Just a curious thought after the recent talk of quotas, transformation etc. would an all black current Zim XI beat an all black current SA XI? I don't know enough of the SA domestic scene but on paper I'm pretty sure we would win. Their pace attack would be good obviously. Just an interesting thought.
If we are looking at a non-white Zim Test XI as of today, with no Myers, this is what it might look like?
Did I miss someone? Every bowler is one batting spot too high probably. Also, no. 7 could do with a genuine batsman, but there is no one knocking on the doors and we might do better with Tiripano or Jongwe there.
I haven't followed SA enough of late to come up with their test XI, but Rabada, Maharaj and Ngidi would be significantly ahead of our bowling, despite us being decent. We must be better off with the bat for sure.
I think I’d sacrifice Raza and make it blacks only , so that they can’t have Maharaj Shamsi and some of their Asian batters. If we include them they’d probably win but if we went black only I think it’d be a Zim victory!
Yeah, in an all-black test XI - I feel there will be a lot of debutants for SA. Based on current form, I'd pick Maunze to debut with Kaitano up top and move Musakanda down. Taking Maharaj out from their test XI definitely helps us . We can probably go with:
Kaitano
Maunze (or Makoni or Kasuza or someone)
Shumba
Madhevere
Chakabva
Musakanda
Tiripano / Jongwe ?
Masakadza
Muzarabani
Ngarava
Nyauchi
Another option is to pick Mayavo as keeper so that Chakabva can play as specialist batsman. But that did not fill me with a lot of confidence.
Just noticed South Africa have selected Wayne Parnell for their upcoming series against the Netherlands. No comeback for Rossouw though.
But is this a sign of things to come? Clearly means they are ok to take the Kolpak's back into the national setup which is absolutely fantastic news for South African cricketm
This could mean possible comebacks for Abbott, Olivier, Rossouw, Harmer.
There is little to no chance that Harmer will ever be selected imo, Maharaj is a wonderful spinner AND helps the quota so will always be selected as the primary spinner provided he is fit. Second to him is George Linde who while i'd much rather see Harmer, Boucher is very keen on and he has done pretty well in the limited opportunities he has been given.
Roussouw I thought would get a call up against the Netherlands to add some experience to what was expected to be a young SA side but they seem to have decided that Miller offers enough international batting experience to to the lineup which is slightly disappointing but not unexpected i guess.
Olivier i doubt will ever be selected again because of the manner in which he "rebelled" against CSA who are more petty than ZC these days. By rejecting their central contract and signing the Kolpak deal and then publically declaring that he wanted to qualify for England he pretty much ended all chance of ever playing again and i dont think CSA will come back to him despite his numbers being outstanding.
Abbott is just a bit old to be getting a recall now sadly and his glory days are gone.
However who i am very disappointed they didnt select was David Bedingham who scored runs for fun throughout the English summer and thought this was the absolute golden opportunity to see what he can do in national colours.
Parnell being selected is an absolute mind boggler for me. He had a shocking English summer getting carted for fun almost every game he played - including getting hit for over 7 an over against Sussex who didnt win a game all year, did nothing in the provincial T20 of any note and is 32. This is the perfect opportunity to get Wiaan Mulder involved in the ODI stuff as a genuine allrounder but what do i know eh.
. We can probably go with: