jaybro wrote: I just think it takes away from international sport when people make comments like that about representing a country you have no links to ....
It's a bit of a joke if national representation comes down to 'who pays best' but I am truly ambivalent - and vaguely curious - about the whole migration thing:
not Jarvis' case in particular; at a micro level it's understandable - and easily moved on from for me, but, from my experience, having moved off the farm after school, and getting caught up in a political battleground in the workplace which resulted in fairly high level politicians (well, one in particular) orchestrating the intimidation of witnesses (and myself) by police, which led to me losing my job, home and ultimately my meagre life in Zim. The feeling of immediate and complete helplessness against impunitive authority is acute (my family had emigrated already [though some have since returned] - I had chosen not to leave - and I had no 'union', nor skills/education of any kind really), but ancestry (even if it's some generations old, as in my case, and my work was cut out to get ILR) gives you a 'safe' back-door get-out.
Leaving was genuinely the last thing I wanted to do but it was my only immediate option and not being in the public eye, I could not be judged on how gracefully I responded ...
I am not claiming to be right (nor am I in any way justifying ZC) but giving my opinion, and that is that these cricketers leaving Zim should be graceful - it's not like he was getting nothing out of representing Zim (nor are the players the only ones suffering at ZC); those offers you talk of Eugene did not come out of nowhere - nor do we really know why he turned them down; offer not good enough!? Maybe NZ was not for him and he was holding out, 'using' ZC ... and the very fact he had choices stands him apart from many 'pushed' into the diaspora ... and those (like myself) lucky enough to have - even while feeling pushed out - at least one positive option in leaving, still had/have much to thank Zim (despite its many faults!!) for!
As for the next lot of defections - one has to assume it's finite ... or at least ZC is in the end-days...one way or the other things will have to take a turn