The future of the coaching staff

zimbos_05 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 11:57 pm

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Which is also what I am saying with ACB. There are a lot of allegations, no concrete proof.

We'll have to see what happens come November but the ICC seems to be striking a conciliatory tone. The BCCI has also remained interestingly silent so far, whatever that means.

zimfan1 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:57 am

Rajput has signed a new contract to the end of 2023 :(

https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/rajput-stays-put

That won't go down well with Williams and Raza and probably quite a few others who have chosen not to say anything.

No coach has really managed to even vaguely arrest our inexorable demise so you can't lay that wholly on his doorstep, but it's not good news. He seems absent half the time, endorses the flawed thought processes of management and clearly is at loggerheads with a few of our senior players.

I was hoping Dave Houghton may be next in the firing line, because he does know what he's doing and may have made a difference, principally because he may have caused a couple of overseas players to consider their options at some point.

To me this smacks of a gamble that the young guns are going to come good, that's a go big or go home bet.

I wrote that before I read that article, even the sympathetic sports writers think the same.

Probably the end of Willliams and SRB when their contracts are up. I'm sure Slug would rather be on the golf course too, but he seems to be ploughing on for now.

I think thats the end of any prospect of any overseas guys coming back in the next two years as well.

He must be cheap. Thats the only thing I can think. He must be.

He's saying he's been following the Logan Cup and is excited about emerging talent?

Is this the first time he's had a look? 😂 was he just working with people delivered to his net prior to that?

That smacks of desperation more than anything. Does he just read the post match stats or has he actually been present?

Unfortunately players doing well in our sub-standard Logan Cup is no great indication of anything. How does a player who's had a good run in 4 day franchise cricket and who we've probably seen for many years now suddenly have the goods to excel on the international stage?

Will they give these guys a run or will we see the same old faces? Our FC players suffer from lapses of form and nobody seems to be able to get any sort of consistency together at all, so will a guy who posts 3 decent scores get a shot? We're in danger of shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.

The only thing I'm sure about is that it was a monumental blunder not replacing him with DH.

Googly wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:58 am

He's saying he's been following the Logan Cup and is excited about emerging talent?

Is this the first time he's had a look? 😂 was he just working with people delivered to his net prior to that?

That smacks of desperation more than anything. Does he just read the post match stats or has he actually been present?

Unfortunately players doing well in our sub-standard Logan Cup is no great indication of anything. How does a player who's had a good run in 4 day franchise cricket and who we've probably seen for many years now suddenly have the goods to excel on the international stage?

Will they give these guys a run or will we see the same old faces? Our FC players suffer from lapses of form and nobody seems to be able to get any sort of consistency together at all, so will a guy who posts 3 decent scores get a shot? We're in danger of shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.

The only thing I'm sure about is that it was a monumental blunder not replacing him with DH.

He’s definitely not present. He didn’t attend a single domestic match in his first year or two. Last year he did only because he got stuck in Zim because of Covid and unable to get back to India.

Now he’s back to normal, living permanently in Mumbai, appearing daily on Indian TV as a cricket pundit during the World Cup. Whilst presumably still picking up his ‘full time’ salary from ZC ffs.

The fact that I could probably give a better insight into the first three rounds of the Logan Cup than our actual national team coach is a joke.

He’ll fly in 3 days before the Afghanistan series and then you can bet your bottom dollar he’ll be on the first flight out again when the series ends. This is an insane situation. What must the players think of this level of commitment?

The only comforting thing I can think of is that possibly Houghton has spoken with him, been impressed, and green lighted his contract extension maybe? In Dave we trust?

It's a win win for DH. He didn't get the national coaching job, which I don't think he would have turned down, but in Rajput's long absences he will probably essentially be the caretaker. On a sinking ship you don't try and save the day, you get a spot by the life raft.

This is such disappointing news, man.

Rajput will probably be a cheap option, but the fact that he's essentially a part-time yes man with no real interest or attachment to our cricket is why he's been given another go.

Houghton was instrumental in getting us on the map, if you were to ever choose anyone to fight for our survival it would have been him. Fuuuuuck!!!!!!

