UK PLayers in Zim?

PieChucker wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 3:44 pm

I notice that there are a couple of UK players who have made appearances in the Logan Cup and other domestic competitions? How does this work? Does anyone have a working knowledge of how this is arranged.

My reason for asking is there is a youngster who was born in Zim, currently playing at the Loughborough Academy and doing very well, he is interested in playing in Zim but doesn't know how to go about it.

Any suggestions of who he could approach?

Naqvi Offshore Recruitment Centre

I don't think it will be easy now that the season has started. I think you approach the coaches of the various franchises?

The U.K.-based Zimbos currently playing in Zim/recently returned to Zim being Nick Welch, Dane and Jayden Schadendorf and Ben Curran. The first three grew up and played a lot of cricket here before going to the U.K., and Curran obviously has family links, so they will all have many contacts here.

Who’s the lad at Loughborough? He’s probably missed the boat for this season in all honesty as the season is underway.

If he’s not a known name then he will probably have to start out trying to play some club cricket here and do the hard yards, either in the Harare league or eventually the NPL club league although that has finished for the year. Then you perform well, lick a few boots and behave yourself and you might be allowed to train with a franchise (first class) squad and get noticed.

If his intention is to try and play professionally in the U.K. then he needs to be wary of playing First Class cricket here. Effectively you have to play as an ‘Overseas’ here to not impact your county eligibility in the U.K. E.g. Dane is currently

Playing here as an Overseas.

He’s have to be pretty good (or willing to make a Naqvi style donation 😂 ) to play as on overseas here!

Alistair Frost is a very recent Loughborough graduate, I believe? He played a couple of games in Zim last year (although he’s now trying to play for Ireland).

He may be able to help a fellow Loughborough player out with some contacts.

Russell Cobb is their coach. He'd know where Zimbabwe was if there was a map of Zim on the wine bottle he was drinking.

Pat_Bee wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 4:49 pm

Why don’t the Loughborough staff know the score already? You’d think they’d have connections or knowledge at least.

I’m pretty sure someone in the Loughborough setup would know Houghton’s phone number.

Has to be Don Butchart. His dad surely knows who's who here in Zim. I've seen him play a couple of times. He's OK, certainly has the genes.

Best bet for the current season would be to try and get in touch with Campbell or Brent and play a few games for Rangers in the club comp.

And build your network whilst here, ahead of the next NPL season next year.

Interesting, that’s a name I haven’t heard before!! Like I say he’d probably have to do the hard yards and work up from club cricket and make some connections. But if you back yourself to perform and can tough it out there are rewards like

Professional and international cricket available here that in hindsight are easier to come by than they are in England.

Do keep us updated on his progress and if he does find a way to come over and play!

There was a Paul Pistorius from Prince Edward that was a decent seamer and a good sportsman, wonder if Josh is related.

I see he's a Kirsten Academy coach as well. Clearly he knows he's fighting an uphill struggle trying to make his way in SA.

Zim needs to not get a rep for getting guys trying to make their way at our expense. We want established good overseas guys coming here or if they've got some Zim heritage should they be able to breeze in and out hoping for a blinder of a season to benefit them elsewhere? How does that help us?

A Zim-born (and therefore eligible) UK-based player wanting to play in Zim.

Well the actual thread is probably about anyone with zim heritage playing anywhere else or not even playing at all but could potentially add something of value to our system.

I'm sure there are some sharp South African guys that could claim ancestry that nobody knows about. The number of people originally from here is astonishing.

The two most well known are probably Markram and Dale Steyn.

There is actually a real prospect down there called Dean Gibbs. He played some age group stuff here, family moved to SA when he was about 14 (?) and narrowly missed out on SA u19 for the usual beautiful reason. If he came back here for a couple of franchise seasons I'd almost guarantee he'd do very well. Top 5 batter and an even better seamer.

I would think he's in one of their franchise Academies. I mean he's really good.