Wunderkid Welch sets Logan Cup alight

I had heard he was going to take up a scholarship in the UK. Could be wrong however.

Maybe Googly would know ??

Scholarship to England. If you want to become a resident/citizen (not sure which??) apparently if you are there before 18 it cuts it down to 4 years so there is a big incentive to get there prior to that. Clearly he wants to make a living from it and it's not really an option here. The fact is that all school leavers, both black and white, can't wait to get out of here, whether they are cricketers or not because you cant even get a job here. A lowly club cricketer apparently earns more than our franchise players, perhaps even our national players. I'm not sure if he will be integrated into any academy stuff if he's not English. Once you crack that and play age group county you are up and running, but don't think Zimbos are eligible?

The only cricketers that stay here after school are kids that did not do well enough in exams or lack the opportunity for tertiary education. Essentially the economy pushes them away before ZC even gets an opportunity to treat them poorly.

If you chat to any of the franchise guys, not many hail from private school backgrounds or have well off parents or they quite simply probably wouldn't be here. It's all a giant f%*& up actually. The better schoolboy cricketers often come from the private schools and most have other opportunities that look more enticing than our cricket, hence we lose so many good players the day school finishes. The step to franchise is too big for most, but a gifted few. If ZC had some sort of repricosity (sp?) program instead of trashing players intent on leaving they would fare better. It would be easy to two places per franchise for English players on the condition that their clubs helped ours. Our franchise would be stronger and we would have players over there getting great exposure. The chance you take is them not coming back, but they need to show some goodwill.

That's way too lateral for ZC but it would really work. Detractors would say that we are denying our players two spots per team, but benefits outweigh this. it's not dissimilar to the argument at County where each can now only field one overseas player. This is a big blunder on their part, in my opinion, it weakens their game, not strengthens it.

What happened to ZC scholarships, I'm sure they used to exist? I'm sure Hick went over on one, maybe I'm mistaken.

The fact is this- many players just want to make a good living....and quite a few think they are the next English hopefuls with the real big bucks. If they are really good and do make a County side the chances are slim of making the English side because as a foreign born player you generally have to be twice as good to be given the nod. If Zim had a few guys over there playing County and gaining experience, the lure of International cricket would eventually bring them back, much like Johnson and Goodwin. It's such an emotive topic that usually has a racial slant but it just need not be so. Murray Goodwin would still be playing for us if he had just been treated fairly. Not many of our guys are now actually good enough to play County Firsts, which is quite scary.

Googly wrote:If they are really good and do make a County side the chances are slim of making the English side because as a foreign born player you generally have to be twice as good to be given the nod.

I.E Mr Ballance.

Well that's a real bloody shame that is about Eddie Byrom. When I spoke to Robin Brown he told me that this guy had potential to be better than Andy Flower, so evidently there is talent there! Possibly the biggest understatement in ZCF history actually if he's being compared to Zimbabwe's golden man.

all is not lost he may well come back once he has finished Uni if there is a stable set up .....

Big if .....