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I see that Ireland’s tour of Zimbabwe has been confirmed and the Irish will arrive in early January with 3 ODIs & 3 T20s to be completed between the 12th to 22nd with all games being played at Harare Sports Club.

Although Zimbabwe have recently played t20s, I think the more interest around who will get picked surrounds the shortest version.

Will Ervine & Regis get picked or will they retire or be dropped? Who will open the batting in their place?

We all expect Marumani to get selected to open the batting, but will he keep or will we see a recall for Mutumbami or possibly see Madande take over?

The schedule also throws up an awkward situation regarding Raza, he’ll certainly have a clash with one of his franchises at that time of year.

This is the t20 side I’d like to see v Ireland

Marumani wk
Kamunhukamwe
Madhevere
Williams
Raza c
Burl
Mashinge
Evans
Mavuta
Ngarava
Blessing

A few random picks which I’ve done more on potential and to fit a certain role in the side.

Kamunhukamwe obviously is a left field choice, but he has been in good form this season and although his t20 numbers are poor, he hits the ball hard and should be well suited to this format.

Mashinge gets in just in front of Jongwe & Musekiwa as the big hitting finisher role. Jongwe really disappointed in Australia and although Musekiwa has proved himself to be a clean hitter, Mashinge has been around for a while and I feel it’s his time.

Mavuta is another debatable selection as his record in t20 isn’t great either. But again like Kamunhukamwe I’m backing him to overcome his slow start to t20 cricket. His Pro50 season was exceptional so I think he deserves a recall, plus he adds an attacking option.

I feel Wellington doesn’t add anything different to what Williams and Wes already do, so Mavuta makes more sense for variety reasons.

Looking up the BPL and UAE league start dates and this tour is around the start dates. I wonder how they will work around that. I personally think this would be a decent time to try out some new faces. There is nothing on the line.

The BPL starts just after the tour finishes so Williams and Burl can play but I think they should let Raza and Blessing miss the series. Let's give Nyauchi and Chivanga a go. Let's try figure out our batting issues.

If the likes of Marumani, K-Long, Nyauchi, Mavuta and Chivanga can't do it against Ireland then they will never make it.

Munyonga too. Maybe even Jonathan Campbell, Mashinge, Mumba and Ainsley. let's try them out. Ben Curran too if he gets some runs. It would be a good test

For me

ODIs

Marumani
Kaitano
Kaia
Ervine(c)
Williams
Wes
Mutumbami(wk)
Burl
Evans
Ngarava
Nyauchi

T20s

Marumani(wk)
Kamunhukamwe
Wes
Williams(c)
Munyonga
Burl
Jongwe
Evans
Mumba
Mavuta
Ngarava

Subs for all formats Chivanga, Campbell, Shumba, Ainsley, Wellington, Mashinge, Curran

They never follow the OG squads for home matches anyway but those will be the guys we should work with. Let Blessing and Raza make a name for themselves out there.

Yeah valid points TapsC, but you’d assume ZC will want to win, so can they afford to test the bench strength?

I guess they ultimately would be picking similar guys to who played v BD, Ind & Aus as there were so many guys injured around that time.

Lol where on Earth have the Kamunhukamwe calls pcome from?!

Ireland are serious about their cricket and honour their commitments not like those Afghans who think they are some superstars without achieving anything significant at international level.

I would like to see some fresh faces for sure, keeping in mind the World Cup Qualifiers. Jonathan Campbell for sure, I also agree that Ben Curran can be tried out, let's see how he goes. Marumani is a no brainer, absolutely comes in as an opener and takes Shumba's place in the side.

Bowling should be full strength, we can go with the current set of bowlers, I think they are doing good and even for the Qualifiers we don't have an issue with bowling, the issue is mainly with batting. So no major bowling experiments, but surely some fresh faces in the batting department.

sam_ahm wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:11 am

I would like to see some fresh faces for sure, keeping in mind the World Cup Qualifiers. Jonathan Campbell for sure, I also agree that Ben Curran can be tried out, let's see how he goes. Marumani is a no brainer, absolutely comes in as an opener and takes Shumba's place in the side.

Bowling should be full strength, we can go with the current set of bowlers, I think they are doing good and even for the Qualifiers we don't have an issue with bowling, the issue is mainly with batting. So no major bowling experiments, but surely some fresh faces in the batting department.

I agree.
This tour is to be a chance to try new players.
Unfortunately most of best Zimbabwean players are over 35, so it is time to try new faces to let them gain experience.

P.S. too bad the tour does not include any Test Match: both Ireland and Zimbabwe badly need to play more Tests