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First/Group Round - Group B - Scotland, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Hong Kong

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I really do think the ECB should invite Afghanistan to tour this summer - they'll give the counties a hell of a lot to think about and I'm sure there'd be enough bums on seats to break even
 

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
So happy to see Afghanistan qualifying here :D

PCB really should try to help Afghanistan go to the next level now. All the teams that tour UAE to play Pakistan should play a game or two against Afghanistan as part of the warm up. They did that once against Australia in 2014 but never followed through.
 
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AndyZaltzHair

Hall of Fame Member
Congratulations to Afghanistan for advancing to main round. Zimbabwe will be very disappointed. Zimbabwe can't really complain about lack of games etc. They had quite a bit of cricket in the last few months.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Congratulations to Afghanistan for advancing to main round. Zimbabwe will be very disappointed. Zimbabwe can't really complain about lack of games etc. They had quite a bit of cricket in the last few months.
Yeah Zimbabwe are just objectively not as good as Afghanistan at T20 cricket. That's their fifth T20I against them now and they've lost every single one of them. This wasn't a one-off upset; the better team went through, as much as it pains me to say.
 

AndyZaltzHair

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah Zimbabwe are just objectively not as good as Afghanistan at T20 cricket. That's their fifth T20I against them now and they've lost every single one of them. This wasn't a one-off upset; the better team went through, as much as it pains me to say.
To be fair to Zimbabwe they did beat BD three times in BD at t20s in last few months. Interesting that they can't seem to find a way to beat Afghans. Thought Ntini was good addition to the coaching staffs but not very sure about Atapattu. Apparently Inzi doing a good job with the Afghans.
 

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
Well that's how this format is. Very difficult to say who is a better side than who. Bangladesh lost to Hong Kong in a T20 game as well but are the second best side in Asia now.
It's really a game by game assessment. Based on the last few games, it is fair to say Afghanistan is better than ZImbabwe, who in turn have been better than Bangladesh the last time they played.
 

Niall

International Coach
Happy for Afghanistan and the world cup Overall, Zimbabwe are a waste of time and would have contributed nothing but mediocrity if they had qualified as usual.

Afghanistan much more fun in comparison.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
To be fair to Zimbabwe they did beat BD three times in BD at t20s in last few months. Interesting that they can't seem to find a way to beat Afghans. Thought Ntini was good addition to the coaching staffs but not very sure about Atapattu. Apparently Inzi doing a good job with the Afghans.
Well that's how this format is. Very difficult to say who is a better side than who. Bangladesh lost to Hong Kong in a T20 game as well but are the second best side in Asia now.
It's really a game by game assessment. Based on the last few games, it is fair to say Afghanistan is better than ZImbabwe, who in turn have been better than Bangladesh the last time they played.
Well tbf that was a four game series that was drawn 2-2.

T20 games are inherently more prone to upsets than other formats so we have to leave room for that before getting too knee-jerky, and I don't really think there's much between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan or indeed Bangladesh in this format to start with, but I don't think five consecutive games can be written off by these factors. I think it's more likely that Masakadza and Cremer each putting in an absurdly good performance against Bangladesh led led to the outliers here rather than five consecutive games of Afghanistan defeating Zimbabwe.

I actually think some people on this forum over-rate Afghanistan a bit and it's well-known that I have a big soft spot for the Zimbabwean cricket team, but in T20 cricket I'd definitely have Afghanistan ahead of Zimbabwe now.
 

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
Agreed on all points. What I would add though is that things change very fast in LO cricket, especially in T20 cricket. Bangladesh were comprehensively beaten by Afghanistan and Hong Kong in 2014, and yes we might call them upsets but anyone who had seen Bangladesh play in 2014 would agree that they were dreadful, absolutely dreadful that year.
Until very recently, even before the Asia Cup, everyone agreed that Bangladesh are dreadful in this format. Flash forward, we now have Bangladesh being second best to India in Asia Cup.

Afghanistan on the other hand lost to UAE and didn't make it to the Asia Cup.

Yes Zimbabwe have been dreadful, but things can change fast. A run of 1 or two good games can do wonders for any team.
 
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Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I think I want Scotland to win this one. Their major tournament duck egg has officially gone from funny to sad.
 

AndyZaltzHair

Hall of Fame Member
Agreed on all points. What I would add though is that things change very fast in LO cricket, especially in T20 cricket. Bangladesh were comprehensively beaten by Afghanistan and HongKong (are they even in the running this year?) in 2014, and yes we might call them upsets but anyone who had seen Bangladesh play in 2014 would agree that they were dreadful, absolutely dreadful that year.
Until very recently, even before the Asia Cup, everyone agreed that Bangladesh are dreadful in this format. Flash forward, we now have Bangladesh being second best to India in Asia Cup.

Yes Zimbabwe have been dreadful, but things can change fast. A run of 1 or two good games can do wonders for any team.
Watch BD crash and burn out from the tourney tomorrow against Oman.
 

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