Zimbabwe Senior National Discussion

[Madcarrot]

Bangladesh T20 tour season 57

The pitches selected were
1. Dry
2. Crumbling
3. Slow

We picked a much different team to the seam heavy SOD tour earlier this season, with a couple debutantes, and a couple returning veterans.

Bat
Johnson Mangwende (spin specialist) - 4 caps
Hashim "Richard" (seam specialist, safe hands) - 11 caps
Ulrich Lukeman - 3 caps
Eric Mackenzie (finisher) - 3 caps
Regis Mlambo (sturdy) - 17 caps
Jason Nye (seam specialist) - 7 caps
Tafadzwa Sodumo (boundary hitter) - 3 caps

Keepers
Phil Pfizer - 3 caps
Brett O'Leary (spin specialist) - 4 caps

Bowlers
RF Andre Krige - 3 caps
LFM Tinashe Maraire - 7 caps
RFM Ko'rona Vyress - 3 caps
LWS Lovemore Samkange (skilled bowling) - T20 debut
RWS Cobus Lillie - T20 debut
LFS Savieri Kadziche (Doosra, Old ball bowler) - 6 caps
LFS Excellent Kambarami - international debut

All Rounders
LM Bea O'Problem (skilled bowling) - 3 caps
RFS Keyran Pennefather (sturdy) - T20 debut

Game 1 - Bangladesh (slow)
Game 2 - UAE (dry)
Game 3 - Ireland (dry)
Game 4 - Australia (crumbling)
Game 5 - Pakistan (crumbling)

This is a great chance at getting out first T20 world cup qualification since session 41. That's 16 seasons since we last qualified. We are only 1 point behind the top 12 so credit to Chezza for getting us into division 2 and giving us the best chance to get there.

[Madcarrot]

Game 1 - Bangladesh (sunny/slow)

Nail biting finish losing by 9 runs in the end.

Maraire took a wicket in the 1st over but Bangladesh otherwise started very strong, kept a consistent pace the entire time and scored 153.

We stayed in it all the way through the entire innings, and Eric Mackenzie almost was the hero for us. But with 12 runs required in the final over, he hit a single on the first ball which exposed our tail and caused the collapse that lost.

Zimbabwe Top Scorers
1. Eric Mackenzie 39* from 30 balls
2. Hashim Dic k 38 from 32 balls
3. Regis Mlambo 22 from 20 balls

Top bowlers
1. Savieri Kadziche 2-18
2. Tinashe Maraire 2-32
3. Cobus Lillie 1-46

Zimbabwe
Fielding
7 great fielding
2 misfields

4 catches
1 missed stumping

Bangladesh
4 great fielding
4 misfields

3 catches
1 runout
1 dropped catch
1 missed stumping

[Madcarrot]

Game 2 - UAE (Sunny/Dry)

Batted first and had an extremely strong start, opening pair had a 97 run partnership from 70 balls. Jason Nye went on to get 75 and despite a middle order collapse we finished at 6/159 which I thought was a decent score.

Unfortunately though UAE cruised through to victory thanks to a 128 run opening stand and by the time wickets started to fall it was too little too late. UAE chased it down with 7 wickets and 7 balls to spare.

Zimbabwe Top Scorers
Jason Nye 75 from 46 balls
Ulrich Lukeman 46 from 37 balls
Tafadzwa Sodumo 15 from 18 balls

Best bowlers
Lovemore Samkange 2-24
Ko'rona Vyress 1-37
Keyran Pennefather 0-23

Zimbabwe Fielding
8 great fielding
2 misfields

3 catches
1 dropped
1 missed stumping

UAE fielding
9 great fielding
0 misfields

3 catches
2 stumpings
2 dropped catches

[Madcarrot]

Game 3 - Ireland (Humid/Dry)

This was pretty much a must win game for us, a loss would make us 0-3 and almost secure relegation, and maybe even dash our chances at world cup qualification.

Despite a steady loss of wickets on one end, runs managed to keep flowing mostly thanks to Tafadzwa Sodumo who opened and took an impressive 74.

Zimbabwe ended up on 151 and despite considering that to be a good score, was worried about a repeat of our loss against the UAE.

First ball wicket a quick flurry of wickets early on made it a very uphill battle for Ireland and eventually we were able to snatch victory away comfortably in the end.

Zimbabwe won by 23 runs
Best Zimbabwe batters
Tafadzwa Sodumo 74 from 57 balls
Johnson Mangwende 28 from 16 balls
Phil Pfizer 20 from 18 balls

Best Zimbabwe bowlers
Timashe Miraire 4-24
Savieri Kadziche 3-13
Cobus Lillie 2-31

Fielding
Zimbabwe
6 great fielding
3 misfields

7 catches
1 stumping
3 drops

Ireland
7 great fielding
1 misfield

4 catches
2 drops