Match 2 : Quadrangular U19 Series 2020 : ZIM VS IND , Durban

[sloandog]

What ever happened to the off spinner Taun Harrison? He looked like a serious prospect with the ball, very similar action to Gavin Ewing.

[Googly]

I think he’s at Uni if I’m not mistaken. His family now live in the Cape after being chased from here (farmers). He used to be a tiny chap and the docs eventually found a hormone imbalance. He got given HGH or something similar and he’s now normal size. He was a really good offie and had a lot of fight in him. They’re a really nice family. I’m not sure what he’s up to cricket-wise.

If the U19 system produces 3 FC players every cycle it’s not a bad return. As I’ve pointed out many times our cricket used to depend on a vibrant club system with first and second teams. When they took that over and killed that they destroyed the pipeline and there ain’t no fixing it. I was listening to Ashwell Prince describing his early career, he started playing high level club cricket when he was 15 and the reality is that most top batters have a similar story. You won’t get a kid willing or good enough to do that here now. Well we briefly had a couple of guys, Byrom and Welch. NW actually got a club hundred aged 14, which is hard to comprehend. He’s probably on about 25 hundreds since he started cricket and EB probably slightly more. Muyeye is a bit younger, he must have around 16/17. Curran was around 25 hundreds when he left school as well. That’s around 100 100’s between 4 players. Our current best schoolboy is Myers and he’s probably on 6 or 7 at a guess, and the bowling standard is shite nowadays.

Sam is an interesting case- he was an extraordinary schoolboy batter. Everyone rightfully raved about him, but I always thought NW and EB had the edge because they were prepared to grind.
Curran did phenomenally well in Surrey age group as an all rounder, but was picked for Ones as a bowler. That’s an extremely sobering thing to process for us as Zimbabweans- arguably the most talented schoolboy striker of the ball this country has ever produced is considered a bowler by another country.
I have a big problem processing that. Somehow I can’t help thinking that they made a blunder by not getting him to focus on his batting more, but if they’re right and that’s what he really is in English FC and at international level then we’re in deep deep doodoo!

[Googly]

The fact is if the ball is not swinging he’s not a threat, certainly at international level, yet has a golden arm.
He’s making his way slowly up the batting order at Surrey and I’ve seen him bat in the front 4 a couple of times. Even in the IPL I think he opened once or twice.
He’s only 22 and must be worth a couple of million pounds by now. Amazing success story.

[TapsC]

Personally I don't think this group is a failure. This might be the best group we have had in years actually. They were playing India. They were always going to struggle because they are not prepared. Let's see what happens tomorrow but I got a feeling they will shock many in the real tournament. I can see 3 international players already in Myers Shumba and Madhevere which is a decent return. Tugwete is more like Musakanda where he is a Jack of all trades and is a natural sportsman. If he puts his mind to it he is a future international but I doubt he will give up his soccer scholarship in the US. The likes of Marumani Dane and Bawa could make it but only if Brent takes them in because talent is not enough at a higher level. They certainly look better than the current rangers batting lineup

Why I say they are decent is look at where Luke Oldknow plays and the facilities and setup they have http://www.kings-taunton.co.uk/boys-cricket yet he doesnt look like he can get into this team on merit.

[Googly]

There you’ve nailed it. You need a certain high level of ability and then the rest is between your ears.

Ya these top English schools are mind boggling.
Millfield is probably the premier sporting school-
They offer 28 sports, the head of each sporting discipline is an ex international. I think they have 6 Astra hockey fields. Their cricket facilities are amazing. An indoor facility, outdoor nets and then this crazy greenhouse bubble that has to remain inflated and you go through a double airlock to access it. In there they control temperature and humidity. There’s even speakers to simulate crowd noise. They can lay different mats for fast, medium or slow or turn. They have a couple of Merlin 3’s at £25k a pop. There are cameras on every sports and practice facility so you can watch your child from anywhere in the world live. There’s data storage so you can call up previous games and practice sessions.
I think the annual fees are close to £45k!!
And there are a lot of very spoilt and entitled twats running around. It’s hard not to lash out indiscriminately when you visit. The coaches are all called by their nicknames by the students, coming from here it jars badly and I can never get used to it. To make that Millfield side is not easy! Interestingly the only player to ever captain their side for two consecutive years is a Zimbabwean, Paul Mitchell, he has a youngster at St John’s that has some potential I believe. Another guy lost to cricket through circumstances beyond his control. He was damned good.
Eastbourne are about to complete (if they haven’t already), a £40 million, 5 storey indoor sports facility, I think mostly raised by the Old Boys Assoc. Old English money is hard to beat. Eastbourne are pretenders to the big schools as well.
It’s the same shit in England, if you go to one of the big cricket schools and you’re any good the counties will take a look. If you go to a smaller school you’re pretty much jigged unless you’re better than Kohli

