Nick welch

The Robot wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:48 am

Not only them, Zim needs Jonathan Colony, Kevin Dollar, Liam Roche, Michael Lake, Kevin Bowie, James Ives, Walter Matigamu, Wesley Snyder, Luke Oldknow....these are all future stars of Zim, who can lift ranking from 11 to top 5 in all formats of the game

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:22 pm

lobsang wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:03 am

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:43 am

We all agree all four they’ve got huge amounts of talent.

But will they really fulfill it if the system continues to be populated by poor coaches - including batting coaches that never scored a century in their lives? Under par administrators and a corrupt board? A weak domestic system and a continued loss of other players, lack of competition for places etc, the general toxic environment or ZC and the general economic environment of zimbabwe?

Well I agree with you on all those things that is related to ZC and the coaches. In spite of the incompetent board and clueless coaches, I do really believe that a player with natural or exceptional potential can achieve big things without having a so-called "good coach". They already have the understanding of the basics or the fundamentals of the game and all they have to do now is to work real hard on their game with or without proper coaches. Rashid Khan, Eoin Morgan, Nabi, Lamichane and Mujeeb are few examples of players achieving big at the highest level without any proper coaches in their formative years.

I do really believe that Zimbabwe, being a long time test playing nation without any of its players getting opportunities in lucrative T20 leagues like IPL and BBL tells me that there is something seriously wrong with the players themselves, be it their will or passion to strive to better their games. We can not always put the blame on the coaches or the board.

On that last paragraph, I think one of the reasons not too many Zimbos get as many opportunities overseas is that Zim are always the whipping boys. Zim players are used to defeat and they play in a losing culture. A T20 franchise needs winners. As good as 1 players individual performance may be for Zimbabwe, people overseas look at the rankings and look at us losing tests in 2/3 days consistently and therefore instantly label all Zimbos as being not good enough and as being losers.

And the point you make about players not wanting to improve or further themselves....you are right, but I’d say that is mainly because of the board and the system and the country etc. We lack strength in depth so someone can come along and average 20-25 and be guaranteed a place in the team for years. We play little cricket and few domestic matches so the chance to further themselves and improve isn’t always available anyway. The senior players - even someone like Chakabva and probably Wes already - are on extremely good salaries (by Zimbabwe’s economic standards) and guaranteed to get their contracts renewed no matter what they do. It’s comfortable. The system is too comfortable for established players because the depth domestically is so low. Also because we accept low standards and low averages and are constantly apparently ‘rebuilding’ which gives players endless amount of time to keep plodding along without really feeling under pressure to improve. ZC seems to value mediocrity.

Googly wrote: ↑Thu Sep 23, 2021 4:12 am

Stanlake is 6ft 8 and bowls 150 kph accurately, he's amongst the top fast and nasties on the planet.