Post by foreignfield in Twenty20 tourney marks cricket league resumption

ZCF Hall of Famer

31 Jan 2014 08:08 (UTC)

Opening post

Twenty20 tourney marks cricket league resumption

January 31, 2014 Sport

Lovemore Banda

Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter

THE Twenty20 tournament expected to run from February 4-9 in Harare will mark the resumption of the domestic cricket league.

Financial problems bedeviling Zimbabwe Cricket led to a standstill with players refusing to play the sport after spending the festive holidays without getting their salaries and outstanding allowances.

The players even declined to attend training sessions with some franchises resuming to “voluntary training sessions.”

Matabeleland Tuskers chief executive officer Stan Staddon told Chronicle Sport yesterday morning that they are waiting for ZC to communicate with them on the dates for the Twenty20 competition.

“It seems there is a glimmer of hope as we have been advised that the league will resume with a Twenty20 tournament in Harare. This is good for the cricketers because some have been training on their own during this trying period and are eager to get into the field.

“There are no dates yet but according to the calendar the Twenty20 competition is supposed to start on February 4 and end on February 9. However, we are waiting for ZC to inform us on the actual dates,” said Staddon.

ZC is hard-pressed to have the Twenty20 competition because it is after this tournament that they are going to come up with their final 15 players to represent the country at the fifth edition of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, which will be held in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 6.

ZC selectors retained most of the players that have been regulars in the national team, including captain Brendan Taylor who is among the players who downed tools in the domestic league over outstanding salaries expected to lead the team to Asia.

Other senior players that were shortlisted in the provisional squad include Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Matabeleland Tuskers’ Charles Coventry who has been playing club cricket outside the country and seamer Brian Vitori are in the 30-man group.

Hard-hitter Hamilton Masakadza, Matabeleland Tuskers captain Sean Williams, top order batsman Vusumuzi Sibanda and spin bowler Prosper Utseya are in the list provided by ZC.

Matabeleland Tuskers’ pace bowler Tawanda Mupariwa has bounced back into the national team set up and is one of the many players who are targeting the domestic Twenty20 tournament as a platform to impress selectors.

Speaking from his Harare base yesterday, ZC media and communications manager Lovemore Banda said they were waiting for the ZC leadership to return from Dubai last night before announcing the dates of the domestic competition.

“It is true that the Twenty20 competition will mark the resumption of the league and we should be having the tournament’s dates on Monday. ZC still has to speak to the players’ representatives and franchises about the developments.

“There is no way that we cannot hold this tournament because we have to come up with the final team that will travel for the March ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh,” Banda said.

ZCF Hall of Famer

31 Jan 2014 09:00 (UTC)

Hopefully the boys get paid and we see some cricket I'm dying to see the boys in action so we can talk about cricket and not administration ......

Legend

31 Jan 2014 09:05 (UTC)

jaybro wrote:Hopefully the boys get paid and we see some cricket I'm dying to see the boys in action so we can talk about cricket and not administration ......

Amen to that.

ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer

03 Feb 2014 05:41 (UTC)

So what are the odds we will see any cricket next week? As good as 50-50? What do you guys think?

The Third Innings

ZCF Hall of Famer

04 Feb 2014 21:43 (UTC)

They are resuming partially on the promise of payment next week. Why not this week or wait until they see the money? The next reason is that time is really running out to get back into the swing of things. This is where the senior players, coaches and administrators have used their influence once again. The reality is that a poor showing at WC will be disastrous and this fact has been used to good effect. I know there is a big split amongst the players with a core of players wanting to wait to see the money. I'm on the fence with this one. What I don't understand is why ICC are agreeing to fund the current ZC admin when their track record is so poor. What ZC have been good at is keeping any ICC reps that visit here away from people that could say anything really damaging. These representatives have never appeared to be that interested in speaking to anyone that does not have anything to lose in speaking some cold hard truths. I honestly don't believe they know half of what has gone on. They are on the ropes and it would have been possible to insist on some meaningful changes. There's certainly a lot going on behind the scenes, that much is obvious. The truth is that we no longer have the infrastructure or the numbers to effectively compete with the top 8 and we are stuck in no man's land between the big guns and the affiliates. The slide down to affiliate level is absolutely inevitable. The lack of depth at schoolboy level has become really noticeable over the last couple of years as well. We are on a steep downward spiral and I don't see anything saving Zim cricket. I feel very sorry for the good senior players that deserve better and even more so for the youngsters (and there's a small dedicated core of them) that have really put in the hard yards over the years for what appears to be a bleak future.

ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer

05 Feb 2014 00:43 (UTC)

God lighten up bro

Twenty20 tourney marks cricket league resumption

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