[Googly]

Pieter Malan is the real deal. This guy is a serious player.
Kept out by bullshit racist policies. The next Labiashane

[sloandog]

Pieter Malan is the real deal. This guy is a serious player.
Kept out by bullshit racist policies. The next Labiashane

To have played 150 FC games, scored 30+ hundreds and average 45 throughout a 14 year period indeed suggests a quality player. How the flying fuck players like him, Van De Dussen and Rudi Second haven’t been chosen knocks me sick.
I’ve said it already but selecting Muthusamy and Piedt for that India trip was really embarrassing and just showed that SAC have a major problem on their hands in the form of this stupid transformation target.
Bavuma being dropped is the best thing to have happened in the past few months for the South Africans. To have not scored a century after 5 years and still be selected was just blatant stupidity. They were clearly holding out for him to score a half century or something, to quieten down the critics, but he couldn’t even manage that.
Focus on young Keegan Peterson and Hamza.

[sloandog]

I have a mate at Millfield. He said the facilities are unreal but (as googly said) the guys who he trains with are absolute c*****s. He comes from money but is incredibly humble, something the blokes around him fail to fathom.
There’s a number of Zimbabweans and South Africans there who have been born with a silver spoon up their ass.
Just goes to show how well Nick Welch has done. He’s at a solid uni (Loughborough) but to be able to crack Surrey and be noticed for some of the 2’s games is really impressive. Hope he gets noticed next season with Sam and Tom Curran away, and Pope.

[Googly]

I watched Hamza, he’s not in the same dept as Malan, should never be a 3 for Proteas.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy look more assured than Malan. Rock bloody solid. He must have some fire in his belly after being mistreated for so long and seeing a string of players not good enough to carry his bag get opportunities ahead of him. Paying for the sins of his great great grandfather . Only a thief can justify that.
Should they ever select a Zulu because their great great grandfathers murdered just about everybody, around two million people over the ages and they’re still world class at it. I’m sick of people trying to justify this BEE/Quota nonsense. Should they ever select an Ndebele because they murdered and enslaved the Shona for years, should they ever select a Shona because Gukarahundi took care of tens of thousands of Ndebele? Yet denying people opportunities is considered the greatest of these evils??
So the solution is to deny people of opportunities? And somehow justify it?? That’s the biggest trick of all. And the worst of it is that people are apologizing. its It’s no different to me apologizing for being the Boston Strangler because I’m white. It’s all just nonsense and people need to recognize it for that and move on. It’s an excuse to get free shit quickly. If the Ndebele were financially rich as a nation believe me ZANU would be after them and not the whites. The Xhosa would be after the Zulu and vice versa, depending on which tribe the President came from. It’s like the Americans making war only with the third world countries with oil and gas. It’s always about the money. Racism is the excuse. If it wasn’t about race it would be about religion, if it wasn’t about that it would be about the tribe and if it wasn’t about that someone would find an excuse. It’s about getting free shit, that’s all. Anything else is an excuse. The best thing is to build and create your own stuff because then it suddenly has huge value.

[sloandog]

Yea Malan is a gun, he looks like a real seasoned opener. KP hasn’t stopped raving about his technique and the amount of time he has. I also really like the ‘forward press and then rock back’ technique he’s got against Bess.

My old man said ‘can South Africa’s batting lineup be improved with one?’ I said perhaps with the inclusion of Markram at number three (maybe), but I struggled to think of anyone else. Kyle Verreyenne and Keegan Peterson are two lads for the future, sure. But right now, I think this might be SA’s best batting lineup.