Can it Possibly Get Any Worse At Zimbabwe Cricket?

By Perkins-Tino Bare

Surely it takes a great level of skill to make a World Cup winning coach look ordinary and Zimbabwe Cricket has done exactly that. The silence over what was an embarrassing early exit by the Chevrons as they failed to qualify for the World Cup T20 currently underway in India signals a loss of hope for the Zimbabwean National cricket team. With the ICC now placing more emphasis on the development of the game itself over soothing the battered egos of its members, the World Cup might just be long and gone for the cricket fans.  

The Chevrons never really had it in their qualifiers and even when our media was rejoicing that the Chevrons had won it still wasn`t enough,. The stats spoke for themselves as they had to grind results winning by 11 and 14 runs that is after having being pitted in a rather easy group which had Afghanistan, Scotland and Hong Kong. Afghanistan eventually knocked out the Chevrons but even this is slowly becoming a regular sight as we lost to them  3-2 in a T20 series played in December. Even after having had a fairly decent build-up to the tournament and also having roped in Marvin Attapatu and Makhaya Ntini for the tourney, where did it all go wrong?

Lets just come to terms with the fact that our boys are just not good enough and we have to stop relying on the past glory of Zimbabwe Cricket as a brand before they were even called the Che vrons. This spine of the team itself is comprised of that U-19 squad that played way back in 2004 and that just explains why the lads are getting worse. They reached the prime of their careers a long time ago and right now its just a downward spiral as age is catching up with them.

This then explains why the players themselves fail to even take up the roles of the senior players in the team. There are shades of talent which can still be seen in the players which is why they can knick a decent score here and there but to then kick on from there and consistently deliver is a tad too high for our old folks.

Speaking on the loss to Afghanistan former coach Alan Butcher agreed that there would be no easy fix as Zimbabwe cricket was in a real mess. “You know where that puts the team . . . it’s not a fluke is it? I know the Associates moan about the unfairness of their treatment but it is slightly easier for them now,” he said in an interview with a local daily. “As far as development is concerned, its time hard work and some investment is put into the game. When I was in the job for about a year I said it might take 10 years for Zim to really become competitive . . .  but that was dependent on good management from the top, keeping the nucleus of the squad together and people showing patience and consistency. None of these things has happened and so we’re back at the start again” he added in that same interview.

I bet its this spiral road that Zimbabwe Cricket has been on that even made Peter Chingoka to quit his post at the helm of the organisation. After the obsession with race I think we have all come to realise that the system itself is just not working as we are being led on a merry dance. Every cioauple of years we get a new player, rebuilding, there`s talk about slowly roping inthe youngsters and surely over the years we have seen some pretty decent cricketers whom we all thought could just be the next name in terms of Zimbabwe Cricket.

Right now there is talk about Neville Madziva, Luke Jongwe and the others and one that particularly disappointed me was Brian Vitori. The lad was a left-hander and his pace was just what hadn`t been seen for a few years. The run-up was just a marvel and what a great entrance he made, came in smack bang with a 5er to announce his presence that a kid had been born I honestly thought he was the one.    

But just like all of the players we have seen over the years he just slowly faded and now he can`t even make it into the national team. They say it was an injury I say its this faulty system that denies us the chance of getting only the cream at the top whilst we losing real talent to other nations with the English county is slowly becoming a pathway to success for a Zimbabwean-born cricketer.

Kyle Jarvis, Brendan Taylor and now Gary Ballance is now famous well this subversion of the system whereby now its easy to break into the national team just has to stop. From high school there`s only the franchise and before you know it they are already getting a shot into the national team. Zimbabwe A is not being utilised fully neither is the President`s  team.

Zimbabwe A squad should be there to try and nurture these guys for the Chevrons but right now its just a tag as it iscomprised mostly of players who are already in the national team. And even that U-19 team its like they only get to play at the world Cup and they do not really get that much in terms of game time.

If we are to get the best then lets go ahead and set up the proper structures to ensure that we only have the absolute cream at the top. This will also go ahead and ensure that we retain the talent that we are losing at the moment as even if we are to keep it, it does not really get  afair chance to develop with the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy out at Innovate High Performance Centre being defunct. 

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