[MATCH THREAD] 2nd Test Afghanistan v Zimbabwe @Abu Dhabi

[Jemisi]

Missed a lot of today but what a fight. So sorry for the Don. Such a wonderful effort. And Williams. Wow. To think we've had forumites here trying to get rid of him over the years. One of our finest. Hope they can build on this during the winter.

[zimlover]

Chatara and Jarvis are old news they can not play Test for Zimbabwe.We should persist with Muzarabani ,Nyauchi and. possibly Mashinge.

We cannot continue to recycle Old news there are done and dusted it time to move on from them in test matches.

Possibly entertain them in One dayers or T20 but if anyone in their right mind Selects Jarvis and Chatara over Nyauchi and Muzarabani for test, they would have shown great incompetence.

Burl despite the Wickets should be no where near ready to be selected as a batsman. We have better leg spinners in Mavutu.

Madhevere should be dropped from test until he gets more scores in the First class Logan games.

We need Taylor, Ervine , Raza , Williams, PJ Moor, Chakabva for our middle order mainstay.

The Don to return his spot based on his performance here.

Our line up should be Prince, Kevin,Craig, Taylor, Raza, Williams, PJ Moor, Chakabva,Donald, Nyauchi ,Blessing

[eugene]

Some good fight from Zimbabwe today, gutted that The Don didn't bring up a century.

[zimfan1]

The BT non selection is very strange. He has just not picked, no other way to say it. This has come from family friends. No reason why he could not have played in the T20s.

[Zimco]

Chatara and Jarvis are old news they can not play Test for Zimbabwe.We should persist with Muzarabani ,Nyauchi and. possibly Mashinge.

We cannot continue to recycle Old news there are done and dusted it time to move on from them in test matches.

Possibly entertain them in One dayers or T20 but if anyone in their right mind Selects Jarvis and Chatara over Nyauchi and Muzarabani for test, they would have shown great incompetence.

Burl despite the Wickets should be no where near ready to be selected as a batsman. We have better leg spinners in Mavutu.

Madhevere should be dropped from test until he gets more scores in the First class Logan games.

We need Taylor, Ervine , Raza , Williams, PJ Moor, Chakabva for our middle order mainstay.

The Don to return his spot based on his performance here.

Our line up should be Prince, Kevin,Craig, Taylor, Raza, Williams, PJ Moor, Chakabva,Donald, Nyauchi ,Blessing

That's a decent line up. The problem I have is that line up went for 540-4. If you go for that line up, you shouldn't need don as a bat because you have got so much batting so chatara/Jarvis should play as the third wicket taking paceman. Or you play mavuta as no 9 and spinner.

Or don plays as a bat who bowls a bit instead of pj moor/chakabva. Also no ways Williams would/should bat no 6.

My line up subcontinent. Prince, Kevin, Craig, Williams, Taylor, Raza, chakabva, don, mavuta, blessing, nyauchi.

At home: Prince, Kevin, Craig, Williams, Taylor, Raza, moor, chakabva, chatara/Jarvis, blessing, nyauchi.

[kudet]

https://twitter.com/GodwillMamhiyo/stat ... 5786119169

[Kriterion_BD]

I think the seam attack should be Jarvis, Blessing, and Chatara. If Chatara isn't fit for whatever reason, then probably Nyauchi/Ngrava would be next in line.

[zimbos_05]

We could have saved this match if the other batsmen came to the party. Very disappointing that no one other than Don didn't stick with Sean. It goes to show that we really could have saved this test if the batsmen applied themselves. Feel really sorry for Don that he missed his century. His bowling hasn't earn't him his spot.

[CrimsonAvenger]

One decent knock of 25 or 30 and the time that takes is all that was needed to save this match for Zim. That hurts a lot. But we saw the fight of the old Zim, and that made me feel good. Sean and the Don, take a bow!

[jaybro]

Going forward now Zimbabwe selectors have a dilemma regarding Donald Tiripano and even Ryan Burl, both players had mixed tours and to be brutally honest failed in their roles as a bowler for Tiripano and for a batsman in Burl. But in the other department of the game with is their secondary skill they both performed very well.

Tiripano is a bowler who can bat, his Test Bowling average of 49.20 over 12 Tests is simply not good enough, I understand that most of his Tests have been played on pitches which are not suited for medium pace bowling, but for Zimbabwe who usually play on these types of decks you need your bowlers to be suited to such decks. If it wasn't for his batting average of 22.27 which was boosted by his heroic 95, Tiripano would have been dropped a long time ago.

Burl who was picked as a batsman who can bowl failed miserably with the bat scoring 8 in the 1st Test and a pair in the second, an average of under 3 for the series says it all, he should be dropped. But Burl bowled really well during both Tests as he took 4 wickets @26 a piece, he was easily the best of the four all-round spinners for Zimbabwe.

So the conundrum facing the selectors is, do you pick a bowler for his batting skills and a batsman for his bowling? It's always good to have both skill sets when you're fighting for selection, sure if Tiripano was bowling well his extra runs would surely cement his spot in the side, but averaging almost 50 in tests proves he isn't good enough as a bowler. If Burl was doing ok with the bat, his wickets would also give him a chance at keeping his place as a batting all-rounder, but looking at him purely as a batsman he needs to play some first class cricket because his test numbers are Maruma-esque.

In my opinion Zimbabwe needs to stop picking bowlers for their batting and batters for their bowling, I'm sure Tendai Chisoro would have bowled just as good if not better than Burl, and he certainly would have made more than 8 runs.