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Zimbabwe squad arrived today

The 15-member Zimbabwe squad has arrived Dhaka to take part in two Tests and three one-days with the hosts in different venues

Shahryar Khan
05-Nov-2001
Zimbabwe arrived Dhaka
Andy and Olanga
© CricInfo

The 15-member Zimbabwe squad has arrived Dhaka to take part in two Tests and three one-days with the hosts in different venues. After Heath Streak took himself off the charge of captaincy, Bryan Murphy has substituted him to lead the team that are passing some hard time in International arena.

Zimbabwe has opted to give some new kids a break for this tour. The names of some renowned players, who dominated the grounds for Zimbabwe for the past years, are missing from the list. In its place we can see some new faces prevailing in the squad. Actually Zimbabwe wants to try their juniors and for that Bangladesh is the best of choices.

The absent of Alistair Campbell is one of the notable omissions. This veteran Zimbabwean could not make his grade against Bangladesh in April, in home grounds.

Paul Strang is the kind of a bowler Zimbabwe would really miss in this tour, especially in such flat tracks of Dhaka where fast bowlers can hardly do anything. We saw Bangladeshi batsmen wobbling against Kaneria's not-so-harmful leg-breaks in our Multan disaster. So, Paul could turn out to be the danger man for the hosts and relief for the Bangladesh top-order but should be mindful of Raymond Price!! Price took a haul of seven wickets in the second Test to rip away the Bangladeshi middle order.

His brother Bryan, a very versatile left arm fast medium bowler, is not coming. So is the case of Andrew Blignaut, a very successful bowler in April tour, this year. Blignaut alone made the damage for Bangladesh in Tests & ODI and only a couple of batsmen could make a deal with him (Habibul Bashar & Javed Omar).

Henry Olonga has replaced Matambwa, who pulled off with nine wickets in his bag in Bangladesh's tour of Zimbabwe in April. Olonga is certainly a better bowler who can impart genuine pace with his deliveries. He will be sharing the new ball with Heath Streak.

The most worrying matter for the hosts could be Andrew Flower, the most enviable batsman currently. Andy's track of records in this subcontinent pitches speaks so loud in his favor (Think of his success in India). Do Bangladeshi bowlers have any special plan for him? Or this meek gentleman has first-rate chances to bat for three days to break Bryan Lara's record 375!