Big Picture: Zimbabwe gets a home Boxing Day Test in 28 years
The final week of the year is like a Roman feast for the Test cricket fan, and Boxing Day this year promises mouth-watering contests in
Melbourne and
Centurion, but look this way too, will you? Bulawayo is set to host Zimbabwe's first Boxing Day Test
in 28 years too, and with unpredictable Afghanistan on the other side, a real tussle is expected between two teams, who despite their recent underwhelming performances, would feel like they're favourites. After all, the last time either side won a Test was against each other.
But that was way back
in 2021. Since then, they have not found a way to win. And one look at the Zimbabwe and Afghanistan squads for this two-Test series suggests that they're both looking to change that by taking a different direction for 2025 and beyond. A splattering of Test debutants are expected - theoretically, there could be as many 15 debuts across the two XIs - and this series could very well be the one that births a new generation.
The keys to success, nonetheless, will still be best known by the experienced heads. Craig Ervine, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Blessing Muzarabani, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat Shah will all be there, but Rashid Khan has made himself unavailable due to personal reasons for the opening Test. He had originally made himself available for both Tests after recovering from injury; teen spinner AM Ghazanfar was added to the squad late on Tuesday to accommodate his absence.
However, all the headlines could be stolen by the weather unfortunately. Like Afghanistan's
last encounter in Greater Noida that got washed out without the toss, this one could go to similar territory, although some action is promised every day amid forecasts of rain and thunderstorms every afternoon.
(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Zimbabwe LLDLL
Afghanistan ALLLW
In the spotlight: Ben Curran and Ghazanfar
Zimbabwe have been looking for one person to hold onto one position in their top order for a long time, and potential debutant
Ben Curran could be one to steady the wobble. Left-hand batter Curran - the middle brother of England internationals Tom and Sam, and son of former Zimbabwe international Kevin Curran - has been rewarded for being the
leading run-scorer of the Logan Cup this season, averaging 74.14 in seven innings with two centuries and two fifties. However, he has had a difficult start to his international career, with scores of 12, 0, and 15 in the three ODIs against Afghanistan.
Could 18-year-old
AM Ghazanfar walk into the Test XI right away? A late addition to the squad, Ghazanfar has not played any first-class cricket, but his T20 average of 11.62 and ODI average of 13.57 makes him an exciting prospect for any form of cricket. He has been the flavour of the season in T20 leagues around the world, and he spun a web around Zimbabwe with figures of 3 for 9 and 5 for 33 in his last two ODIs. With teams likely to race against time in this Test, a spinner who can run through opponents is a deadly weapon.
Zimbabwe: 1 Joylord Gumbie (wk), 2 Ben Curran, 3 Dion Myers, 4 Craig Ervine (capt), 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Sean Williams, 7 Brian Bennett, 8 Johnathan Campbell / Brandon Mavuta, 9 Blessing Muzarabani, 10 Richard Ngarava, 11 Newman Nyamhuri
Afghanistan: 1 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Bahir Shah / Riaz Hassan, 7 Zia-ur-Rehman, 8 Zahir Khan, 9 Fareed Ahmed, 10 Naveed Zadran, 11 AM Ghazanfar
Bulawayo usually offers dry pitch conditions. The surface largely assists fast bowlers and helps spinners later, but with cloudy conditions expected, the fast bowlers may have a bigger role to play across the five days. Rain is forecast across all five days, especially during the second and third sessions.
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