Distribution of Rising Star Academy & Under 19 Players in Domestic Season 2018- 2019

That’s a good article. The farmers with that colonial attitude (not all of them!) have a lot to answer for. Unfortunately the white supremacists have been replaced by black ones so not much has changed. Mr Hawgood is a good friend of mine, he operates one of the few remaining dairy farms. It’s an exercise in diplomacy to keep going with constant visits by people who want free stuff as if it’s their right. I was out at Imire Game Farm the other day and Mr Travers is the sole remaining farmer from a huge white community. Interestingly he’s managed to retain his entire place, largely on the strength of his rhino breeding endeavors, he’s a living legend and has avoided land seizure by the support of the black community. They keep trying to take sections of his farm and he says if they take so much as a square inch he will walk and they can have the whole place, that makes them back off because he’s done so much over the decades.

Most memberships involve an application and you have to be seconded by a couple of long standing members, then it’s discussed and you get a response. There’s probably membership to the various sections that also probably have different voting rights. I’d hazard a guess that they have a powerful committee with influential members, both black and white, that want it to remain just as it is.

Harare South used to have a beautiful cricket ground and hosted many an international team. It’s completely shot to hell. That cultural divide between Beatrice (Harare South- English) and Chivhu (Afrikaans) was not to be sniffed at. I think there are three white families left in Chivhu- down from about 300.

That Marondera/wedza community is the setting for a great book called Winter Cricket that is a must read for Zimbabwe cricket lovers.

Thanks for the info Googly. What was the cultural divide between Beatrice and Chivhu like?

Afrikaans vs English. That s**t is real! 😂 it stems from the Boer War and the English putting the Boer families in concentration camps and wiping them out with Kitchener’s scorched earth policy.

Prejudice gets handed down the generations the world over, pathetic really.

You see it at the schools here to some degree. At junior school most of the kids are friendly with each other, but by the time they hit Form 2 there’s a bit of a divide, and much of that is listening to the s**t their parents talk instead of being able to make up their own minds.

Why do so few (if any?) Afrikaners play cricket in Zim now compared to the last era with the Blignauts et al?

Do Afrikaner kids get discriminated against through selection policy at age level?

There are none left bud. 90% bolted years ago.

The Kadoma/Kwekwe (so nice they named it twice) area was also very Afrikaans. In fact Jameson (Kadoma) was pretty much an Afrikaans school, and a damned fine school it was. Also Eaglesvale in Harare, formerly Bothashoff, was also very Afrikaans. They produced many of our national players in fact, but they were mostly English.

In the old days the second languages offered at O levels were Afrikaans and French. 90% of all white students chose Afrikaans, but it was removed from the syllabus many many years ago.

These days the smart money would be learning Mandarin.

It's all very interesting. Very sad too though.

https://hararefriendlies.com - there's a few Afrikaner names there; de Wet, de Klerk, de Witt, Rinke's still floating about. So there's some level of involvement just nothing that ZC is touching.

I know this is an old tired conversation but it’s worth repeating-

Kids need to see that there’s a future in professional cricket here. They need to see our national team winning a few games- not too many, but the odd heroic win against a good side and everyone pays attention. When they get a sniff of that then you will see kids starting to practice because they want to emulate one of the National players.

The youngsters these days know there’s no future in cricket here so they don’t bother. It’s particularly so for the white kids, and for the few that play they make up a disproportionate amount of the age group sides. If the sides were picked fairly they would make up an even bigger percentage. From this last u19 WC how many white kids are pursuing a cricket career? Off the top of my head it’s 2 whites in the entire country- Roche (dunno where he is these days) and Shardendorf (currently Australia). So basically out of a few hundred we’re left with 2. I don’t see Roche making it with Mavuta and Madhevere coming through and where’s Shardendorf going to fit in? He’d need a really good season here before they look at him for an A side and the only spot available to him if he proved himself would be as an opener. Hammy occupies the one spot and Burl, Mire and a couple of others are ahead of him in the pecking order for the other slot. He’s going to have to do something fairly extraordinary over the next couple of years and he’s going to need big financial support to keep at it with no income. He’s a decent player though and has a shot if he’s got the staying power. So after all those tours, time and money who have we unearthed exactly? This lack of interest has really gathered momentum and there are literally only half a dozen white teenagers in the entire country that are good enough, that take it seriously and get one on one coaching more than twice a week. We are the equivalent of a village compared to what other countries are doing.

It’s not that different amongst the black kids. Only a very few of them get the correct coaching more than a couple of times a week.

The kids with any ability are now thinking of scholarships overseas, followed by university, so they just disappear. They go there with aspirations of professional cricket and most come down to earth with a bump and settle for the experience and a tertiary education. Maybe 10% of those are good enough or determined enough or can access the right passport in order to continue their cricket, so by the time theyre 22/23 they’re playing club and by the time they’re 24/25 they’re playing socially and a year after that they’ve quit.

Murray is another guy, he will finish Uni before he commits full time to cricket. I doubt he will give it more than two years, unless he gets games and does well almost from the get go before he considers his options. You can only make a living if you’re contracted and in the National team, anything below that is a ticket to poverty.

They have to create that 5th franchise and they have to get an A side up and running urgently. ZC are vaguely hoping that some local lad stuck here with zero other opportunities is going to come right. It ain’t going to happen, not ever. We don’t do anything well enough here to produce a top flight batter.

All the solutions require expertise, but more importantly they require money, which we appear to not have.

