#ZCBOARD MUST GO

[Zimco]

[Googly]

Well he’s wrong because as a fact Coventry ain’t doing nothing, not for cricket, rugby, soccer or anything. She sends blessings and well wishes and hopes she’s doing enough to get on the IOC. She’s completely ill-equipped to deal with a ministerial post in Zim.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Suspended ZC takes over ZCF

In a lightning overnight development, the now-suspended ZC baord has claimed control over the primary fan forum of Zimbabwean Cricket, ZCF, long known to have had a sway in player selection and management. The disbanded board, knowing that it is difficult to regain control over the cricketing matters in the country even as it haggles with ICC for re-recognition, has gone for the next best thing. Capturing ZCF and influencing the powers that be with seemingly intelligent discussions and in-depth analysis.

The sudden appearance of a new administrator by the name hprinke.com admin raised eyebrows, but since then, a bunch of new influential posters have invaded ZCF, presumed to be representing the disbanded ZC members. Some of the new members include Crimson Scavenger, clonedog, ZIMDUCKY, kaycro, frauenfeld, mauritiusbligzz and Jemisi Bondi 003.

Exactly how the ZCF takeover will affect the cricketing map of the country remains to be seen. There were unconfirmed reports of a huge party thrown at Prosper Utseya's residence after the successful takeover. Administrator maehara was unavailable for comment.

[zimbos_05]

Just as suspected with the racist tones coming in. Glad to see Mdawini not doing his job and again supporting the corrupt officials.

It's just a continuous massive shit show that only affects the players, fans and the overall game.

After all the hard work done by the guys to get Zim to a top 8 team and to where we once were.

[maehara]

Administrator maehara was unavailable for comment.

....although a new Mercedes was noted to have appeared outside his residence.

(I wish)

[CrimsonAvenger]

....although a new Mercedes was noted to have appeared outside his residence.

(I wish)

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Suspended ZC takes over ZCF

In a lightning overnight development...

[Googly]

So our ladies qualified for the netball World Cup assisted by some last minute fund raising to make it happen and some bizarre request for female sanitary ware if I recall. Now there are no less than FOUR ministers attending the event. It’s honestly shameless what’s going on here. This government is failing to register the very ugly mood of the people here. Fuel is being sold for $5 bond when it should be around $10 minimum, which basically means gov is not making a penny on fuel tariffs, which is their main source of income. There’s going to be a big price adjustment shortly and people are not going to be happy.

[Googly]

ZC’s urgent application at high court to have their suspension overturned has been dismissed with costs. Interestingly it was thrown out for material non-disclosure, basically a technical issue, and they probably didn’t get as far as ruling on the merits of the actual case itself. I’m sure they will appeal. There’s a lot of stuff going on here which he public will never be privy to.
Maybe this process needs to happen in order that they can officially get their hands on the accounts so they can officially conduct their audits/investigations. Then if impropriety is evident it’s further numerous rounds of court. This could drag out for a long time, by the looks of it. It’s also ample time for ZC to do some housekeeping, but I don’t think any amount of creative accountancy is going to bury everything, and who’s goin going to risk that when it’s evident that SRC are wielding a big stick? Burying evidence is a national pastime and seems to be the main defense in all these corruption cases, and so far there have been few penalties meted out.

There are some very blatant things that ZC have done that I’m surprised are not being acted upon. SRC are now also taking on ZIFA and I don’t know where their focus will be. I guess they will set up committees (we are the home of useless committees) to investigate.
At the end of the day there are two powerful groups up against each other and in order for the ICC to buy into a change SRC needs court judgements against the ZC, how long this will take is anybody’s guess.

In the meantime we await ICC’s decisions after they meet on the 18th. Will they continue to provide us with funds until there’s legal finality, and if so do they continue to send that to the suspended board, the interim board (thus acknowledging their existence) or do they send yet another curator to manage our affairs? What did surprise me was ZC’s claim that they hadn’t received ICC’s monthly stipend for salaries and the payment for the women’s tour. I’d always thought it was a quarterly tranche we were getting and not the monthly drip feed and payment by requisition that ZC claims.

