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Mehluli Sibanda, Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE have named as many as seven yet to be capped players in a squad of 16 for the two-Test cricket series against West Indies which gets underway at Queens Sports Club on Saturday.
Add to that list Gary Ballance who is yet to appear for the country of his birth, then we have eight players in line to play Test cricket for Zimbabwe for the first time ever.
Zimbabwe are returning to Test cricket after last playing this format of the game in July 2021 when they suffered a 220-run defeat at the hands of Bangladesh at Harare Sports Club.
From that team which did duty against Bangladesh, Milton Shumba, Donald Tiripano, Victor Nyauchi and Richard Ngarava are available to face West Indies.
Zimbabwe limp into battle against the Windies without the injured Williams, pace bowlers Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara while all-rounders, Sikandar Raza as well as Ryan Burl are overseas playing franchise cricket. The absent players have a combined 49 Tests between them and there is no doubt that they would have made a huge difference if they were present.
We give an insight into who will do battle for Zimbabwe when the first ball of the Test series is bowled come Saturday.
In Zimbabwe’s last Test outing, Milton Shumba opened the batting with Takudzwanashe Kaitano but the latter, who made an eye catching 87 off 311 balls in the first innings is out of the picture this time around. Shumba batted at number seven in the three-day warm up match against the Windies, which means that he is not being looked at as an opener, instead, he is in the squad as an all-rounder. The former Zimbabwe Under-19 star took 3/80 against the Windies in the warm up match, therefore could be deployed in the middle order.
That leaves the biggest question on who will take first strike with the bat for Zimbabwe come Saturday. Kudzai Maunze and Innocent Kaia look set to open the batting with both batsman yet to play five-day cricket. Maunze was partnered by Tanunurwa Makoni in the three-day contest, which means that the two together with Kaia are the opening options for this series. How any of the chosen will fare against the West Indies bowling attack, spearheaded by Kemar Roach, Alzarri Joseph, Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder is of huge concern.
Craig Ervine, with the extra burden of leading the team in the absence of Williams and Gary Ballance should come in three and four. Chamunorwa Chibhabha, with three Tests, a best of 60 runs coming against New Zealand in Bulawayo way back in 2016 could be deployed at number five. He is one of the best performers with the bat in domestic cricket this season and with such limited options for coach Dave Houghton, the former white-ball captain will bring with him a lot of experience. Chibhabha has been playing first class cricket since 2004.
For the wicket keeping role, Tafadzwa Tsiga appears to be the man to be deployed behind the stumps, which should see him make his Test debut at number six with Shumba coming in at seven.
Tiripano has played 15 Tests, he is a medium pace bowler who is handy with the bat. In his second Test, against New Zealand at Queens Sports Club in 2016, Tiripano top scored with 49 off 162 coming in to bat at number 10 as Zimbabwe were wiped out for 164 in their first innings. The Black Caps eventually won the Test match by an innings and 117 runs.
Tiripano will also be remembered for his gallant 95 runs from 258 deliveries against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in March 2021 as Zimbabwe fought hard to avoid defeat against the Afghans before they lost by six wickets after the Asians had posted 545/4 declared in 160.4 overs.
For his experience, Tiripano should slot into number eight for his 16th Test match.
At number nine, Zimbabwe look to select Brandon Mavuta. The former Under-19 captain seems to be focused on his cricket after losing his way over the years. Mavuta looked destined for big things when he made his Test international debut in all three formats in 2018 but it appears fame got to him and he lost direction. He makes the team as a leg spin bowler who is not hopeless with the bat as statistics show that he is one of the leading run scorers in the Logan Cup with 286 runs scored at a no so bad average of 35.75 and best score of 80 runs.
He is the third leading wicket taker in this season’s Logan Cup with 21 wickets to his name and there is no way he cannot play. Queens Sports Club has always been known to favour spinners as the game goes on and Mavuta will have a huge role to play for the home team.
Another leg spinner Devendra Bishoo of West Indies bamboozled the Zimbabwean batsmen when the two teams last met in 2017 in Bulawayo when he picked up 13 wickets in the two matches and Mavuta could be Zimbabwe’s trump card.
Left arm seamer Richard Ngarava looks certain to lead the bowling attack with Victor Nyauchi, Tanaka Chivanga and Bradley Evans fighting for that remaining slot. Nyauchi, with six Tests can nail that final spot.
Zimbabwe squad for Test series against West Indies:
Gary Ballance, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Tanaka Chivanga, Craig Ervine (captain), Bradley Evans, Joylord Gumbie (wicketkeeper), Innocent Kaia, Tanunurwa Makoni, Wellington Masakadza, Kudzai Maunze, Brandon Mavuta, Richard Ngarava, Victor Nyauchi, Milton Shumba, Donald Tiripano, Tafadzwa Tsiga (wicketkeeper). — @Mdawini_29
Online Reporter