Zimbos in UK 2018 Season

I think out of any team sport, cricket is the one with the most biased selections. Plus on any given day a talented guy can fail and a lesser player can have a good game.

You hear and see of a player getting his shot and grabbing it, but the reality is there’s a bit of luck involved in that scenario. I can’t imagine the pressure at International level for a newbie. They would have spent years getting themselves into that position and then they know that they’ve basically only got a few tries to make an impact.

The list of guys who’ve failed at the last hurdle when they’re probably good enough is long. I really rate Ballance, but he’s yesterday’s news for England. It would take an extraordinary set of circumstances for him to get another look in. Probably the same for Cartwright in Australia. Those two would be mighty handy in our side.

zimbos_05 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 1:04 pm

All these players who are moving to play in the UK, are they giving up on Zim or is Zim just not making any effort to include them in a set up that could see them play International cricket?

I find it hard to believe that all these guys would turn their back on International cricket and think they could all crack in to Englands squad. So there must be some total disconnect from ZC to these players.

I think they have to be realistic about university if they have that option. Once they’re done with Uni most have stopped playing cricket and want to make some money.

Even for a youngster keen on cricket Zim is tough. The franchises don’t pay, they don’t play enough quality cricket either. Zim doesn’t have much going for it.

Their only option would possibly be to target a couple of the players and “fast track” them and dangle a carrot if they perceive them to be good enough. That’s effectively trying to compress a 3-4 year growth into 12-18 months.

Someone would have to be exceptional to rise to that challenge, then they’d be left with the uncertainty that is ZC and our cricket. That’s now uncertainty from both sides. A prime example is Murray- he’s clearly been offered this option and it looks like he’s asked for a rain check whilst he gets a degree under his belt. Believe me, Murray has a lot of work to do batting-wise before he’s close to becoming a replacement for BT.

Plus there’s no guarantee you’re going to play for Zim, there are some good players here, they might not be setting the world stage alight, but trust me they’re good, it’s all about levels. They’re after someone who can be better than our existing players and to get there within a year, that’s like winning the lotto.

One of the problems is that the difference between players is often subjective, it’s a game of millimeters.

No one has seen King for a while, so it’s hard to know how he’s playing.

I really like Brad Evans’ bowling, but he played here for a few games and didn’t do much, but he is good.

Matigimu is definitely a guy to take a look at, but they feel they’re ok in the seam dept so he’s not a priority, definitely an oversight as he’s got an X factor.

Byrom is not worth approaching, he’s currently ok. One crap season in County and he won’t be though, it’s cut throat out there. I’d think he’s going to do well though. He played a few games here, did well in one and not so much in the other few he played. I think the disjointed season and possible lack of payment probably means we won’t see him again. ZC weaving their magic.

Welch is close to qualifying and has done some hard yards there and is looking at Uni this year. He needs a huge season in two’s to get a sniff, when regular games are not even a guarantee. He had a decent season last year, I suspect he’s going to have a great one this year, he’s matured and knows his game a lot better. Under tough in the dictionary there’s a picture of this lad. Hard as nails.

I’m not sure why, but I think we may see Lake back here. If he’s finished uni he’s got nothing to lose by heading home and seeing if he can make an impact before the WC, unless he’s doing time for a passport and can’t afford the time away? This guy can really play. In terms of talent with the bat he’s right out there, talent is not everything though, if he were to knuckle down and do some work he’d be a serious player, both with bat and ball. When he’s striking it well he’s bloody good to watch, has no idea how to grind out an innings though. If he woke up the one day and decided to do something with the monumental talent he’d been blessed with he’d become a good international.

aydee wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 1:24 pm

sloandog wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:41 am

Googly wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:36 am

I haven’t really seen enough of him to have an opinion.

He’s got some decent bowling stats and can clout a ball, but that’s all I really know.

I thought he was part of this Rising Stars tour??

Either he’s pulled out of it or it means it’s no longer happening.

Either way not great.

The Rising Stars looked very organised last summer

Quite the opposite of this, I think. Rising Stars don't play on Saturdays, and encourage their guys to find club deals to play in Saturday leagues. Many of last years intake did this, eg Burl and Mashinge. I think the reason that Roche has got a gig at club like Liverpool is precisely because of his link with the Rising Stars, and the agency they use.

Ok, makes sense.

This is where cricket seems so archaic. Why can't guys play in England or anywhere and still be selected for Zimbabwe? Why can't cricket just work like football, rugby, basketball, ice hockey, etc?

That most affects the West Indians and South Africans I guess. Their boards have adopted a hard line stance.

Other nations are flexible. There’s seasonal overlap now as there’s so much cricket played so the internationals obviously have to be able to drop what they’re doing and make themselves available for national duty.

England was always the go to place for the Southern Hemisphere lads, but they’ve tightened up and everyone is squealing, but the reality is that the most other nations are not that welcoming either. If Zim were more organized there would be so much latitude for reciprocity that would benefit us immensely. Another thing ZC really needs to look into.

I think people have got the wrong end of the stick, Roche like Schadendorf have signed for clubs in Liverpool as they will be joining the Rising Stars. The squad for the 2018 tour will be announced this week.

zimfan1 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:38 pm

I think people have got the wrong end of the stick, Roche like Schadendorf have signed for clubs in Liverpool as they will be joining the Rising Stars. The squad for the 2018 tour will be announced this week.

Now there's some good news. Straight away we have a couple of potential future national batters in the squad! Brilliant. So not just a team full of bowlers like last summer

So really the ECB needs to lift its one foreign player per team rule for things to change? Is that rule even legal under EU law, or are Dutch, Irish cricketers exempt from the foreign quota? Of course I know about Brexit so this will be a moot point soon anyway. I just know that EU law is often cited as to why football leagues can't put a limit on EU-foreigners.

To be honest our domestic structure would be best served by entering 2-3 teams in the second tier South African Sunfoil Cup and having a Zimbabwe team play in the top tier Sunfoil Series (Currie Cup).

It would be excellent except for the travel expense and time away. Zim players would have to get used to playing two weeks Ina row. There's more likelihood of the Zambian space program putting a man on Mars than ZC being able to successfully organise this. Obviously it opens up opportunities for theft so it may be considered.

There are problems with this idea. Firstly we have to keep our FC facade going or we don’t tick the boxes for test status. If they started sending sides down there our FC system would be further weakened. It’s a measure of desperation from the players to think “well maybe we will miraculously improve if we play over there!” CSA may consider a team in the lower tier but they’d probably not agree to one in the upper one. There’s nothing in it for them, it would just be to help us and they’d need a guarantee that we would complete the season. Neither of those are likely.

The standard of our cricket would be shown up. In an ailing South African structure we’d be the whipping boys and that would not be a good look with ICC when it came time for review.

Our players also like the idea because they think ZC would pay attention and support them more and pay them a liveable salary and it’s something different and exciting, which it is, but it’s guaranteed there would be the usual headaches and at some point they’d be stranded somewhere with no money. You stage a strike there because of rhe inevitable non payment and they would kick us out immediately. We can’t complete a season of List A, FC or club cricket right here in our back yard, we can’t spread ourselves even thinner.