Any Zimbabwe qualified South Africans?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Surely there are some talented youngsters on the South African amateur scene (whichever competition has the teams like Kwazulu-Natal, Boland, Border, etc) with a mum or dad from Zim? If Raza from Pakistan can qualify (apparently just needs to sort out some paperwork, any day now) then surely there are some South Africans who wouldn't mind relocating north for a chance at Test cricket.

Other countries plunder Zimbabwe's limited cricketing resources enough, surely Zimbabwe can try and poach a few of their own?

[bayhaus]

i think if ZC didnt have so much drama, lots of them would be coming out of the wood work for the chance to play test or even for the franchise system

[zimlover]

I sense a bit of desperation, i think there is still a large number of Zimbabwean youths in different ghettos who would be able to join and may be reach high heights in cricket. For example if ZC can organize community centers which have been left underutilized in various ghettos mainly for example in areas like Mbare,DZivaresekwa,Mufakose,Kuwadzana,Bindura,Mabelreign ,Greencroft,Kambuzuma,Rugare. I still think scouting for Youths who might be interested in playing the sport in these areas were unemployment is high could bring some interesting results.Just thought i would put it out there

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Oh definitely, local talent should still be scouted out.
I'm just thinking that looking south could help unearth some readymade talent.

[zimlover]

The only other thing is our current franchise may not be offering a lot of money so people in south Africa may be pretty comfortable living and working there, so hopefully when our economy recovers we will see an influx or eventual return of some sought of talent you never know where its hidden..

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Zimbabwe cricket, I doubt anyway, will ever be able to lure aspiring players by dangling the money carrot. Sure they might pull in a few people with Stanbic dollars, but those people will be established cricketers. Not young up and coming players.

Pretty much everyone who plays cricket in Zimbabwe, probably even those at the very top, would be playing for the love of the game. It's probably been that way for over 100 years.

The only difference now is that if you play for Zimbabwe and you do well, there is the potential of an IPL contract or another Twenty20 contract. So far it's only been the top players who have been the recipients of them, but if I was a ZC administrator trying to convince a young person that cricket is a viable career choice I'd say look no further than the international Twenty20 leagues. By playing for Zimbabwe you may get noticed.

It's why I am blown away that there have been no reports of ZC trying to get the domestic T20 winner into the Champions League. That would be a huge financial windfall for the players, and would basically give domestic cricketers a 1 in 5 chance of having a big pay day each year. With all the knocks ZC has taken from the ICC and the member boards over the years (exclusion from ICC events, cancelled tours, "postponed" tours, etc) I think it's time they called in some favours.

[zimlover]

BrmTaylor"" It's why I am blown away that there have been no reports of ZC trying to get the domestic T20 winner into the Champions League. That would be a huge financial windfall for the players, and would basically give domestic cricketers a 1 in 5 chance of having a big pay day each year. With all the knocks ZC has taken from the ICC and the member boards over the years (exclusion from ICC events, cancelled tours, "postponed" tours, etc) I think it's time they called in some favours.


You would think that ZC should use its influence and jump in on the Champions league cake may, we should send chingoka and his crew some invites to join the forum they might be get some free conslutancy on how to run and operate zim cricket

[aydee]

BrmTaylor"" [/color]It's why I am blown away that there have been no reports of ZC trying to get the domestic T20 winner into the Champions League. That would be a huge financial windfall for the players, and would basically give domestic cricketers a 1 in 5 chance of having a big pay day each year. With all the knocks ZC has taken from the ICC and the member boards over the years (exclusion from ICC events, cancelled tours, "postponed" tours, etc) I think it's time they called in some favours.


You would think that ZC should use its influence and jump in on the Champions league cake may, we should send chingoka and his crew some invites to join the forum they might be get some free conslutancy on how to run and operate zim cricket

They absolutely should be trying to do this, 100%. However, the Champions League is purely and simply a money making venture for the boards of India, Australia and SA. We have to to admit, adding a Zim franchise to that competition will add absolutely no value to the tournament whatsoever. It may even detract from it, as any sponsors would assume that a game involving a side from Zimbabwe would be an untractive, one-sided encounter in front of an empty stadium... I'd love to see the franchises get a chance though. Would be excellent exposure for the players. Especially now that the English sides will not be involved, their 2 slots could go to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Don't hold your breath though.

[zimlover]

Ever wondered if any of Chingoka's crew, or even Zim cricket players ever visit this forum to have a look and see what peolpe say and think about them

[hhm]

Hayibo!!!

Depends, black or white?

If they are white? No.
If they are black? Yes. Provided the father is Zimbabwean, they still have a house in Zimbabwe, and apart from work & higher education, they have no intentions of taking up SA residency at any point.

Neil Johnson scaled great heights at Zim's expense, then split. DH doesn't like him for good reasons. Goodwin also left because he had attachments outside.

The likes of Pocock, Sean Ervine and Gary Ballance left a bitter taste.

This shows that people are selfish with their talent, and will skip at the earliest opportunity. Morgan, Ed Joyce & now delude Rankin come to mind.

I've personally never been particularly proud, perhaps disgusted by the likes of Mutawarira, Tsimba, Chavanga, Mujati etc! What on earth made them think they are more talented than local Black South Africans? All they did was fit into SARU's agenda of suppressing locals.

Even when you go through some schools, you find Tanzanians, Kenyans, and some Zimbabweans etc, filling up some black slots in cricket sides. They are the ones being pushed through deliberately.

All of this is designed to give the impression that it's only foreigners who are interested in sports such as rugby and cricket, but the reality on the ground shows that there's an overwhelming number of Black South Africans involved in the sports at all levels. It went to the point that Home Affairs, as per instruction by the Minister, did not want to give Mutawarira a permit to play for the Springboks, since he was on some special skills permit - as if they did not exist locally!

Why plunder opportunities for locals, or deprive your country a chance to advance internationally?

These are lessons that we should stick to our own and forget the rest. Born, bred, schooled, live, and married in Zimbabwe.!

Fans like you BRM, who are desperate for instant gratification, and are willing to sell the soul of Zimbabwe from the comfort of your living room overseas, you're not really important to the great scheme of things.

Sport isn't just sport any more. It's big business, a career, it's political, and people need to look out for themselves. ZC are stewards for generations which will exist long after you and me are gone. They have a duty to shut out plastic sportspersons, and preserve those opportunities for those deserving.

Like I've said before, cricket will still be cricket, even if we're playing Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania & Afghanistan every year! True lovers of the game will still follow it. Never be desperate to preserve our Test status, or buy success like Man City/Chelsea/Senegal/Algeria! Zimbabwe will never be a loser in any of this. The biggest loser in Zim's fall will be cricket itself because it's a already tiny sport with members from countries where sport isn't even number one/two (NZ, ENG, AUS, SA), all of them sucking up to India.

The only solution is building domestic markets through raising the profile of domestic franchises and their relationship with their provinces. The only attractive way to do that is through locals. In any case, franchise sports is more popular and more relevant than international sports. We've still got the Tuskers & Rhinos etc, to fall back on. Test cricket isn't everything and we shouldn't go out of our way to preserve it by poaching.