Afghanistan tour of Zimbabwe July-August 2014

[SpitfiresKent]

Zimbabwe Cricket News: Afghanistan to play four ODIs in Zimbabwe | ESPN Cricinfo

July 13: 1st warm-up match, Bulawayo
July 15: 2nd warm-up match, Bulawayo

July 18: 1st ODI, Bulawayo
July 20: 2nd ODI, Bulawayo
July 22: 3rd ODI, Bulawayo
July 24: 4th ODI, Bulawayo

July 27-30: 1st four-day game, Harare
August 2-5: 2nd four-day game, Harare

 

[Champagnepapi]

Easy wins for the Afghans. Maybe its their time to show ICC that they are ready for the test status.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Haha not necessarily, Zimbabwe are very strong at home but I think Afghanistan will put up a good fight. It's just great to have some cricket back in the country to be honest.

 

[Umair7]

Easy wins for the Afghans. Maybe its their time to show ICC that they are ready for the test status.

No they are not ready they are shite

 

[ParkedTheBus]

The only associate team which deserves test status is Ireland imho. Afghanistan needs more time to develop their infrastructure and other things.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Here's the team i'd like to see for the first ODI in Bulawayo:

Vusi Sibanda
Sikandar Raza
Hamilton Masakadza
Brendan Taylor
Sean Williams
Timycen Maruma
Elton Chigumbura
Prosper Utseya
Tinashe Panyangara
Tendai Chatara
Brian Vitori

If Malcolm Waller performs in the 2 warm up matches then he could come in for Maruma but at the moment I think Maruma gets the nod for his batting display in the World T20.

Shingi Masakadza is another who could potentially fit into the team but both Chatara & Vitori are 2 of Zimbabwe's best bowlers and Panyangara's death bowling/Yorkers have come on leaps and bounds.

Of course if the pitch is spin friendly then Zimbabwe might opt for either Mushangwe or Mutombodzi in place of one of the seamers. Kamungozi didn't impress me during the World T20 so I don't think that he should be considered.

 

[IceAgeComing]

I'm a believer in abolishing the idea of "status" all together and letting all countries that can get two neutral umpires to umpire a five day cricket game on an ICC-approved pitch call what they are playing a "test match" because its the best form of the game and we should encourage countries to play it rather than lock them out. Since the ICC are making no steps towards actually having a clear "path to test cricket" this isn't going to happen any time soon, and that's why I hope that Afghanistan do well in the first class games on this tour. I think that its the first first class game between an associate nation and a test nation (I'm ignoring A-Team games since hopefully Zimbabwe will play a full strength team), at least for as long as I can remember so it is a great opportunity for Afghanistan to prove themselves.

The problem that I see is that its a lose/lose situation, because if they lose then people will go "they're not good enough!!" and if they win, people will arrogantly say "well, its ONLY Zimbabwe..." and ignore the fact that other countries don't seem to want to try to play four day cricket with the Associates. IMO this is the biggest problem with world cricket: the way that smaller nations are cut off from the best version of the game and now even official ICC Tournaments with the World Cup changing in 2019 to only have ten nations and the World T20 having that insulting preliminary round to guarantee that the big nations don't get embarrassed by the Netherlands... Most other sports use their world cups as a way of trying to promote their sports to places in which they aren't big by letting teams still developing the sport play in international tournaments against the best teams in the world: while cricket seems to be happy letting the same eight countries play each other over and over again, while occasionally inviting Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to the party when they feel like it...

Well, here's my awful effort post: hopefully you didn't find it too bad!!!

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I'm a believer in abolishing the idea of "status" all together and letting all countries that can get two neutral umpires to umpire a five day cricket game on an ICC-approved pitch call what they are playing a "test match" because its the best form of the game and we should encourage countries to play it rather than lock them out.

Yeah totally agree.

and that's why I hope that Afghanistan do well in the first class games on this tour. I think that its the first first class game between an associate nation and a test nation (I'm ignoring A-Team games since hopefully Zimbabwe will play a full strength team), at least for as long as I can remember so it is a great opportunity for Afghanistan to prove themselves.

I believe that Zimbabwe will field their strongest team possible as both of the 4day games are warm ups for the South Africa test match.

The problem that I see is that its a lose/lose situation, because if they lose then people will go "they're not good enough!!" and if they win, people will arrogantly say "well, its ONLY Zimbabwe..."

This is what frustrates me when people jump on the bandwagon and say ''Zimbabwe are rubbish''. There is a lot of talented cricketers in the country but due to mismanagement from the administrators a lot of that talent decides to leave. Zimbabwe need a good run of home and away series just like other nations get otherwise they can never live up to their potential.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

14 man Zimbabwe A squad announced for the two warm up matches which begin this Sunday:

Regis Chakabva (Captain), Brian Chari, Michael Chinouya, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Raymond Kaia, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Neville Madziva, Lovemore Gumunyu-Manatsa, Bright Mugochi, Forster Mutizwa, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Richmond Mutumbami and John Nyumbu

Very happy to see both Gumbie and Jongwe in the squad, hopefully they can perform well. Would've liked to have seen Malcolm Waller in both of these warm up games though as I think he needs the match practice.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

So Afghanistan start their tour with a win against the Zimbabwe A side, they won by 16 runs.

Luke Jongwe scored a fifty which is good to see. One of the Afghan bowlers took 6 wickets for 29 runs!

The two sides meet again on Tuesday.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Zimbabwe A beat Afghanistan in the 2nd warm up match by 7 wickets.

Some good scores from some of the 'senior' batsman. Mutumbami, Chakabva and Maruma all getting their half centuries. Madziva impressed with the ball taking 2 for 22 from his 8 overs.

The 1st of 4 ODI's start this Friday.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

1st ODI starts today, Zimbabwe win the toss and decide to field in Bulawayo.


Zimbabwe

Vusi Sibanda
Sikandar Raza
Hamilton Masakadza
Brendan Taylor
Sean Williams
Elton Chigumbura
Regis Chakabva
Prosper Utseya
Tinashe Panyangara
Donald Tiripano
Tendai Chatara


Afghanistan:

Noor Ali Zadran
Usman Ghani
Asghar Stanikzai
Hashmatullah Shaidi
Samiullah Shenwari
Mohammad Nabi
Shafiqullah
Mirwais Ashraf
Sharafuddin Ashraf
Dawlat Zadran
Shapoor Zadran

 

[CremerCurrans]

Zimbabwe

Vusi Sibanda
Sikandar Raza
Hamilton Masakadza
Brendan Taylor
Sean Williams
Elton Chigumbura
Regis Chakabva
Prosper Utseya
Tinashe Panyangara
Donald Tiripano
Tendai Chatara

Afghanistan:

Noor Ali Zadran
Usman Ghani
Asghar Stanikzai
Hashmatullah Shaidi
Samiullah Shenwari
Mohammad Nabi
Shafiqullah
Mirwais Ashraf
Sharafuddin Ashraf
Dawlat Zadran
Shapoor Zadran

Fixed.

It is probably good that Taylor doesn't have to keep, but I would of liked to see Shingi in place of Chakabva, to give us extra bowling depth.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Yeah, takes the pressure off Taylor so he can just focus on captaincy and his batting. I think the bowling is strong enough as shown by the good start they've made. I think Maruma can feel hard done by although it's hard to find a space for him in the team unless you give the gloves back to Taylor and take Chakabva out of the team.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

So a comfortable victory for Zimbabwe. Raza, Taylor, Williams and Chigumbura all in the runs.