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

[zimfan1]

Thought Blessing bowled well this afternoon. Tough day all round but lots of runs still out there.

[sam_ahm]

Afghans were lucky they won this toss else it could have been Game Over for them.

[Kriterion_BD]

Don't know why they didn't prepare a track like this first up for themselves.

Like Bangladesh the Afghan think tank doesn't seem too bright ie I don't think they understand Test cricket. No other explanation for why they would look at a grassy wicket, and go "Yeah one quick and all spinners" when their best spinner was injured.

[jaybro]

Thought Blessing bowled well this afternoon. Tough day all round but lots of runs still out there.

Definitely the pick of the bowlers

We were always going to be in trouble once the 2 specialists struggled. Like Kriterion once said after we won that test in Bangladesh, our all rounders are primarily batsmen and will struggle on a flat pitch

This series is definitely following a familiar pattern to the BD series in 2018, Zim were underdogs then but on a pitch that assisted the bowlers, therefor shortening the game & making it a closer contest, Zimbabwe's seamers & part time spinners enjoyed the assistance they got from the deck and Sean Williams top scored as Zimbabwe sealed an emphatic victory.

The 2nd Test was played on a more batter friendly deck, Bangladesh won the toss and batted, after a few early strikes Zimbabwe's seamers & part time spinners became non-effective and Bangladesh were out of site by stumps.

It's been proved on many more occasions, Zimbabwe's best chance of victory is on a sporting deck which shortens the length of the match, and therefor brings the contest closer. On flat decks the bowlers just can't stikc to containing the run-rate and end up getting thumped all over the place.

Williams under bowling Nyauchi is shocking, he has looked the most threatening of our bowlers

Everything he touched turned to gold in the first test, all his bowling changes led to wickets and his batting was obviously exceptional. But Willo had a shocker yesterday, he took way too long to plug the gap in the covers during the opening hour, there was no movement and every time the bowlers pitched up the batsman easily pushed them through the covers for runs.

Williams also got the rotation of his spinners wrong, he should have brought on Wes when Raza was causing Hashmutallah problems at the start of his innigns to let both offies have a go at the leftie and he also stuffed up big time by not bringing on the seamers when Asghar came out to the crease.

Not bowling Nyauchi at all during the middle session was bizarre as well, Zimbabwe really let the game slip after the Burl wicket of Zadran, things could have been a lot different I felt if they brought back Blessing or Nyauchi at that stage.

[Kriterion_BD]

This series is definitely following a familiar pattern to the BD series in 2018, Zim were underdogs then but on a pitch that assisted the bowlers, therefor shortening the game & making it a closer contest, Zimbabwe's seamers & part time spinners enjoyed the assistance they got from the deck and Sean Williams top scored as Zimbabwe sealed an emphatic victory.

The 2nd Test was played on a more batter friendly deck, Bangladesh won the toss and batted, after a few early strikes Zimbabwe's seamers & part time spinners became non-effective and Bangladesh were out of site by stumps.

It's been proved on many more occasions, Zimbabwe's best chance of victory is on a sporting deck which shortens the length of the match, and therefor brings the contest closer. On flat decks the bowlers just can't stikc to containing the run-rate and end up getting thumped all over the place.

Agreed. Also add the first 2014 Test on a Mirpur pitch that had pace and bounce for the seamers and turn for the spinners...BD was 3 down for zero in the 4th innings of a Test that ended inside 3 days. Much flatter pitches for the 2nd and 3rd Test.

Everything he touched turned to gold in the first test, all his bowling changes led to wickets and his batting was obviously exceptional. But Willo had a shocker yesterday, he took way too long to plug the gap in the covers during the opening hour, there was no movement and every time the bowlers pitched up the batsman easily pushed them through the covers for runs.

I think having slip fielders in and attacking was OK in this instance given how successful the seamers were in the first Test. I missed most of the first 30-45 mins of the game, but as a captain you shouldn't worry about a couple of boundaries being hit through the covers. You can recover from conceding 40 without loss in the first 10 overs, but its much harder to recover if one or two edges go through a vacant cordon because you started plugging gaps too soon. This is the criticism I have for Mominul/Mushfiq when Miraz or Taijul are bowling without bat-pad catchers. You can bowl tightly but if the field is spread like an ODI, you will still go at 4 an over cuz the batsmen can just bunt you for singles to long off or deep midwicket. Same with seamers.

[zimbos_05]

I think we got our bowling changes wrong. Nyauchi took too long to come back in to the game after his first spell. Poor captaincy. I find that we often just resort to spin very quickly and very easily.

Donald is a diligent cricketer, but he just shows how having a lack of a top quality third seamer affects us big time. He bowls a lot of nothing balls and doesn't really create that pressure.

I don't think we should already be thinking draw, but we should still be positive. It is day two.

@TapsC The reason Hashmatullah was able to graft was because the others around him were scoring. No one is denying the need for grafters, but the issue with Prince is that that seems to be his only gear. When you need to turn pressure on to the bowling side, you can't afford to just sit and absorb.

[jaybro]

I think having slip fielders in and attacking was OK in this instance given how successful the seamers were in the first Test. I missed most of the first 30-45 mins of the game, but as a captain you shouldn't worry about a couple of boundaries being hit through the covers. You can recover from conceding 40 without loss in the first 10 overs, but its much harder to recover if one or two edges go through a vacant cordon because you started plugging gaps too soon. This is the criticism I have for Mominul/Mushfiq when Miraz or Taijul are bowling without bat-pad catchers. You can bowl tightly but if the field is spread like an ODI, you will still go at 4 an over cuz the batsmen can just bunt you for singles to long off or deep midwicket. Same with seamers.

Considering you didn't watch the first 30-45 mins I'll take my opinion over yours

Fair enough attack early, that's fine but every ball that was pitched up was eased through the covers for runs, Rahmat & Ibrahim were coasting along at 6 an over without any risks or danger, once Zim adopted a more balanced field the runs dried up.

[Kriterion_BD]

@TapsC The reason Hashmatullah was able to graft was because the others around him were scoring. No one is denying the need for grafters, but the issue with Prince is that that seems to be his only gear. When you need to turn pressure on to the bowling side, you can't afford to just sit and absorb.

There's a difference between grafting (Hashmatullah) and simply not scoring (Prince). Prince regularly fails to put away bad balls. If a spinner bowled 10 half trackers, Prince would turn 8 of them into dot balls and maybe hit one for a random boundary, and only get a couple runs from the other. Contrast that to even a mediocre batter like Temba Bavuma who would be 10 for 10 in terms of hitting boundaries from long hops.

[Kriterion_BD]

Considering you didn't watch the first 30-45 mins I'll take my opinion over yours

Fair enough attack early, that's fine but every ball that was pitched up was eased through the covers for runs, Rahmat & Ibrahim were coasting along at 6 an over without any risks or danger, once Zim adopted a more balanced field the runs dried up.

That gap in the covers is intentionally present because captains want to entice the batsmen to drive in the hopes that a 3 or 4 man slips cordon can capitalize on the outside edge.

I don't deny that a lot of captains might pull a slip or two if the ball isn't moving and the opposition gets 3 or 4 boundaries in the first few overs. However, I think thats needlessly defensive so early in a Test match.

[CrimsonAvenger]

If we can't get them out quickly this morning, I hope they bat much longer than necessary and eat up time available. We badly need KK and PM to consume a lot of time if we need to get a draw here.