wicor wrote:You kidding me, Zimbabwe are a disgrace to the ICC. And I'm not saying they will but if the ICC had any sense and wanted to develop the game they would promote Ireland to test level and give them Zimbabwe's allocation of funds. That money would bring Irish cricket to a whole new level. At this stage Ireland are probably better than Zimbabwe as it is. The boards of Ireland, Holland and Scotland must look at the money poured down the drain that is Zimbabwe cricket and despair!! Imagine what they'd do with it!!
Not that you're content with the plundering of your forefathers here, but no continue to take and take from Africa. As you might not be aware, ZImbabwe is universally considered the only African cricket team playing at this level. Why should it have to make way for those teams? I am not privy to your mathematical prowess, accounting not withstanding, but if you were able to put 2 and 2 together, you would know that there is no way that the ICC grants and the TAPP fund(including earnings from India) went any way towards putting a dent on Zimbabwe Cricket!
aydee simplifies this for you!
You have abslolutely no idea about the dynamics in a Zimabwean economy. Believe you me, the worth of a US Dollar anywhere else in the world, or Sterling where you're concerned, is nothing in Zimabwe. There are on average a lot of people who carry more us$ on a daily basis on their wallets just for basics, than you could ever imagine doing in your land. If living is this tough what more cricket, which was a preserve of the elite once upon a time, and only spread via schorlaships at those same schools dominated by the elite's children.
Kriterion_BD wrote:As an outsider, I have to say that I agree with the guy calling for ZIM's place at the table to go to more deserving sides like Ireland...if the ICC are serious about "spreading" the game. There are quite a few corrupt and inept boards ranging from the PCB to the WICB, but the ZC has for 10 years taken things to every extreme.
As someone who regularly subjects himself to self-torture as he peruses the very forum which proclaims the frequent heartbreak meted out on Rahim and the millions behind him, I'm not surprised. Envy often has strange consequences!
You and the Irishman display worrying denial or innocent ignorance of the history of administration of cricket in Zimbabwe. It's not as if things were hunky dory throughout the ZCU tenure - which was not under the leadership of Chingoka&Co. Why else did the players seek to have a union then if conditions didn't warrant such wasteful efforts? Players did strike quite a few times then as well. They did threaten not to fulfill tours, matches or call-ups. Complaints were made by the players that they weren't exactly being treated well or sufficiently remunerated. Upon looking at their payslips, they also questioned what was being done with revenue generated or ICC grants.
The only thing that stopped them from applying such extreme measures is that the economy (under the very same government which exists now as then) was healthier, and of course the economic backgrounds of those players - business&land owners most of them(NONE of whom had bought any of it with cash they had earned up to that point of their career, save for bank loans which they could still guarantee with the same land). Forget an increased Franchise system and enlarged player base, that administration didn't have to take care of cricket in other Black/Govt schools throughout the country as is the case now. Neither did they have to take care of clubs as ZC did for many years until they were forced to tell clubs to be independent. The magnitude of schorlaships they gave out in comparison to the Chingoka adminsitrations was quite frankly laughable!
ZCU was a Zimbabwe cricket union in name only. That was an all-encompasing name conferred upon them by virtue of the fact that they administered a "national team", not that they administered cricket beyond Harare and Bulawayo. Players who turned out for Midlands&Manicaland mostly commuted from those cities. As for the CFX Academy later, Ewing wouldn't have looked how he looked, nor would people have been shocked at the knowledge that Sims was a srucmhalf a couple of years before, if the daily meals didn't resemble her Majesty's occasional banquets. A tiny sign that more was clearly available to be spent on others. ZC on the other hand trully sought to be a Zimbabwe cricket body. Not even CSA would survive if it embarked on a similar scale to replicate what ZC tried to achieve in Zimbabwe.
I get really irritated when people pretend ZC wasn't forced to live beyond its means for the good of these leading boys and many others we see today. Why wasn't anyone asking "where are they getting all this money from because based on media releases of the sponsorship packages, Old Mutual, Nissan, Faithwear etc aren't exactly giving hard cash anywhere near what is required, and the tours are costing more money than anything coming in?" People knew loans where subsidising this, but no one made noises about the issues they would pose in future as there was no sustained revenue stream to suggest that they would be economically serviced. Most critically, where was the world when Zimbabwe had to abandon a domestic season in 2005/06 due to financial reasons more than anything else?(Clearly bailouts are only reserved for serial banker-thieves plus the likes of Greece&Cyprus but a dog cant even get a sniff of a bone if not for India&Ray Mali's interventions via the less callous section of the ICC). When it resumed a season later who bothered to shed light on how the funds might have come about?
As for significant ICC-recommended changes made ahead of resuming Tests, who of you here now casting the proverbial stone - since the forum was alive at the time - questioned how that was financed and how it will continue to be financed, plus who would be blamed if it failed?(just like the IMF imposed ESAP on Zimbabwe hey) Enlighten me please in case I missed something!
Were the English not mediocre for years upon years, to the point that even our farmers-cum-cricketers never had to lose sleep over them? Weren't numerous reviews instituted or called for, all questioning things both on and off the field? Have the WI not been in terminal declines for years? Aren't Sri Lanka & Pakistan fast approaching those times if not already there? Their T20 Premier leagues either not in existence or have a lifespan no longer than our very own. Fortunately, after all these years we have no idea when BD will hit heights so we can finally talk of a decline in their case
Kriterion_BD, but we do know your beloved administrators have gradually developed an impressively far reaching reputation as glorious exemplars to miserable ZC on prompt and fulfilled payments. Haven't all of the latter three not had strikes&fights with the boards, or threatened&affected tours? Are they not entirely administered or their teams made up of locals?
Soon South Africa too will inevitably regress because as the old guard falls away inevtiably replacements will have to reflect the dynamics of the country at all levels right up to the national team. Lower revenue will mean those relying on the game as a profession will fall away or pursue other careers? What then? Will it also be a symptom of corruption&mismanagement, not absence of funds beyond their control? Will you call for them to be dropped for Lichtenstein as well?
Just like most boards, UCB's past, as indeed ZCU's past, have all been fraught with examples of mismanagement&fraud of a certain nature. Comprehensive&embarassing reporting of those matters was naturally ignored by their brothers&sisters in the media, yet in reality they struggled as well, witht he exception that they did so while serving a fraction of what today's boards are faced with. Cut Zimbabwe Cricket some slack.
