`Shape Up or Ship Out` Experienced Chevrons Told

By Perkins-Tino Bare

Zimbabwe Cricket`s convenor of selectors Kenyon Ziehl has warned the experienced players who have been under-performing of late that they are at high risk of being dropped from the squad if they continue with their woeful performances. The experienced players in the squad have been constantly feeling warm hiding under that blanket of experience yet they have been producing awful performances.

He conceded that the experienced players whom the young lads should be looking up to have failed the team and its time that major changes are made to the squad, which is on the verge of yet another home series whitewash at the hands of Pakistan. Zimbabwe already lost the T20`s 2-0 and they are 1-0 down in the ODI`s and it looks set to be just the same story.

“We all know our senior players have failed, we have looked at that and we can all see that there are

changes in the squad and there will be changes in the future” said Ziehl in an interview.

“The senior players have performed in the past, they still have got the experience but at the moment

they are out of form, they are not performing so well so we will revise that and we will look at our next game”.

“Change is coming, it`s in the process. There are a couple of players who have stood down and nothing will happen overnight and the young players also do need the exposure and experience at this level. We will have games against Ireland and Afghanistan coming and the young players will also show us what they can do'

“We have other youngsters in the wings and so although the personnel is there, they are waiting in the wings”

Asked on how the technical team was planning on changing the team and how they were going to go about it, he responded that.

“We are in the process of doing that (changing the team), we are looking at some younger players and we can`t discard our senior players at once, we need the youth and experience, we need the youth to be part of the team in camp and give them games as we see fit”

“But you need that experience you need to play international cricket, the younger players, yopu put them in the deep end straight away, I think in any business or organisation its a tough task... So they need that confidence and build up experience”

“As you can see now we have changed some personnel, (opening batsman) Brian (Chari) has had his first game today, he`s been fantastic, he held his own in his first game. added Ziehl in that same interview with a popular daily.

Over the years Zimbabwe Cricket has been rotating players and they have the comfort that they still get picked for matches even if they are out of form. Vusi Sibanda was used as an example when he was dropped but then since then there has not been much change in terms of selection.

Case and Point if we are to pull back 10 years back when the Chevrons played Bangladesh in Chittagong and Dhaka that is 2004-05 Test series, Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Hamilton Masakadza and Tinashe Panyangara were all in that squad that played then and they still in that same squad that is currently being walloped by Pakistan yet they are not performing well.

Skipper Elton Chigumbura has been woeful of late to say the least and if we are to put his performances in the games against India and New Zealand into consideration one wonders what he is still doing in that squad. Against India he posted figures of 9 and 10 in the ODI`s with the bat and could only manage a run in the one-off T20 that was played. Against New Zealand, he had a total of 34 runs over the three ODI`s that was played but he still went on to be picked for the Pakistan series

and could be picked again for Ireland.

Graeme Cremer could only manage a total of 4 wickets for the whole series against India and even when we went on to New Zealand he could not get a single wicket in the 2 openig ODI`s bowling figure of 0/60 and 0/48. Though he went on to get 3 wickets in the final ODI he has been equally awful is no worse with the bat as he has managed to get a grand total of 7 runs in the past 4 innings he has batted for Zimbabwe that is 3 T20s 1 was played against India plus the last ODI we lost to Pakistan. Surely how does a man maintain his place in the team when his form with is this awful, 5, 0 ,0 ,2?​​

Most of the players know for a fact that the selection process of late has been based on history and they have been riding on that wave of success that was left long ago by Tatenda Taibu way back. As of now they have not been performing admirably for the team and one then wonders if we do not have any players, if the crop that rose after that nasty revolt in 2004 was the only one.
On the sidelines we have a host of young stars Ryan Burl, Keegan Meth, Neville Madziva you name them but they just seem to be invisible to the eyes of the selectors.
Prosper Utseya is another rather interesting case especially after his scathing letter to Zimbabwe Cricket where he was complaining for being neglected was published. Surprisingly he went on to be picked for all of the Chevrons` preceding games and his horrible performances justified his exclusion form the squad. Its no lie Zimbabwe Cricket played their politics well here, but then the question that arises is that for how long can we still go with such a setup were a player can still get to have a run on the field of play just to prove to everyone that they are awful?