No longer blessed

[NickG]

5 counties wanted him? I'm starting to think the academy should never go back to the UK if its revived. Any really special talent will get poached. I wonder what he thinks about Burl and Tari since they also played there. Not good enough I guess?

Congrats. You are only the second person who has come to see this.

This article confirms EXACTLY what I have been bleating about for a year and half, that everyone laughed at. The Rising Stars simply served as a silver platter for English talent scouts to poach and players to build connections in the country.

Good for players individually but massive fail for ZC.

Wonder if any of the forumites who said I was mad will acknowledge I was right all along.

You are 100% wrong. See my post above.

[Googly]

Ya I agree NickG.
Northants are in trouble financially. That’s why I said he won’t be getting much of a deal. If they were going to spend big money on a Kolpak player they’d more than likely get an all rounder rather than an untried youngster who will more than likely struggle to play a full season. There’s no requirement for them to look after him physically and if he’s bowling well they will run him into the ground. Signing BM is a cheap gamble for them. Again it points to ZC being unwilling to match a few grand a month and that’s really alarming.
Zimbos have to stop thinking England is quivering to take our players, they actively don’t want anyone else, they’ve got loads of fantastic cricketers lurking around, especially young batsmen. It should be the other way around- we should be desperately trawling other countries for any established talent that has a great great grandparent that once stopped over in Zimbabwe that we can issue a passport to. There is absolutely no amount of juju and magic that’s going to find us a new world class batsman here. How? There’s absolutely no substitute for time in the middle. Guys overseas play more cricket in a year than we play in 4 years. As usual they really missed a trick with Ben Curran. He’s just been signed so they’ve lost the opportunity. He’s probably played 250-300 quality games, had the best of coaching, has the genetics and has become a bloody damned fine batsman. We can never ever offer that here. We have to become the poachers.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Ya I agree NickG.
Northants are in trouble financially. That’s why I said he won’t be getting much of a deal. If they were going to spend big money on a Kolpak player they’d more than likely get an all rounder rather than an untried youngster who will more than likely struggle to play a full season. There’s no requirement for them to look after him physically and if he’s bowling well they will run him into the ground. Signing BM is a cheap gamble for them. Again it points to ZC being unwilling to match a few grand a month and that’s really alarming.
Zimbos have to stop thinking England is quivering to take our players, they actively don’t want anyone else, they’ve got loads of fantastic cricketers lurking around, especially young batsmen. It should be the other way around- we should be desperately trawling other countries for any established talent that has a great great grandparent that once stopped over in Zimbabwe that we can issue a passport to. There is absolutely no amount of juju and magic that’s going to find us a new world class batsman here. How? There’s absolutely no substitute for time in the middle. Guys overseas play more cricket in a year than we play in 4 years. As usual they really missed a trick with Ben Curran. He’s just been signed so they’ve lost the opportunity. He’s probably played 250-300 quality games, had the best of coaching, has the genetics and has become a bloody damned fine batsman. We can never ever offer that here. We have to become the poachers.

I agree here. We need to become the Sydney Roosters like Eugene said and play chequebook cricket. Our only band aid solution.

With the white situation in SA there will be low hanging fruit there if we can table a good packages.
A Curran would be perfect, because even if he’s a turd, these guys with the genes somehow tend to click into gear more often than not. Craig Ervine am Jarvis a present Zim example. I can also run off names of RL and AFL players where this seems to happen so often. Even if not overly athletic or talented they have an innate ability to come good.

[eugene]

The Zimbabwe Roosters, I like it! Better than the dumb Chevrons.

[ZIMDOGGY]

5 counties wanted him? I'm starting to think the academy should never go back to the UK if its revived. Any really special talent will get poached. I wonder what he thinks about Burl and Tari since they also played there. Not good enough I guess?

Simply not true that 5 counties wanted him. if it were, he would not have chosen Northants. They are very weak and possibly the weakest side in county cricket right now.

I've met Weeks and he strikes me as a very duplicitous and untrustworthy character. He came to a lot of Academy games last year, generally got in the way, entered the dressing rooms without permission and was a distraction for the players.

As for special talent getting poached - do me a favour. Don't blame the players, the Rising Stars, or the academy here. If ZC paid players proper wages and looked after special talent (which the Rising Stars was set up to develop) then Blessing would be getting ready for SA and Bangladesh tours right now.

I dont think how weak or strong the side is would be that much of a factor. Alot of players simply dont care or think it means their position would be safer. Otherwise it would be like the EPL ans the top few teams would be stacked up.

Maybe they threw him 20 extra pounds a week than the others and a couple of burger king vouchers and that swayed him. Or they showed him the most love.

Most players just go to the highest bidder.
I doubt Blessing would have even heard of most of these counties 2 years ago. He wont care.

