated.

It can certainly be replicated. White, black, and brown cricketers have all excelled at the game. So if Viv Richards, Brian Lara, or Shai Hope can be good batters it’s possible.

But again the culture factor plays a role. And it has to be from a culture of not just playing cricket (Masakadza brothers) but one of being genuinely good at cricket as well.

[Andybligzz]

We really should not be allowing Afghanistan to compete with us like they do.

To be honest, they don’t. Afghanistan have left Zimbabwe in the dust. The last “competitive” series between the two was probably in 2017 or 2018, and they’ve never lost a series - in any format - to Zimbabwe.

They’ve also never beaten us in a test yet, the real cricket that counts. So to say they have left us in the dust is incorrect, a better generation of cricketers than us at the moment is the correct term. With all the off field problems they face, politics and finances ect it’s easy to see this is their golden generation.Afghanistan have us covered easily in white ball just like they are a better team than Bangladesh, West Indies, Ireland, but our red ball stuff holds up.

[Googly]

I disagree wholeheartedly. Those late wickets when those batters came on with no helmets, caps or hats indicated they were just going to swing. The only thing we're trying to hang onto is they don't bat as deep as us and I'm doubting that.

Their front 4 batters are damned good and their bowling is light years ahead. They just keep producing world class spinners and the only thing we can match them in is seam, but they're way more accurate than ours .
They're just not used to test cricket and probably have a lot less interest in it than us. Their guys will all want to be getting T20 gigs because they probably don't get paid too much by their board.

Cricketers all feel obliged to say tests are their preferred format but I doubt that.

We somehow need to play another 8 50 over games and literally triple the amount of T20's.

We can't keep saying test cricket is real cricket when the only interest in it is amongst the top few teams. The rest of the world doesn't give a damn when we're playing Afghanistan or West Indies. We need to move with the times urgently.

[jaybro]

I disagree wholeheartedly. Those late wickets when those batters came on with no helmets, caps or hats indicated they were just going to swing. The only thing we're trying to hang onto is they don't bat as deep as us and I'm doubting that.

Their front 4 batters are damned good and their bowling is light years ahead. They just keep producing world class spinners and the only thing we can match them in is seam, but they're way more accurate than ours .
They're just not used to test cricket and probably have a lot less interest in it than us. Their guys will all want to be getting T20 gigs because they probably don't get paid too much by their board.

Cricketers all feel obliged to say tests are their preferred format but I doubt that.

We somehow need to play another 8 50 over games and literally triple the amount of T20's.

We can't keep saying test cricket is real cricket when the only interest in it is amongst the top few teams. The rest of the world doesn't give a damn when we're playing Afghanistan or West Indies. We need to move with the times urgently.

I said this years ago that Zimbabwe needed to prioritise t20 cricket, despite this going against everything I love about the game.

Zimbabwe are more chance of competing against in the big nations in the shortest format. But it needs more attention.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Funnily enough, Afghanistan have benefited from the Taliban being in a control. They don't train in their country where they obviously have no infrastructure. So they get to train in world class facilities in UAE and India. They get access to top coaches and infrastructure. BCCI have invested millions in them. Their players only ever play in leagues outside of Afghanistan.

Our players have had their infrastructure destroyed. When people have tried to set up academies, TM and Bvute close them down because they don't have control.

We can't let them overtake us. We know that the ZANU faction are stealing the money, so there is no reason why they cannot invest in all the things that we need to have the facilities and infrastructure to compete. We really should not be allowing Afghanistan to compete with us like they do.

ZC, Mukhulani, Mutendera are just cuckolds I realised. They are perfectly fine being humiliated and having their names associated with Mediocrity. I’m embarrassed for them.

As for Afghanistan, I’ve n ever understood why they are investedi n so heavily.
What’s the payoff? A goat farmer watching a T20 game from his black and white tv out the back of Kandahar?
Sponsorship from an AK47 manufacturer?

You can’t even use the goodwill excuse since they are implicitly supporting the Taliban.

[Kriterion_BD]

They’ve also never beaten us in a test yet, the real cricket that counts. So to say they have left us in the dust is incorrect, a better generation of cricketers than us at the moment is the correct term. With all the off field problems they face, politics and finances ect it’s easy to see this is their golden generation. Afghanistan have us covered easily in white ball just like they are a better team than Bangladesh, West Indies, Ireland, but our red ball stuff holds up.

