Australia & South Africa's tour of Zimbabwe August-September 2014

[Earagav]

Only Test Match:

Sat 9th Aug - Wed 13th Aug
Zimbabwe v South Africa, Harare


ODI Series:

Sun 17th Aug - 1st ODI
Zimbabwe v South Africa, Bulawayo

Tue 19th Aug - 2nd ODI
Zimbabwe v South Africa, Bulawayo

Thu 21st Aug - 3rd ODI
Zimbabwe v South Africa, Bulawayo


Triangular Series:

Mon 25th Aug - 1st Match
Zimbabwe v Australia, Harare

Wed 27th Aug - 2nd Match
Australia v South Africa, Harare

Fri 29th Aug - 3rd Match
Zimbabwe v South Africa, Harare

Sun 31st Aug - 4th Match
Zimbabwe v Australia, Harare

Tue 2nd Sep - 5th Match
Australia v South Africa, Harare

Thu 4th Sep - 6th Match
Zimbabwe v South Africa, Harare

Sat 6th Sep - Final
TBC v TBC, Harare

 

[Umair7]

1 month Left

 

[Satan666]

Good thread mate. We aint seeing much triangular tournaments these days, good to start the discussion early!

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Zimbabwe Triangular Series 2014 : Lyon back in Australia's ODI squad | Cricket News | Zimbabwe Triangular Series | ESPN Cricinfo

^Australia name their squad for the triangular series and it's a very strong one.

 

[greymatter776]

Looking forward to see how Lyon would perform after the mentoring he got from murali.

 

[joejoe018]

Hughes should be in the squad and good to see Kane Richardson back in.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I'm interested to see how Mitchell Johnson goes, he hasn't bowled since the start of June and that was in the IPL so I wonder if some of that momentum he had built up from the Ashes and South Africa tour is still there?

 

[ParkedTheBus]

Disappointed with the squad. Certainly, Hughes and SOK could have been given a chance. But the squad is still very strong and it is surely going to be a great tour.

 

[greymatter776]

Hope Kane Richardson would be in the final XI.Its been quite a time since I have seen him playing for Australia.

 

[aussie1st]

Harsh on Hughes but he wasn't going to get a look in really when you look at the 11:
Finch
Watson
Clarke
Bailey
Smith/Maxwell/Marsh/Faulkner
Smith/Maxwell/Marsh/Faulkner
Haddin

 

[SpitfiresKent]

South Africa in Zimbabwe 2014 : Mark Vermeulen given Test return hope | Cricket News | Zimbabwe v South Africa | ESPN Cricinfo

^Zimbabwe name their 25 man training squad for the visit of South Africa. Mark Vermeulen is included as expected, no Brian Vitori which is possibly due to injury and there's no place for Timycen Maruma either.

 

[Spickery]

Overall I think the Australian selectors have named a strong squad.

The only thing that concerns me a little is the top order. We all know Aaron Finch is a very talented opening batsman but will whoever his opening partner is be able to perform well enough to get Australia off to a good start? Shane Watson can be a very valuable batsman who is capable of scoring runs quickly but when he fails to make a good score his poor form has the potential to carry across consecutive games. Brad Haddin is the other player who is said to be linked to fill the vacant opening position. He is similar to Watson in he can play attacking shots but he is prone to several low scores in a row, which can be costly if he opens the batting. I would have almost put Phil Hughes in the squad in place of Steve Smith because our middle order is stronger than our top order. Smith is a very capable ODI player though so I don't have a problem with him being in the squad. Lets just hope Watson and Haddin are both in good form so we don't have to worry about how they are performing.

Australia could potentially have three left armers in the same bowling attack with Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and James Faulkner all named in the squad. They are all very good limited overs bowlers but can they all be a part of the same attack without leaking huge runs? It will be interesting to see what the selectors do in this situation. If the selectors are smart in their planning for the World Cup they will play both Ben Cutting and Kane Richardson against Zimbabwe to see what they can do. Then depending on who performs well with the ball or if they both do they can be selected in a game against South Africa, depending on how the other bowlers are performing.

 

[greymatter776]

Australia has done a smart work in selection in my opinion.They do have some youngsters to play against Zimbabwe and they also have the senior guys to play against SA.For opening I would say Finch with Watson is way better than Hughes because or else we would have to play Watson to play in middle order where we do have some capable players.So Watson to open with Finch is good enough.

 

[Aislabie]

For Australia, I would have liked to have seen Hughes in to open with Finch because that would have given a right-left combination at the top of the order, as well as an opening bat who will build big innings while the rest of the side attacks. That would have given a fairly passable top seven of something like: Finch, Hughes, Clarke, Bailey, Watson, Haddin, Faulkner.

There are a few new South African faces, including Rilee Rossouw and Shezi, but I'm really excited to see if Stiaan van Zyl gets a debut in the Test match. That should be won by the Saffers in three or four days, but if they're relying on Beuran Hendricks to take their wickets, I don't see them winning the Tri-series.

Zimbabwe will be an interesting proposition. It's irritating, of course, that their preliminary squad has been named after so many unavailable Zimbabweans have done so well elsewhere (Ballance for England, de Grandhomme for NZ'A' and Sean Ervine for Hampshire to name but three) but they do at least have the resources to be competitive. In the Test, they'll go with something like Mawoyo, Vermeulen, Taylor, Hasakadza, Raza, Williams, Mutumbami, Jongwe/Utseya, Sasakadza, Panyangara, Chatara. It's a decent seam attack, but they really lack a decent spinner. They'll probably pick Utseya as a stock option, but if they reckon Williams can do the job, it might open up a pressure-free slot for young Luke Jongwe. Also hope that Mad Mark plays and does well - he's earned it.

So, the predictions:
Test Match - South Africa win by an innings
ODI Series - South Africa 3-0
Tri-Series - Australia beat South Africa in the final.

Much as I'd love them to, I struggle to see Zimbabwe winning a game. Stephen Mangongo gets a lot of bad press, but there's always the hope he'll come in with fresh ideas and spice things up. After all, he's already hinted that he'll give young players a go.

 

[aussie1st]

The only thing that concerns me a little is the top order. We all know Aaron Finch is a very talented opening batsman but will whoever his opening partner is be able to perform well enough to get Australia off to a good start?

Other than Watson and Haddin they could put Maxwell up there.