Ryan Higgins Turned Down Zimbabwe Approach

[Pat_Bee]

The conflict would be with the counties, they’re limited in the number of overseas guys they can have registered, certainly in the match day XI, maybe in the squad as a whole, I don’t know. Eddie Byrom counts as a domestic player with his Irish passport (on a tangent; but would he become overseas if he ever played for Ireland anybody know?) Glamorgan have three overseas guys already, Eddie would make four if they wanted to keep him after he took the ZC gig. That means he’d be taking an overseas slot he wasn’t previously and they’d be able to pick one less than they had been. As ZimDawg said; if you’re getting an overseas player generally you’ll be looking for somebody high quality like an Australian or an Indian. Not some journeyman Zimbo. That’s not to disrespect Eddie B, he’d be awesome for us but not necessarily be worth the overseas premium for a county.

These guys will have a steady county career for as long as they want it, won’t exactly be on megabucks but it will be comfortable living. ZC would have to better that or at least match it and hope the draw of international cricket seals the deal.

Some guys will have roots and family in England, maybe even be married to an English girl. The prospective player has a choice of uprooting everybody’s lives and moving his family or leave them in England and come alone. It would be an adventure for a single man but how exactly do you sell the third world banana republic that is Zim to a settled English wife

[secretzimbo]

(on a tangent; but would he become overseas if he ever played for Ireland anybody know?)

Yes this is the case for Ireland ever since they became full members. It's why their guys don't play County championship anymore. Much to Irish crickets detriment.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Pre Brexit, there was a kolpak rule where anyone could play IN england, if they were not an international player.
Like Brendan Taylor or many others, he was more than free to play without using a slot, but could not play imternationals.

Due to a guy called Kolpak taking a sporting body to court under EU laws.

However, England have never really wanted imports, it impedes their guys development. So they have always had a 2 person restriction.
The difference is now, the Kolpak law is obsolete, so you are either English, to play for England, or an import quota player.

[Pat_Bee]

Ya I thought that was the case.

It’s a can of worms though. Apparently the team represents the whole of Ireland not just the Republic. You could reasonably have a guy from the north with a UK passport playing for Ireland and being overseas or some crazy shizz

[Pat_Bee]

Pre Brexit, there was a kolpak rule where anyone could play IN england, if they were not an international player.
Like Brendan Taylor or many others, he was more than free to play without using a slot, but could not play imternationals.

Due to a guy called Kolpak taking a sporting body to court under EU laws.

However, England have never really wanted imports, it impedes their guys development. So they have always had a 2 person restriction.
The difference is now, the Kolpak law is obsolete, so you are either English, to play for England, or an import quota player.

Ya I think Hampshire had like half a team of Kolpak guys at one point. Not sure if it would ever happen but there was talk of Oliver and Harmer gaining their three and a half year residency on a Kolpak and playing for England pre all the Brexit changes.

You’d get some quality guys but by and large dregs who fell victim to CSA’s quota.

[eugene]

It always amazes me how backwards cricket is. Very few sports demand players play in their representative country in order to gain selection for the national team.

[TapsC2]

If you want attract the guys who qualify but have no family left in Zim then you need to be doing well in general. Or at least be qualifying for world cups. Losing to Uganda is not what anybody wants to sign up for. I almost felt sorry for Nick Welch walking into a real mess in Namibia. Imagine someone with no real family ties left here walking into that. They would have a mental breakdown.

I personally don’t want to ever hear about Ballance playing for us again. I’m convinced we would have qualified for both those tournaments if he was there. I watched him bat live at HSC against the Dutch. Raza got the crowd going with some big hits at the end but it was Ballance who looked better than the rest. It turned out to be his last game. He would have made a big difference and ultimately he walked out at the worst possible time

[Googly]

I think the most important thing is to provide a living wage.
Tough to hit 400 balls a day and become an international cricketer earning 500 bucks a month for 4 months. If you break a bat and have to replace it you have to become a herbivore in order to eat. You also need to master the art of living in a room with 4 other people and walking long distances. It's an irksome job when the bosses drive the latest landcruisers and range rovers and you know are about to get stuck into looting a sizeable portion of 20 million bucks.
Their sycophants do their bidding because they're earning 501 dollars and feel special.

[ZIMDOGGY]

I think the most important thing is to provide a living wage.
Tough to hit 400 balls a day and become an international cricketer earning 500 bucks a month for 4 months. If you break a bat and have to replace it you have to become a herbivore in order to eat. You also need to master the art of living in a room with 4 other people and walking long distances. It's an irksome job when the bosses drive the latest landcruisers and range rovers and you know are about to get stuck into looting a sizeable portion of 20 million bucks.
Their sycophants do their bidding because they're earning 501 dollars and feel special.

Just out of curiosity, what would be a normal jobs salary in Zim?
Let’s say a standard admin office worker.

[Googly]

The latest ZC ploy is to pay guys in Zig, which is now the offical currency and government is on another drive to curtail the use of USD. Quite a few cricketers were owed money from months ago, they pay some guys on time and others they dont appear to want to. So if they were owed 400 dollars for example they have now received the equivalent of half in real money. They must think they're so smart at saving money. I don't think the hierarchy gets Zig , pretty sure they get George Washingtons.

Police earn the equivalent of about $40 a month for example, or they were as of December, that was for a chief Superintendent!! He was itching for his Christmas bonus of 300 dollars in actual money. Clearly the despicable traffic constables are on a lot less, hence the issues at road blocks. Teachers and doctors occasionally go on strike and get arrested, they're probably on $150 a month. I don't know the latest equivalent. Imagine doing a 7 year medical degree to earn $5 a day
A radio license is 30 bucks for a quarter, nobody listens to radio. TV license is 100 bucks a year, nobody watches ZTV. There are literally thousands upon thousands of collection officers harassing daily. They're a plague upon humanity. They seem to want usd and not Zig
Sir Wicknell (knighted himself) seems to be the only Musk appointed Starlink agent on the planet, so let's see what that charge is. He's just been awarded a 170 million ZESA tender. He's held in awe and not disgust.

That's one of the issues- admin are of the opinion that there should be gratitude that ZC players are doing so much better than others.