Ireland Tour - Discussion

[CrimsonAvenger]

I can't pick up any excitement at all if I'm being honest. Nobody is talking about it.

Correct - this is the absolute truth on the ground in Zim despite what everyone above says!!

Well, for me, it is not about whether people are talking about it or not. It is about this.

We always need to beat Ireland

One may or may not pay attention, it may or may not be a "rivalry" so to speak (the Irish might think so though), but Zim needs to keep showing who's the boss every time there is a series like this.

Also, people not talking about it now is not an issue. People talking about it afterwards, specially if we lose, is an issue. Then all the wrong noises would be coming out.

[secretzimbo]

It’s important that we win, of course it is.

That wasn’t the discussion.

The discussions was whether it is important enough to prevent a few of our guys from cashing their checks playing in the BPL or whatever league it is.

Trust me - forcing Williams and Raza to come back when none of the Irish players are is just asking for trouble.

We are in a rather unique position where for the first time in a long long time everyone in the system is pretty happy. Let’s keep it that way.


Also don’t pretend it isn’t different playing Ireland or playing India.

[secretzimbo]

In a way, missing some players and trying out an experimental side actually makes the series more meaningful and more exciting anyway for me.

I’m talking about the T20s.

[Jemisi]

India is bigger than Ireland, yes.

I get that on the ground Ireland doesn't conjure up the same excitement as playing a big team.

But losing at home to peers or high ranking associates does us no favours.

So for me there's plenty of meaning in the contest even though there may not be a mass of fans salivating at an Ngarava vs Dockrell type of contest.

[secretzimbo]

India is bigger than Ireland, yes.

I get that on the ground Ireland doesn't conjure up the same excitement as playing a big team.

But losing at home to peers or high ranking associates does us no favours.

So for me there's plenty of meaning in the contest even though there may not be a mass of fans salivating at an Ngarava vs Dockrell type of contest.

So your answer is yes, you are going to tell Williams & Raza et al, that they can't play in the BPL because they simply must play 3 T20I's for us, even when the opposing team is allowing its players to skip them?

[Kriterion_BD]

It’s important that we win, of course it is.

Part of the definition of meaningless is that the result doesn't matter. So if winning this series is important, then its NOT a meaningless series by default. I get that fans and even some of the players may not be that excited about a series vs Ireland. But then thats a fairly big indictment of such players' attitudes/professionalism. Perhaps a better word would have been "lower profile" rather than meaningless.

On the other hand I will admit that players should be allowed (within reason) to make some extra cash and for Raza the prestige of the IPL is itself probably reason enough to skip a series. But, if the guys playing these leagues are fairly well paid by ZC, does the 20-30K earned from playing a few BPL games really make that much of a difference?

OK just did the number crunching. Raza is on 60 lakhs which is 72,000 USD. Now spread over 14 games thats about 5,000 per game. Raza would likely only miss 3-4 games by playing in the IRE series. is 15-20K dollars worth it? Maybe, maybe not. Its worth mentioning that BPL and LPL will be paying Ervine, Williams, Burl considerably less than the IPL for obvious reasons.

[CrimsonAvenger]

It’s important that we win, of course it is.

That wasn’t the discussion.

The discussions was whether it is important enough to prevent a few of our guys from cashing their checks playing in the BPL or whatever league it is.

Trust me - forcing Williams and Raza to come back when none of the Irish players are is just asking for trouble.

We are in a rather unique position where for the first time in a long long time everyone in the system is pretty happy. Let’s keep it that way.

I agree that ZC and the players should not kick up a storm in general - now that we seem to be on a good path, players getting noticed by these leagues, and there is harmony in the dressing room. But that is for all parties to be transparent and considerate and move forward with the best decision. The series is important, but not at the cost of losing long term vision.

[TapsC2]

What they should have done instead was to organize a 1 off test instead of the shorter formats. Probably costs about the same. There would have been a lot on the line. Trust me everybody from both teams would have been in Harare and we would be deep in playing 11 discussions. Missed opportunity

[Donald]

With a world cup qualifier around rhe corner for 50 overs and also 20 20 qualifier believe me every series is important.

[Kriterion_BD]

Even on the forum, the concensus seems to be the Ireland series is very important. Straw poll results so far:

Important: Kriterion, Crimsonavenger, jaybro, Donald, jemisi
Not as important: secretzimbo, TapsC2