Googly wrote: ↑Sat Nov 03, 2018 5:43 pm

I know this is an old tired conversation but it’s worth repeating-

Kids need to see that there’s a future in professional cricket here. They need to see our national team winning a few games- not too many, but the odd heroic win against a good side and everyone pays attention. When they get a sniff of that then you will see kids starting to practice because they want to emulate one of the National players.

The youngsters these days know there’s no future in cricket here so they don’t bother. It’s particularly so for the white kids, and for the few that play they make up a disproportionate amount of the age group sides. If the sides were picked fairly they would make up an even bigger percentage. From this last u19 WC how many white kids are pursuing a cricket career? Off the top of my head it’s 2 whites in the entire country- Roche (dunno where he is these days) and Shardendorf (currently Australia). So basically out of a few hundred we’re left with 2. I don’t see Roche making it with Mavuta and Madhevere coming through and where’s Shardendorf going to fit in? He’d need a really good season here before they look at him for an A side and the only spot available to him if he proved himself would be as an opener. Hammy occupies the one spot and Burl, Mire and a couple of others are ahead of him in the pecking order for the other slot. He’s going to have to do something fairly extraordinary over the next couple of years and he’s going to need big financial support to keep at it with no income. He’s a decent player though and has a shot if he’s got the staying power. So after all those tours, time and money who have we unearthed exactly? This lack of interest has really gathered momentum and there are literally only half a dozen white teenagers in the entire country that are good enough, that take it seriously and get one on one coaching more than twice a week. We are the equivalent of a village compared to what other countries are doing.

It’s not that different amongst the black kids. Only a very few of them get the correct coaching more than a couple of times a week.

The kids with any ability are now thinking of scholarships overseas, followed by university, so they just disappear. They go there with aspirations of professional cricket and most come down to earth with a bump and settle for the experience and a tertiary education. Maybe 10% of those are good enough or determined enough or can access the right passport in order to continue their cricket, so by the time theyre 22/23 they’re playing club and by the time they’re 24/25 they’re playing socially and a year after that they’ve quit.

Murray is another guy, he will finish Uni before he commits full time to cricket. I doubt he will give it more than two years, unless he gets games and does well almost from the get go before he considers his options. You can only make a living if you’re contracted and in the National team, anything below that is a ticket to poverty.

They have to create that 5th franchise and they have to get an A side up and running urgently. ZC are vaguely hoping that some local lad stuck here with zero other opportunities is going to come right. It ain’t going to happen, not ever. We don’t do anything well enough here to produce a top flight batter.

All the solutions require expertise, but more importantly they require money, which we appear to not have.

In the nicest way possible, your posts depress me

Lol

Yes, Sloan.

I just want to see how we went from +$10m to -$20m in such a short space of time. The auditors should do time as well. If you’re in charge of money in Zim and you haven’t helped yourself you’re regarded with disdain because it’s your right that you’ve earned by arse licking your way into that position in the first place 😂

I think Googly sometimes misses the passion and opportunity cost side of it all.

On surface I agree with everything in the long post and it’s based in reality but a few things.

1/ most players will choose the international side of cricket wherever possible.The ones who don’t drift back are usually the ones who got burned hard, are bitter and laid roots elsewhere. You see, there’s no glory in being a paid club player. No one grows up dreaming of playing for Essex’s top club team or the manly warringah cricket club. For all but a few, the ambition and the thrill of Test cricket and a World Cup will be everything.

2/ following on, being in the top stage represents the world best exposure and opportunity cost. I’m a massive fan of Raza, but I bet you any money I have that of not for his Zimbabwe career, successes, passionate media interviews seen worldwide and what not he would only be a decent club cricketer working in his uncles kebab shop or in a pilot internship rather than playing round the world in various mid tier t20 leagues. Let’s use a fictional name for example. What sounds better for the Bangladeshi premier t20 league? ‘Jake friend who smashed his opponents last year in club cricket’ or ‘Jame Friend, Zimbabwe international who scored a fantastic match winning century against the West Indies last year’?

No one cares about you unless you are either on the world stage, or on the cusp of the world stage in a top three cricketing nation. You absolutely have to have some type of international or budding international career to be anyone in world cricket. In Australia, even a hardened cricket fan will not know your name if you’re a Sheffield shield regular but haven’t played a lot of big bash of international cricket. I think more cricket fans would know who Chisoro is than the fringe county player.

3/ I think (hope) ZC would work similar to a car yard recruiting car salesman.They’ll pay twenty guys biggish money if all 20 are worth it and bring success to the national team. As it is, you’d be paying blobs like Prince Mausvare big money for being no value add. As it is, there’s only maybe 12 guys (being generous) capable of turning a international match in this country and they are being paid accordingly. Being in centuries, wickets and wins and you’ll get your money. I do agree that talented kids need their special development but I think ZC are sorta doing it wit the RS and giving players like Murray a fast track to the international arena.

In short. Even if you are just chasing money and hate you’re own country, you’re propelled on the big stage with the mike in your hand if you stay and play for Zim as opposed to navigating the harder waters in the developed country.

Nobody is disputing the lure of international cricket, but there’s no pathway to it as school leaver. The only one they had they’ve shut down. Let’s take the next u19 team, if any good players emerge from that they’re really going to struggle to crack a FC side (forget the fact that they should be playing it beforehand!), for all the wrong reasons, then they’ve got a handful of games in a season to make their mark and then hope someone dies of old age in the national side. 8 games, weather and funds permitting, of our sub standard FC with no pay does not equip you to play international cricket, nor does it entice you to risk some years of your life with little or no pay.

That RS side was largely made up of guys that came 14th in the WC and they won our 50 over comp, that tells you how far our cricket has slumped.