[NickG]

5 counties wanted him? I'm starting to think the academy should never go back to the UK if its revived. Any really special talent will get poached. I wonder what he thinks about Burl and Tari since they also played there. Not good enough I guess?

Simply not true that 5 counties wanted him. if it were, he would not have chosen Northants. They are very weak and possibly the weakest side in county cricket right now.

I've met Weeks and he strikes me as a very duplicitous and untrustworthy character. He came to a lot of Academy games last year, generally got in the way, entered the dressing rooms without permission and was a distraction for the players.

As for special talent getting poached - do me a favour. Don't blame the players, the Rising Stars, or the academy here. If ZC paid players proper wages and looked after special talent (which the Rising Stars was set up to develop) then Blessing would be getting ready for SA and Bangladesh tours right now.

I dont think how weak or strong the side is would be that much of a factor. Alot of players simply dont care or think it means their position would be safer. Otherwise it would be like the EPL ans the top few teams would be stacked up.

Maybe they threw him 20 extra pounds a week than the others and a couple of burger king vouchers and that swayed him. Or they showed him the most love.

Most players just go to the highest bidder.
I doubt Blessing would have even heard of most of these counties 2 years ago. He wont care.

Do you really think Northants can afford to outbid other counties?? Derbyshire or Durham if they're lucky, that would be about it. There is no way in this world there were five counties after him and even if that were true, there is no way Northants would have been the highest bidder. It will be down to existing relationships the agent has with certain counties etc.

And by the way I think your comments about an extra £20 a week and Burger King vouchers are disrespectful to the player. Blessing has come from nothing and stability and regular income are big factors for him. It's true he would have taken any county offer, I only hope the agent involved has got the best deal possible for him...

[ZIMDOGGY]

Simply not true that 5 counties wanted him. if it were, he would not have chosen Northants. They are very weak and possibly the weakest side in county cricket right now.

I've met Weeks and he strikes me as a very duplicitous and untrustworthy character. He came to a lot of Academy games last year, generally got in the way, entered the dressing rooms without permission and was a distraction for the players.

As for special talent getting poached - do me a favour. Don't blame the players, the Rising Stars, or the academy here. If ZC paid players proper wages and looked after special talent (which the Rising Stars was set up to develop) then Blessing would be getting ready for SA and Bangladesh tours right now.

I dont think how weak or strong the side is would be that much of a factor. Alot of players simply dont care or think it means their position would be safer. Otherwise it would be like the EPL ans the top few teams would be stacked up.

Maybe they threw him 20 extra pounds a week than the others and a couple of burger king vouchers and that swayed him. Or they showed him the most love.

Most players just go to the highest bidder.
I doubt Blessing would have even heard of most of these counties 2 years ago. He wont care.

Do you really think Northants can afford to outbid other counties?? Derbyshire or Durham if they're lucky, that would be about it. There is no way in this world there were five counties after him and even if that were true, there is no way Northants would have been the highest bidder. It will be down to existing relationships the agent has with certain counties etc.

And by the way I think your comments about an extra £20 a week and Burger King vouchers are disrespectful to the player. Blessing has come from nothing and stability and regular income are big factors for him. It's true he would have taken any county offer, I only hope the agent involved has got the best deal possible for him...

He’s alreasy shown he would rather have KFC vouchers tha strike with his teammates so the future Of ZC was more prosperous.

I doubt 5 counties were in a bidding war, 5 probably showed interest and one or two made an offer.

Besides, let’s just say all 5 wanted him, it’s silly to say that Northants couldn’t have won that race because maybe they wanted him more. 4 other counties may have offered minimum wage and 2 years and northants offer 3 years and a slick sales pitch. Or slightly more dollars.

They aren’t in a bidding war for Glenn Maxwell here, but a no name Zimbabwean who gets some bounce.

[NickG]

I dont think how weak or strong the side is would be that much of a factor. Alot of players simply dont care or think it means their position would be safer. Otherwise it would be like the EPL ans the top few teams would be stacked up.

Maybe they threw him 20 extra pounds a week than the others and a couple of burger king vouchers and that swayed him. Or they showed him the most love.

Most players just go to the highest bidder.
I doubt Blessing would have even heard of most of these counties 2 years ago. He wont care.

Do you really think Northants can afford to outbid other counties?? Derbyshire or Durham if they're lucky, that would be about it. There is no way in this world there were five counties after him and even if that were true, there is no way Northants would have been the highest bidder. It will be down to existing relationships the agent has with certain counties etc.

And by the way I think your comments about an extra £20 a week and Burger King vouchers are disrespectful to the player. Blessing has come from nothing and stability and regular income are big factors for him. It's true he would have taken any county offer, I only hope the agent involved has got the best deal possible for him...

