Alistair Campbell HPP

Stop calling this s**t ‘academies’ and call it what it is, private coaching.

I think Oz has 2 academies or so supporting a 24 million population.

Zimbabwe have 4 supporting a cricket community of 600.

Chiradza and Chitumba are ok. I thought Dollar was at Uni? I will find out. I’ve watched him a bit, tough guy, plays with hard hands and goes too hard at the ball, he was in the last u19 squad.

If Makoni Jr is in that side then it’s fully endorsed by ZC.

They had some sort of trial for the last intake so I’m assuming that didn’t happen this time around.

I wonder what the last intake will be up to? That’s the problem, they’re improving a few guys that are fairly limited and then there’s nothing for them after this because we really need that 5th franchise.

That academy is expensive, but I’m glad to see Brent half way back in the system because he has much to offer.

There’s a funny clip on twitter of one of the guys trying to balance on a gym ball and catch at the same time. That guy was so bad at it that it looked like a bar game and he’d just slugged a bottle of vodka 😂

Well they’ve just taken Taibu’s plan and handed it to Campbell who runs it long distance and Brent is the man on the ground.

Gary Brent is such a hard working passionate guy, I have great admiration for him.

Having this as the 5th franchise is a big plus, but it excludes the other guys who did well in the Rising Stars set up. I can’t name any offhand.

Watch Brent make these guys competitive next season.

The way this country is headed we’ll be lucky to even be here. No fuel, no electricity and no hope at the moment.

Interesting indeed

Yeah good stuff seeing BT play with the young fellas, smart move by who ever thought of it

I've been following the 'Rangers' as they seem to be known as on crichq.com, they seem to be playing a lot of matches although thus far no one seems to be making a lot of runs or taking a bucket full of wickets. Reminds me of a club side where everyone is chipping in for a few runs and bowling some overs

ACHPP v Harare Select https://www.crichq.com/matches/790567/1st_innings

ACHPP v ACHPP :shock: https://www.crichq.com/matches/778610/1st_innings

ACHPP v Takashinga https://www.crichq.com/matches/780062/1st_innings

ACHPP v Zimbabwe U19s https://www.crichq.com/matches/779639/1st_innings

ACHPP v Harare Select https://www.crichq.com/matches/775666/1st_innings

ACHPP v Harare Select https://www.crichq.com/matches/775489/1st_innings

ACHPP v Harare Select https://www.crichq.com/matches/774473/1st_innings

ACHPP v Bill Flower Academy https://www.crichq.com/matches/766820/1st_innings

They've been playing steadily for a while now but these are the most recent matches they've played

Thanks for digging those up.

Jemisi wrote: ↑Fri Nov 15, 2019 1:34 am

Thanks for digging those up.

No problem

It’s encouraging to know there’s some cricket being played

I think the term academy is used loosely.

Privately paid coaching feels more apt to me.

ZC stumped up for the Campbell Academy recruits. I’m sure they will do no such thing for Taibu’s academy.

These academies worldwide are prohibitively expensive. The good ones have damned good coaches and programs.

Anyone with money to enroll is more likely to go to an Australian, South African or English one. It’s unfair because I’ve heard GB is doing an outstanding job.

The one upside to joining the Campbell Academy is that it’s a direct entry into the FC system here, which is unheard of anywhere else, it’s an anomaly which only our broken system could offer. I’m not sure whether that will ever convince anyone with means to stay here though.

The first thing anyone with money for their kids is going to do is send them to Uni. You would need a healthy system and then the AC academy would be a real option, but with a healthy system academy boys wouldn’t be good enough for FC, a catch 22.

What Campbell probably should have tried to do is to make a deal with a couple of northern hemisphere sides like Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland to get a couple of their really good youngsters over here for a winter academy for free as a form of advertising. I have no doubt that Brent would make them a lot better and within a couple of years these countries would pay to send players. The problem is you’re competing with Kirsten Academy and a couple of the Aussie ones. The carrot would be some FC games though.

If I’m not mistaken I believe there were one or two English kids from the first intake? The name Sam Perry rings a bell

I think you’re right about the direct entry into first class cricket will be a massive carrot for AC to attract overseas talent

While I have you on the subject Googly, have you seen or heard much about this intake? Are any of these guys improving? Can we expect any internationals from this group?

Someone posted their results on the forum. I haven’t had a really good look. I’d heard they had a seamer with some promise and a batter. Anyone with real promise would stick out like a dog’s ball here and would be spoken about. The fact is you need to be a superstar here in Zim to even have half a chance of being a decent international. I guess that applies to any system, but more so here. If you’re not plundering runs or wickets here then you’ve got f%#* all chance of doing it in a competitive environment.

I just don’t see how a top batsman can materialize from relative obscurity. By the time they’re in their 20’s how are you going to have a really top batter if he hasn’t been plundering for years at schoolboy level? Maybe you can, I just don’t know if any.

People talk about Myers here, and I’ve seen him play. He’s a really good player, but we’re comparing him to others here and some fairly ordinary bowling most of the time. How would he fare against top opposition? We’ll see in the u19 WC soon enough. If he’s like 99% of the other good guys we’ve produced over the last 10 years or so, he’ll be a bit inconsistent and will struggle initially to make the step up. It’s that last step that seems to elude most