Countries like Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland must rightfully be very angry with the money we receive and the state of our cricket. Where would they be with $10m a year?
When you lack the support of most of the country, the players, the ex-players, the government, most of the cricket playing world and probably most of the ICC and you’re hanging on for grim death then I’d think it’s more than the hobby Mhukhulani claims it to be. These guys would rather burn the house down than move out and that shows there’s a lot at stake here, particularly if SRC win the day and then push for prosecution. I doubt the latter because there’s a philosophy here of “there but for the grace of God go I.” Catch and release is the order of the day.

[Googly]

I envisage a scenario where SRC show ZC the overwhelming evidence stacked against them and they cut a deal to vacate with limited repercussions. If DEB and Co only have a year to tidy up and they force some people out, the total terminal benefits of retiring these guys is an astronomical number. Consider that Mangongo received around $300k and there’s a lot of people that we need to see the back of that have been in ZC for a very long time. The only upside is that it’s a Zim dollar number.
For me, financially much hinges on finding a problem with that Metbank loan, that is the key that frees up the cash we need to drag our cricket slowly and painfully in the right direction. If we continue to have to service that debt then I honestly don’t think it’s possible, it takes most of our money, what a well engineered and disgusting scam. How we went from +10m to -20m in such a short period is also worthy of an electron microscope up the colon, but that would require going back to the days of Vince Hogg and Chingoka and I don’t think that’s going to happen.

As far as the cricket goes the first goal is to be able to consistently beat Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. Don’t forget we avoided playing them for a few years, basically because ZC knew that our standard of cricket would be exposed. Getting well beaten by Bangladesh, India etc you can excuse, but not having series losses to Netherlands and Ireland. I’d have to say that at the ICC meeting coming up this will be a topic of conversation and there will be people suggesting we’re not worth saving, and we don’t have much defense against that. The departure of Dave Richardson will negatively impact us as well.
Only a small number of people play cricket here and there’s not a huge interest in the game. We’re probably almost at a point where only a heavyweight like A Flower throwing his hat into the mix can save us from oblivion, Campbell may not cut it. Nobody misses Zimbabwe on the world stage anymore, we’ve been on the sidelines for too long and it’s out of sight out of mind. We’ve disappeared without so much as a whimper, and any support from influential people is more nostalgic than realistic. The world needs WI and South Africa, we’ve just become a sad failed nation in most respects. People keep saying well Afghanistan and Pakistan’s cricket is vibrant and their countries are either at war or in tatters, but that’s a poor comparison because they ALL play cricket, we don’t. Our cricket is joined to our economy and to to some extent to the private schools- all ten of them! Please let that sink in!! Grass roots gained traction here in the 80’s because there was this huge drive to beat the whites at their own game and it was a huge incentive for a lot of people. There’s none of us left to speak of now and when people are in survival mode spending hours practicing something that your family doesn’t actively understand or support, that you gain little prestige from and that you can’t make a living from is plain stupid.

I think there’s hope, but it has to be very well managed. Much would depend on who takes over in 2020. I just don’t know anybody that would steer the ship off the top of my head though. We will be very lucky to retain full membership. We also have to face the fact that we are at the Netherlands/Ireland/Scotland level and we will be very very lucky to not sink below that when Taylor, Williams and Ervine retire. Those three sides have good players, let’s stop thinking we’re significantly better than them because we’re not. Once again there is nobody from our current local franchise lads that’s going to take the international stage by storm, the best of them are decent club cricketers, sorry but it’s true. Amongst our national side I’m not sure there’s a single player, other than perhaps those three I mentioned who would make another member side and not many that would now make an associate side. That’s a bloody scary thought I tell you.

Let’s assume for a minute that ICC give us 4 years to get our house in order and to produce a competitive side. At the end of those 4 years, if not before, our key guys are gone. Can we produce 11 players of international caliber in that time? Can we produce just one batting star, just one, in that time? Those guys would have to be around 16-20 years old now and I’m saying we don’t have more than two or three that might be ok that are in Zim, even this number is surprising given the overall standard and lack of cricket and coaching. You pretty much have to be a standout schoolboy cricketer these days to even half have a chance and I see some good ones, but they don’t make consistent hundreds against very mediocre bowling so you be the judge.