He’s alreasy shown he would rather have KFC vouchers tha strike with his teammates so the future Of ZC was more prosperous.

I doubt 5 counties were in a bidding war, 5 probably showed interest and one or two made an offer.

Besides, let’s just say all 5 wanted him, it’s silly to say that Northants couldn’t have won that race because maybe they wanted him more. 4 other counties may have offered minimum wage and 2 years and northants offer 3 years and a slick sales pitch. Or slightly more dollars.

They aren’t in a bidding war for Glenn Maxwell here, but a no name Zimbabwean who gets some bounce.

And now it's KFC vouchers...more disrespect. He didn't even have a contract to strike against. Once again you miss the point. The ONLY reason BM has even sought a career in England is due to ZC not getting their house in order.

And given your view of the player as a no-name Zimbabwean, doesn't that kind of back up my point (which is based on fact) that there was not a queue of counties lining up for him. The only offer was Northants and he took it.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Do you really think Northants can afford to outbid other counties?? Derbyshire or Durham if they're lucky, that would be about it. There is no way in this world there were five counties after him and even if that were true, there is no way Northants would have been the highest bidder. It will be down to existing relationships the agent has with certain counties etc.

And by the way I think your comments about an extra £20 a week and Burger King vouchers are disrespectful to the player. Blessing has come from nothing and stability and regular income are big factors for him. It's true he would have taken any county offer, I only hope the agent involved has got the best deal possible for him...

He’s alreasy shown he would rather have KFC vouchers tha strike with his teammates so the future Of ZC was more prosperous.

I doubt 5 counties were in a bidding war, 5 probably showed interest and one or two made an offer.

Besides, let’s just say all 5 wanted him, it’s silly to say that Northants couldn’t have won that race because maybe they wanted him more. 4 other counties may have offered minimum wage and 2 years and northants offer 3 years and a slick sales pitch. Or slightly more dollars.

They aren’t in a bidding war for Glenn Maxwell here, but a no name Zimbabwean who gets some bounce.

And now it's KFC vouchers...more disrespect. He didn't even have a contract to strike against. Once again you miss the point. The ONLY reason BM has even sought a career in England is due to ZC not getting their house in order.

And given your view of the player as a no-name Zimbabwean, doesn't that kind of back up my point (which is based on fact) that there was not a queue of counties lining up for him. The only offer was Northants and he took it.

1. Your point about ZC not having their house in order is not a conflicting point and it feeds into MY point. If he was offered good money (as opposed to a Zinger fillet and chips) to stay it may have made some sense not to strike, Would still lack courage on his part but at least ther would be a n inner conflict thats understandable.All the more reason he should have striked with the pseudorebels. He was affected too. Unlike the others, HE HAD A CONTRACT IN THE WINGS. Given that, he overlooked a good opportunity to have his say and point made, even then he chose not too. WEAK!

2. Your point is NOT based on fact its based on your own logical deduction. However I'm getting the impression that you think there would have been a huge bidding war. It probably went like this; Counties 1 and 2 said 'you have talent, come see us at the end of the season and maybe we might look at you'. County 3 said 'hey man you got some talent, youre on our radar, keep up the good work!'. County 4 said 'Lets give you a shot, heres a bare minimum starter contract, no guarantee of a bowl but your opportunity is here'. County 5, Northants, probably said 'We also want to give you a shot! Here's a modest contract, KFC AND Popeyes voucher, and we believe in you, we are a young team finding our way and we think you have it in you to be a superstar! You will get a genuine shot to bowl in counties I promised and we will help out with finding you a place to stay'.

He took 5 for an obvious reason. Even if Counties 1,2 and 3 both mirrored county 4. He wont give a fuck where Northants finished on the ladder last year. He got some love from Northants and thats good enough.

Players go to a multitude of teams for various reasons and teams recruitment strategies vary alot too. Some teams do the roosters thing, others play moneyball, othwers like to gamble on young cheap talent, others have an impressive sales pitch. We cant know what the hook was.

To say 'why would he choose Northants unless he had no other options' is so ignorant of Sports adminstration. There are so many factors to consider and some we dont even know about.

Either way, although good for Blessing and the players individually, it was dummmbbbbbbb having the Rising Stars based in England from a ZC perspective. They have allowed a situation where 1,2,10,25 counties and clubs can talk and build relationships with the players. Players to get English GFs, find sponsored work, whatever. It was driven from Taibu's selfish reason of living in the UK himself (this further entices players to emulate him). I like Taibu but this was a ZC tactical error.

The funniest part is Zimbabweans dont even play England in tests by political (dis)agreement.

[eugene]

KFC should really be a sponsor of this forum. They are inextricably linked with Zimbabwean cricket.