ASHLEY DUBE
Tadiwanashe Marumani scored his first List A hundred in the second round of Pro-50 championship fixtures against the Matebeleland Tuskers. Opening the bat for the Alliance Health Eagles, the 20-year-old left-handed batsman led from the front with an impressive 100 off 108 balls. With his knock comprising of eleven boundaries and four maximums. Unfortunately for Marumani and the Eagles they fell short of the 269 run chase losing by 15 runs.
Marumani’s exclusion from the Chevrons travelling squad for the T20 World Cup has been a hot topic amongst the cricket fandom. With some clamouring for his inclusion following some impressive performances over the past few tournaments.
Calls for his inclusion are not completely wide off the mark as Marumani held his own in Australia, facing one of the fiercest bowling attacks in the world.
He finished the series with a total of 84 runs averaging 28. With the World Cup being in Australia as well, it was expected his experience under the Australian conditions will come in handy during the course of the tournament.
In addition, Marumani’s natural game is suited for the T20 format as he is a clean striker of the ball and has the ability to clear the ropes with relative ease. As evidenced in the recent National Premier League T10 league, Marumani finished the top run scorer with 361 runs from 8 innings at an average of 51.57 and an astonishing strike rate of 220.
From the selectors’ perspective, his exclusion can be justified. Even though he is in good form and has the numbers to show for it, there are fundamental flaws to his game which may surface to the fore at the international level.
Tadiwanashe Marumani’s risky nature of play tends to give chances to the opposition. In his recent encounter against the Tuskers, he was dropped three times and all were fairly easy chances.
His struggles against spin are well documented and still obtain; and it’s an area where a lot of work needs to put in.
The positive thing for Marumani is that age is still on his side and at 20, if he manages to iron out a few flaws in his game, he will be donning the Chevrons jersey more often than not.
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