Afghanistan has won a Test match against Zimbabwe, and by a massive margin too. If you take all 3 Tests between the two sides, the Afghans have overall slightly outpeformed Zimbabwe by a margin of 42 to 37 (AFG batting average to ZIM batting average across the 3 Tests). That gap was made smaller by Brian Bennet's 5 fiver the other day. If it hadn't rained, the Afghans might have declared at 550-3...

Also I wouldn't say the Afghans are better than Bangladesh. The only format they are ranked higher in is in ODIs, and incidentally they've got a 0-3 record vs Bangladesh in the ODI world cup - and none of the 3 matches was close. This includes the 2023 World Cup where Bangladesh were shit, and Afghanistan had their dream run. I will concede the Afghans are better than us in T20s though...

[Kriterion_BD]

We can't keep saying test cricket is real cricket when the only interest in it is amongst the top few teams. The rest of the world doesn't give a damn when we're playing Afghanistan or West Indies. We need to move with the times urgently.

There is still some interest in Test cricket worldwide. I think the WTC has done a decent job in reviving player or team interest in it, to some degree. We all know England, Australia, and India take Test cricket very seriously. They also have the best crowd numbers. But NZ takes it seriously as well, and their crowds always show up, even if they are playing Bangladesh.

Pakistan and Bangladesh take the format seriously, they are just not very good at it. And while they have shit crowds, they still have massive fanbases that religiously follow even Test cricket - albeit not attending games, most likely due to poorer economic conditions. But there are 10x as many Test fans in each country than in England and Australia combined, thanks to their massive populations.

Afghanistan like Bangladesh, take all cricket seriously, regardless of format - since its literally the only thing the country has going for it for the forseeable future. Zimbabwe also seems to favor Tests over all the other formats, as most on the forum would agree/lament.

The only countries that aren't that serious about Tests are South Africa, West Indies, and Ireland. So that makes 9 out of 12 countries serious about Tests, and thats pretty healthy IMO. And you can count Ireland as half-interested, because for them its a financial constraint more so than being gung ho about T20. SA and Windies though would sell their testicles to avoid playing Tests if they could.

[eugene]

We can't keep saying test cricket is real cricket when the only interest in it is amongst the top few teams. The rest of the world doesn't give a damn when we're playing Afghanistan or West Indies. We need to move with the times urgently.

There are more tests played now than during the supposed golden age of tests, and more competitiveness than ever. We are actually in the golden age of test cricket now. Just think of some of the results in 2024, which included very few boring draws, something which blighted the game in the 90s and 2000s.

SL beating NZ at home
India losing to NZ at home
WI winning a test in Australia
SL winning a test in England
NZ losing to England at home
Pakistan beating England at home
Bangladesh drawing series in WI

[Kriterion_BD]

We can't keep saying test cricket is real cricket when the only interest in it is amongst the top few teams. The rest of the world doesn't give a damn when we're playing Afghanistan or West Indies. We need to move with the times urgently.

There are more tests played now than during the supposed golden age of tests, and more competitiveness than ever. We are actually in the golden age of test cricket now. Just think of some of the results in 2024, which included very few boring draws, something which blighted the game in the 90s and 2000s.

SL beating NZ at home
India losing to NZ at home
WI winning a test in Australia
SL winning a test in England
NZ losing to England at home
Pakistan beating England at home
Bangladesh drawing series in WI

Also BD beating Pakistan 2-0 in Pakistan.

[zimbos_05]

There are more tests played now than during the supposed golden age of tests, and more competitiveness than ever. We are actually in the golden age of test cricket now. Just think of some of the results in 2024, which included very few boring draws, something which blighted the game in the 90s and 2000s.

SL beating NZ at home
India losing to NZ at home
WI winning a test in Australia
SL winning a test in England
NZ losing to England at home
Pakistan beating England at home
Bangladesh drawing series in WI

That's only because of the WTC. There is incentive for the teams and they will prioritise those matches. For us, Ireland, and Afg, there is no incentive and no drive for this. Why would any of the other teams rush to play those three in tests. Maybe the odd one here or there to pretend like they care, but other than that, prioritising Tests isn't benefitting us. If we keep failing at the white ball game, we'll just be continually thought of as lesser. We can't lose to sides like Uganda, and then expect test playing nations to take us seriously when we ask for matches.