Zimbabwe: World Cup Debacle Exposes Rot in Local Cricket

Kevin Mapasure

11 March 2011

WHILE most cricket enthusiasts were expecting the national side to perform miracles at the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup, their pathetic performance is evidence of the current hopelessness of the sport in the country.

Cricket was once the most successful sporting discipline in Zimbabwe and carried the country’s flag with pride. At one point, cricket fever gripped the country and youngsters could be seen playing the game around the townships using tennis balls and bricks as stumps after the national team’s decent performance at the 1999 and 2003 World Cups.

Zimbabwe managed to advance from the preliminary round to qualify for the prestigious Super 6 stage after some heroic performances against some of the best players the sport has produced.

Even though they could not go beyond the Super 6 stage, they returned home with their heads held high to a warm reception from sport-mad fans. They even gained new converts as most sport-loving fans turned to cricket for solace after years of heartbreaks caused by disappointing performances by the national soccer and rugby teams.

In fact, rugby had disappeared off the radar of the sport-loving public into oblivion and soccer was standing on its last legs.

Just when people began to embark more on outdoor events, cricket began to blossom.

While the legendary master batsman Dave Houghton had hung his bat before the turn of the century, other players had filled his place with near distinction.

Who can forget the swashbuckling batting of the national cricket team’s former captain, wicketkeeper and batsman Andy Flower? Flower was a seasoned batsman who could stand his ground in the middle against any top bowler. It’s no wonder Flower is now the coach of the English national side.

Then there was his brother Grant Flower, Alistair Campbell, Mark Vermeulen, Stuart Carlisle and Andy Blignaut. These were batsmen, who on their day could carry the bat with amazing ability.

On attack, there was fast bowler Heath Streak, Henry Olonga, Mpumelelo Mbangwa and spin bowler Ray Price. This team kept the stands at the Harare Sports Club full whenever there was an international game in session.

Having reached its pinnacle, the cricket side spectacularly collapsed in 2004 when a few players formed a rebel force against the sport’s administration in the country. Cricket authorities viewed this as a political statement and fired the lot.

A young team of inexperienced players was assembled and after a few embarrassing defeats, the ICC subsequently stripped the country of its Test status until such a time that marked improvement was made. However, after many one day matches and pro-20 matches the team is yet to emerge from hopelessness.

Taking into account their timid display at the World Cup, it’s hard to see where the kind of opposition required to boost the team’s self-belief will come from.

This current crop of players is still a long way from competing on the grand stage despite having shown strides ahead of associate member nations. They look so clueless and are poor in all departments.

One wonders what these players have been doing in the six years. When they were first thrust into the national setup, they showed a lot of promise, but that is how it has remained to date. In the name of a song by the famous reggae band UB 40, this current crop of players has shown a lot of “promises and lies”.

Former batsman Carlisle summed it all up when he rightly pointed out that some of the players in the team are just not good enough to play at top level.

“Some of the guys in the team are not good enough. We have Price and Utseya doing well but that’s as much as we have. We had Tatenda Taibu and Sean Ervine doing well the other day but I felt they should have got hundreds.

I don’t think they realise how lucky they are to be playing international cricket. It doesn’t seem like they understand the value of a century at international level. There is just nothing exciting about some of our players. Things are just not clicking and they are not looking like a team,” said Carlisle.

Former Mashonaland Eagles opening batsman Nick Compton said that Zimbabwe Cricket has to spend a lot more money in exposing players to tougher competition.

“I think the intensity of the domestic cricket is not high enough and they should be sent to the UK and other places when they are off season to play and train. For me, this is where the money should be spent because some of the players look good when they play in the Zimbabwe league but find it tough at international level because it’s a different proposition all-together,” Compton said.

One more uncomfortable truth that has been laid bare is that there might just be something wrong at administration level.

It’s been seven years since the “rebels” left and still Zimbabwe has not been able build a competitive side.

ZC managing director Ozias Bvute said he was not disappointed with the World Cup results because the players had not been exposed to the best teams since they were confined to playing associate nations and Bangladesh in the last few years.

“Realistically, we are still a few years from producing a team that can consistently compete at the top level and we are looking at about three to five years. We are working on developing structures that will strengthen the domestic league so that it can feed into the national team with players who are ready,” said Bvute.

Bvute said in terms of resources, Zimbabwe was way short of other Test playing nations.

Bvute said comparing Zimbabwe to South Africa was like comparing Dynamos and Manchester United. Despite such comparisons, the question remains; for how long are we going to continue to feel such helplessness and hopelessness about Zimbabwe cricket?

AllAfrica – All the Time