Has supporting Zimbabwe cricket stopped being fun?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

This is probably directed more at the people who have chosen to support Zimbabwe from abroad over the journey, rather than the people who live/have lived there.

I remember in the mid-to-late 2000s when, despite the team being pretty bad, it was always fun to follow the goings on. We'd have players from the past randomly reappear (like the return of Ray Price, Tatenda Taibu, Mark Vermeulen and even the great man Andy Blignaut, who's contemplating another return in a little under 6 months from now) which would inject some class and excitement into the team.

We also had the carrot of a return to Test cricket to look forward to, and some genuinely good players (Taylor, Masakadza, Taibu, etc) flying the flag.

Whereas back then, televised tournaments like the Stanbic T20 and a tri-series with Zimbabwe and South Africa A (remember we even won that?) seemed to actually carry some meaning, now we're left with T10 nonsense. Takashinga vs Rangers on Pitchvision is now considered the pinnacle of non-international cricket in Zimbabwe, how sad is that?

We were blessed, in a way, that the core group of the mid 2000s were teenagers and were able to prop Zimbabwe up for the next 20 years.

Even the most optimistic among us would have to concede we've now reached the end of the road. What's sadder, Zimbabwe playing Seychelles or The Gambia? Even if Raza makes a 20-ball hundred, who cares? Will anyone be desperately scouring the internet for a live stream of Zimbabwe vs Mozambique in the same way we used to devour a grainy, postage stamp sized video of an ODI between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in 2009?

So, has it stopped being fun to support Zimbabwe? Is there anyone here who's had more fun supporting Zimbabwe since that loss to UAE in 2018? We lose to Singapore, Uganda, Namibia. Would anyone really be surprised if we slip up against Rwanda this month.

The Test against England next year will mark the end of an era. Maybe it's the last time we'll see Ervine, Williams and Raza playing against a proper cricket team, and those final links to Zimbabwe's last decent era will be severed. Maybe it's the last time we'll have fun supporting Zimbabwe.

[Andy31]

I still enjoy supporting them.

Next weeks tournament sucks but reality. Hopefully the younger ones do well and if not you can put a line through them.

I feel for the future, Zim needs African cricket to start thriving. The more competitive nations in Africa,the better.

I am sure in the years to come more cult hero's will emerge.

[mnelson68]

This is probably directed more at the people who have chosen to support Zimbabwe from abroad over the journey, rather than the people who live/have lived there.

I remember in the mid-to-late 2000s when, despite the team being pretty bad, it was always fun to follow the goings on. We'd have players from the past randomly reappear (like the return of Ray Price, Tatenda Taibu, Mark Vermeulen and even the great man Andy Blignaut, who's contemplating another return in a little under 6 months from now) which would inject some class and excitement into the team.

We also had the carrot of a return to Test cricket to look forward to, and some genuinely good players (Taylor, Masakadza, Taibu, etc) flying the flag.

Whereas back then, televised tournaments like the Stanbic T20 and a tri-series with Zimbabwe and South Africa A (remember we even won that?) seemed to actually carry some meaning, now we're left with T10 nonsense. Takashinga vs Rangers on Pitchvision is now considered the pinnacle of non-international cricket in Zimbabwe, how sad is that?

We were blessed, in a way, that the core group of the mid 2000s were teenagers and were able to prop Zimbabwe up for the next 20 years.

Even the most optimistic among us would have to concede we've now reached the end of the road. What's sadder, Zimbabwe playing Seychelles or The Gambia? Even if Raza makes a 20-ball hundred, who cares? Will anyone be desperately scouring the internet for a live stream of Zimbabwe vs Mozambique in the same way we used to devour a grainy, postage stamp sized video of an ODI between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in 2009?

So, has it stopped being fun to support Zimbabwe? Is there anyone here who's had more fun supporting Zimbabwe since that loss to UAE in 2018? We lose to Singapore, Uganda, Namibia. Would anyone really be surprised if we slip up against Rwanda this month.

The Test against England next year will mark the end of an era. Maybe it's the last time we'll see Ervine, Williams and Raza playing against a proper cricket team, and those final links to Zimbabwe's last decent era will be severed. Maybe it's the last time we'll have fun supporting Zimbabwe.

100% , slowly but surely the hierarchy of zim cricket has killed my passion for supporting Zimbabwe like I did back in the 90's. The biased selection of certain players means that becoming an associate member again is not far away from being a reality unfortunately. Countries like Ireland , Namibia, Netherlands and Scotland have already gone past them. They have become a laughing stock.

[Googly]

If Afghanistan even bother coming they're sending their B team, and they're likely to beat us. What else should be required as a wake up call? We've had endless wake up calls and they're all ignored.

[Pat_Bee]

It will never stop being fun

[Pat_Bee]

Even if Raza makes a 20-ball hundred

Unlikely.

He’d be on 99 off 19 balls and hole out rather than play the sensible single.

[sloandog]

I joined the series that vermuelan made a comeback and scored 90. Coventry, Taylor, Williams, Waller, Price and Mazakadza were all in that squad and, at the time, they were my favourites. There was also a lot of old names back in the franchise season of 2009. Strydom, rogers, lamb, nicholson etc. There were names which excited me and I loved following them. Now? Pff. Please. My favourite players are nowhere near this side

[Jemisi]

There's certainly less fun on ZCF than there was in those days BRMT. The metric of miserable posts vs the joy of previous posts points in that direction. Admin is missed here and makes many threads a chore to read, stuff that used to get shut down runs for pages now. But that is probably related to your main point. We've dropped places in the rankings and the path back up is sketchy.

I still cheer, I hope we get through to real challenges. I very much hope for the scheduled test matches to happen.

For reference personally, I find cricket in general less fun since the international pinnacle has been crowded out by the T20 proliferation.

[Donald]

There will be nothing like giving us a false sense of optimism than pumping Seychelles and Ghana next week lol.

[Andy31]

There's certainly less fun on ZCF than there was in those days BRMT. The metric of miserable posts vs the joy of previous posts points in that direction. Admin is missed here and makes many threads a chore to read, stuff that used to get shut down runs for pages now. But that is probably related to your main point. We've dropped places in the rankings and the path back up is sketchy.

I still cheer, I hope we get through to real challenges. I very much hope for the scheduled test matches to happen.

For reference personally, I find cricket in general less fun since the international pinnacle has been crowded out by the T20 proliferation.

I have to agree with the T20 over saturation.

The big bash will start here soon and for me their is no real excitement. It just ends up being the same lot of payer we have always seen.
I would love for a rule where teams were encouraged to pick players from more emerging nations.