The Rebel saga put us back so far and really hurt the progression of young guys like Vusi and Matsikenyeri. As Brent said in his interview these young guys had no senior players to set the standard.
Looking at the amount of quality players that Zimbabwe have produced since 2004 that have left the system it makes me sad to think where Zimbabwe could be if things were run properly.
I can’t really comment about when things started to go wrong as I wasn’t following in 1999 and issues were already happening by the time I was following, but the Rebel saga was the death of cricket in Zimbabwe, apart from a couple of Test wins at home and the SL series win we’ve never recovered.
Vusi , Matsikenyeri, Chibhabha or Chigumbura doesn't possess any talents, they could have done nothing even if seniors were present, they were skill less players pushed into the team through qoutas.
Their poor international records that consist of more then 100 matches, proves they were benefited by qoutas.
I even heard Dean Du Plessis cussing the rebel players for their actions. There’s no way that it would have been acceptable for them to have continued playing and allowing Chingoka and Co to mismanage and plunder with impunity. They’ve done so anyway, but now we’re all facing the consequences of their actions. They don’t care, they’ve made their money and moved on, the black players they were purporting to do this on behalf of have had a fair run at it as well and have supported the board loyally and kept players on the park so it’s been a symbiotic relationship.
There’s a few years left of ICC money, it would be enough to keep the show on the road if managed correctly but not with the current pigs at the trough and they will continue to keep cricket barely alive through clever manipulations of key players and personnel and some lies through their PR dept.
The players who could have changed everything in one fell swoop will continue playing for $200 a month until the tractor thst turns their pitch into a mealie field chases them off. They will wring their hands and say but we couldn’t have done anything, our balls were too small!
Well, it is not about blaming the rebels or the admin. The fact is, all the seniors did go at once. That affected the cricketing fabric in the country given how small the playing population was. A young BT, Hamilton, Vusi and Elton, all supremely talented at their age group, suddenly had no one to look up to, to improve and fine tune their games. That has brought them to where they stand today. As a lot of us have mused over here, BT and Hamilton specifically, were easily capable of averaging 40+ across formats if they could continuously get feedback from seniors during their formative years in the nets and during match situations. BT's lack of footwork, Hamilton's lack of patience when strike rotation goes down, could all have been addressed if they had a Grant Flower or a Trevor Gripper playing alongside them. This massive loss is something that ralely gets talked about, but that is where things really went downhill in my view.
How many cricketing countries could afford to lose their top 15-20 senior players in one foul swoop and another 15-20 international-calibre junior players over the next decade? Not many is the answer.
Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), Grant Flower, Dave Houghton, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Ray Price, Eddo Brandes
Keep in mind the guys in the 90s were playing much tougher opposition than in the 2000s and 2010s so a statistical comparison isn't really accurate.
I think New Zealand could definitely win a World Cup and be a top test nation, the quality and player base is there. If Australia could win the Rugby World Cup twice, New Zealand could certainly win the Cricket World Cup. New Zealand also doesn't suffer from clueless admin like SL does.
Yeah Chatara and Cremer have hardly bowled against batsmen from the top 6 countries. More than half their wickets and games are against Afghanistan and Ireland alone.
This current NZ side has all bases covered. Batting, fiery opener, late order hitter, swing bowlers, express quicks. Only thing missing is a wrist spinner because I’m not sure if Sofdhi is good enough. Still, You have to mention them as a serious threat given how they make the semis of basically every World Cup. But like SA and England they never seem to win.
They are ranked 4th in Tests which is phenomenal because can you imagine even Pakistan or Sri Lanka being 4th?
Keep in mind the guys in the 90s were playing much tougher opposition than in the 2000s and 2010s so a statistical comparison isn't really accurate.
I think New Zealand could definitely win a World Cup and be a top test nation, the quality and player base is there. If Australia could win the Rugby World Cup twice, New Zealand could certainly win the Cricket World Cup. New Zealand also doesn't suffer from clueless admin like SL does.
Yeah Chatara and Cremer have hardly bowled against batsmen from the top 6 countries. More than half their wickets and games are against Afghanistan and Ireland alone.
This current NZ side has all bases covered. Batting, fiery opener, late order hitter, swing bowlers, express quicks. Only thing missing is a wrist spinner because I’m not sure if Sofdhi is good enough. Still, You have to mention them as a serious threat given how they make the semis of basically every World Cup. But like SA and England they never seem to win.
They are ranked 4th in Tests which is phenomenal because can you imagine even Pakistan or Sri Lanka being 4th?
this is why I never understand why everyone writes off NZ.
And youre forgetting santner with spin and a half decent stick holder
Vusi , Matsikenyeri, Chibhabha or Chigumbura doesn't possess any talents, they could have done nothing even if seniors were present, they were skill less players pushed into the team through qoutas.
Their poor international records that consist of more then 100 matches, proves they were benefited by qoutas.
The fact they were pushed into international cricket early before their time and without any senior players hurt their progression and in turn their averages
The fact you can't see that shows how little you know Stoneman / Robot or who ever the fuck you are
Not sure if this has anything to do with the decline of Zim's competitiveness, but I have increasingly become fond of the NZ team over the last couple of years. Probably for a long time, I saw them as a team Zim could compete with and snatch a win or two, so the competitive streak did not let me admire them. But the Williamson era has changed all of that. Him, CdG and Southee are probably 3 of my most favorite cricketers right now, and good role models too. This is also probably due to watching a decent amount of NZ home season last time (and a very successful one at that).
Zim v NZ has its memories too, Streak leading us to series win in 2001 on their home soil was almost like us turning a corner, but we had to wait till last year for the next such win against SL. I also grudgingly remember an ICC Knockout Tourney game where NZ and Zim were playing a match to decide the 8th team to reach the main draw (while the top 7 had qualified due to their ranking). NZ had to score 41 off 18 (not at all seen as possible in those pre-T20 days) with 6 or 7 down, but Harris bashed all those runs to leave us with another one of those "what could have been" moments. Unfortunately for me, those days, Harris was the only cricketer I loved watching from the NZ team and him doing this to Zim was painful. I think Streak was at the receiving end in those last overs.
So, there definitely were about 2-3 years where any NZ vs Zim match was pretty much anyone's game. Guy Whittall used to raise his game significantly for the NZ clashes as well...
Vusi , Matsikenyeri, Chibhabha or Chigumbura doesn't possess any talents, they could have done nothing even if seniors were present, they were skill less players pushed into the team through qoutas.
Their poor international records that consist of more then 100 matches, proves they were benefited by qoutas.
The fact they were pushed into international cricket early before their time and without any senior players hurt their progression and in turn their averages
The fact you can't see that shows how little you know Stoneman / Robot or who ever the fuck you are
Use the term " forced push " for being blacks as Zim started quota system by forcefully removing whites or senior players out of Zimbabwe.Its the black dominated board that started racism and destroyed the game. Those skills were just rubbish, played so much games more against the likes of Bangladesh, Ireland, Afghanistan, Kenya still have the poor career.U bustard jerk seems have less knowledge in quota politics