Marumani would need to make some big changes to hope to be successful internationally. As I said, a good hand eye is a prerequisite at that level, not a blessing. They just don't bowl too many hit me balls. He hits them well though.

It's early days to say the other two have come good. This Afghanistan series will be a good test for them. A good innings from Wes and everyone thinks he's the saviour of our cricket, then a good innings from Milton and Wes is forgotten about and Milton is the flavour of the month. That's a mix of hope and lack of knowledge and a bit of an agenda from some fans and Admin. A series against a decent side where the opposition really pays attention how to bowl at them will be revealing. I like the way they both play though, and Shumba's composure in that T20 was damned good. There's definitely renewed interest when you see a couple of young guys with potential that have been given opportunities, we haven't had that for years.

Googly wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:53 am

Marumani would need to make some big changes to hope to be successful internationally. As I said, a good hand eye is a prerequisite at that level, not a blessing. They just don't bowl too many hit me balls. He hits them well though.

Yeah. He's a great athlete though - bit of a freak. At U19's he smashed everyone at any fitness tests or fitness work. Natural athlete. And when he connects he really connects. We saw that in the domestic T20 last season - he was incredible to watch. He's very obviously lacking a brain though. Some of his shots at national level have been mega retarded. But this is exactly where a coach comes in. I doubt he'll ever be a Test player obviously, but he could be a really important part of our T20 side offering something that no one else in the country can. He definitely has the potential to be an upgraded better version of Cephas. But watching him for the past six months it's been really obvious he has no coaching or support or anything. Only in Zim would you have better coaching and facilities in your school than you do in your senior national team 😂

So is Rajput (and Matsi) the person who is going to make the changes to his game and exploit his potential? Almost certainly not.

Thats why this is so frustrating. We've been blessed with a group of good youngsters, quite miraculously. Rajput has contributed a grand sum of f**k all to their development but no doubt has got a contract extension based on their emergence.

A good coach who is actually of international quality might be actually able to mould these youngsters into consistent international performers and maybe we could actually make some progress as a team. Aside from the youngsters we all talk about, it's also worth noting that quite a few other unexpected young or youngish players have been doing well in the Logan Cup as well, not just the usual old names. A good coach would have quite a bit to work with. It's interesting times. And with ZC relatively stable-ish at the moment I think the job would appeal to quite a lot of coaches around the world right now.

Also has no one even noticed that Rajput has achieved extremely little in his entire coaching career?

He was the team manager - not coach - when India won the first T20 world cup in 2007. But remember T20 was all a bit of a laugh and a joke then anyway. And he wasn't even a coach. And it was 14 years ago. Since then he's spent most of his time organising fixtures as a secretary in Mumbai and as a spokesperson for the Mumbai cricket association. He had a short stint with Afghanistan when they couldn't hire anyone else at the time. They binned him off pretty quickly too.

How has he actually managed to get a job with a Test playing full member as Head Coach? And how after dismal results for three years has he now managed an extension ffs?

Maybe he's got some incriminating photos of Takemore and Mukuhlani playing with each other in a back room at the ZC offices or something. 😂 :o

And our two talent scouts will be scouring the country yet we have a really talented lad that can lace it and he's probably not being given much additional coaching.

So "finding" someone and then doing what with them?

Clearly depositing them in our FC system is nowhere near enough.

Tina09 was saying Shumba is the cleanest hitter, I'd say Marumani probably is.

Donald wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 11:57 am

Anyone want to place any bets on any of the 2022 under 19s being in the full Zimbabwe squad in next 18 months?

Maybe a Bawa or Welch for example?

I'd be surprised if any of the top 6 stuck around. I hope I'm wrong.

Bhawa is at Eastbourne, which almost certainly means he will have the option to enrol in a UK University if he passes moderately well, plus his old school mate, Myers, is now at Uni. He probably knew from the outset that his cricketing opportunities were limited because of the regs so you'd have to think he's also looking at tertiary education.

I see he's been in a couple of these U19 games when presumably he should have been at school, which does cast some doubt as to what his plans are, he clearly wants to be a part of the u19 squad which means he will be missing at least another month of school next year. Anybody's guess.

Saul and wollhutter look good on paper. They worth a punt in a franchise game?