[Match Thread] Zimbabwe v South Africa: Only Test

[CrimsonAvenger]

Faf du Plessis gives an account of his experience so far in Zim: http://www.supersport.com/cricket/blogs ... rim_in_Zim

Greetings from Harare, Zimbabwe, where I have been since early this week.

It was a bit of a trip getting from the Maldives to Zim via Dubai – with a nine-hour stopover and another connection within Africa - so the group of us that came in together – JP, Morne, Dale and myself – were pretty tired when we checked into our hotel. Morne and Dale joined up with us after a fishing trip with Quinny de Kock.

Once rested, it was back to work with a few training sessions at Harare Sports Club, the venue for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe. I’ll be honest, the training sessions were a little bit of a challenge, because of the condition of the nets we were training in. They were turning square and seaming a lot, which made it quite a challenge, because of the seam attack we have. Facing the likes of Dale, Morne and Vernon on a wicket like that isn’t great for the confidence, because the ball is seaming around at great pace.

Our attitude, though, is to accept what you can’t change and just get on with things. So, please don’t mistake this for a moan – I’m just giving you the facts of what we have experienced here in Zim. The Harare Sports Club itself is a beautiful venue and I’m looking forward to playing a Test match there.

I had a look at the square and there appears to be two strips in contention to be used for the game – a green one and a brown one. Initially I was under the impression that the green one might be used, after receiving a trim, but I’m not sure the Zimbabwe guys will be keen on that, with the seam attack we have. Any side preparing a ‘green-top’ to face our pace attack is taking a chance, particularly if you lose the toss and get stuck in. You saw what happened to India in Manchester, and they actually won the toss!

What has struck me is the cost of things here in Zim. It’s just round the corner from South Africa, yet I paid $20 for a burger the other night. That’s over R200! Everything is in US dollars and they are like London prices. We’re quite used to travelling and paying in different currencies and, with the exchange rate as it is, we’re used to paying a lot in other countries. I just didn’t expect that in Zim.

We’re at the Rainbow Towers Hotel and Conference Centre in Harare, and there were some slightly comical scenes at the hotel on day one, with large groups congregating outside the lifts. Only one lift out of five appeared to be working and we were already late for practice. So, we ended up being 45 minutes late for that session, although the lift situation was eventually sorted out.

Another challenge we face is not being complacent. The fact remains that Zimbabwe are ranked significantly lower than us in the world rankings and haven’t played much Test cricket over the past few years. But, that won’t change our approach and it was the first issue we addressed in our team meeting.

We’ve got very high standards and it’s important for us to maintain those standards. From a personal point of view, I’m as motivated for this Test match as any other, and I want to perform. It is human to maybe relax a bit against opponents that aren’t viewed as being as strong as previous opponents, but we are very mindful of this, and we want to make sure we tick every box in preparation.

I don’t know too many of the Zim players, but we will be doing our video research work before the Test gets under way, to make sure our preparation is comprehensive and complete.

I’ll touch base next week after the game.

[Jemisi]

That all seems pretty fair. $20 for a burger? That seems steep. I assume he was at a restaurant. Not just a take away burger place. But even then they go for as much as they do here in Aus - $6 or so.

[lobsang]

will there be live streaming of the match? any ideas guys?

There must be. Ten Sports has the rights in Asia, and probably SuperSport in SA/Zim?

the thing is that it will be telecast only on Ten Cricket HD and Sri Lanka vs Pakistan test is being telecast on Ten Cricket. and it sucks to be honest. This test i think is not attracting that much interest in India so they put it on Ten Cricket HD which is hard to have an access to but i will enjoy the live streaming. 5 hours to go, hope the Zim boys will give a spirited performance.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

5 pages and the match hasn't even started yet. That must be some kind of record

[CrimsonAvenger]

5 pages and the match hasn't even started yet. That must be some kind of record

Exactly what I was thinking

[Jemisi]

so hungry for some cricket

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Can only watch the first session tomorrow...

I might only be able to see the first session as well

So it would be best all round if South Africa bat first. That denies their seamers the use of first hour conditions at HSC, it means the match will definitely go into a second day, and we won't have to endure watching the SA openers bring up their double centuries

[Jemisi]

I wonder if SA will bat if they win the toss? Or will they just send us in and try knock us over by the afternoon?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I wonder if SA will bat if they win the toss? Or will they just send us in and try knock us over by the afternoon?

I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't bowl first if they won the toss.

[Jemisi]

We'll probably bat if we win it though, don't you reckon? If it is as brown as they say, giving them first use to knock up a big score isn't our best option.