The South African Triangular Tournament - preview

Andy Flower has been persuaded to stay on as captain after his fine performances against Sri Lanka. It is an indication of the increasing depth of cricket in Zimbabwe that few players can have their selection for the squad queried, but there are several notable omissions. No place was found for Andy Blignaut, Eddo Brandes, Trevor Gripper, Trevor Madondo, David Mutendera, Mluleki Nkala (now finished his A-levels) and Paul Strang (still unfit).

Heath Streak is included in the squad, but his selection for the final party will depend on his fitness at the time. It is believed that disciplinary reasons are at least partly responsible for the omissions of Blignaut and Madondo.

Eddo Brandes, hoping to finish his career with tours of South Africa and West Indies, was disappointed, with his poor bowling form in the vital fourth one-day international against Sri Lanka doubtless counting against him, and the likelihood is now that he has played his last international match - although the selectors could spring a surprise again unless he pre-empts them by retiring.

David Mutendera may be considered rather unlucky, but there are a lot of quality seamers around at the moment, and with this being a one-day tournament the selectors decided to go for those who are more accurate; he might have hoped for the place that went to Pommy Mbangwa, who has shown erratic form this season after doing so well last season.

Trevor Gripper has not been considered a candidate for one-day matches yet, although a brisk innings in the Board XI match against Border B shows that he is working out his ambitions in that area. Many thought that Mluleki Nkala would be included as soon as he was available, but the selectors will probably have him in mind for the West Indies. Despite playing in a one-day international against India last season, he has yet to make his first-class debut; perhaps the selectors feel that, after captaining Zimbabwe in the Under-19 World Cup, he should settle down at the CFX Academy and play a few rounds of Logan Cup cricket to give him more experience in the longer game. He should have a great future ahead of him, and perhaps the wise course is to ease him into it gradually.

On current form, Zimbabwe should be considered outsiders for the tournament, but England also have their problems and they have been Zimbabwe's perennial victims in one-day cricket, having only two victories to their credit against Zimbabwe's five in the seven matches between the two countries. The World Cup match between the two show that the tide may be turning and Zimbabwean confidence against their regular opponents may be on the wane. Again, England have played no one-day internationals since the World Cup, while Zimbabwe have played twelve - nine lost, so this doesn't necessarily count for anything either. It seems too much to hope that Zimbabwe might repeat their Chelmsford victory over South Africa, but if they do manage to put it together again anything is possible.