Zimbabwe/Blignaut situation

[sirjeremy11]

What is going to happen to this once promising team? Now the man touted as their captain won't play the ODI's against Kenya, apparently as he is owed $200000. Fair enough, that is alot of money in anyones language.

But ZC have now called the police on Dion Ebrahim, and had him locked up for driving a ZC car. This is going too far.

It must, surely, go back to the corruption in the country itself.

I remember when the Flowers, Campbell, Whittall, Streak, Blignaut, Johnson, Goodwin etc were making this team look so promising less than five years ago. It really has fallen apart very quickly.

So, how do you feel about your national team playing Zimbabwe and what do you think should happen to them?

Basically, I thought that they were going nowhere and that they should be gotten rid of. Seeing NZ play them was just a sad excercise in carrying out one's duty and improving one's stats.

Then you look at the way they played at the U19 World Cup and think there IS some promise there.

You have to say though, until the ZC board is repaired, the game in Zim will continue to go backwards.

 

[Right arm fast]

You have to say though, until the ZC board is repaired, the game in Zim will continue to go backwards.

i agree with you there but sadly i do not think it will be repaired for a very long time

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

It's a complete joke.

 

[Chubb]

ZC is now controlled by Zanu directly, so they have the full apparatus of the oppressive state to use against the players, hence the police, despite the fact this is a civil case and not a criminal one.

All the players need the money, and they need it in US Dollars as opposed to Zimbabwean ones, because the exchange rate and value of the currency, despite being kept artificially high by Mugabe, is ruinous to them.

When you say the U19 world cup proves there is promise- there has always been promise in Zimbabwe, but there are no proper structures for the development of that talent. For example, the Logan Cup (four-day) competition may be cancelled this year because the standard is so ridiculously low. For this reason, most of those players will remain talented but raw, like Bangladesh, whereas once they maximised their ability and were capable of competing on the world stage.

This sort of corruption is nothing new at all in ZC. The board will never be repaired because the ICC is not interested in doing anything about it because they are a bunch of spineless, imbecilic weaklings. The central board now has men such as Themba Mliswa, a violent thug whose tastes run to torture and death threats, and the regional boards have now been neutralised by Zanu after they took over the central board. Many of the officials of the local boards are corrupt and racist, Mashonaland, once the most powerful side in Zimbabwe, fielded an XI of young black club players after a dispute with the professionals, during which the police were used to break up a match involving the rebel players.

Zimbabwean cricket is in essence finished, it will probably never reach anywhere near the level they were once capable of. I believe, just as most people do, that they shouldn't be playing international cricket anymore, but whilst the ICC is as morally bankrupt as it is, they'll still be there, and I'll still support them, because it isn't the players or the people's fault. Cricket mirrors the country as a whole, initial success, integration & acceptance by the white minority, followed by a backlash brought about by black on white and asian racism and dictatorship.

 

[Richard]

What is going to happen to this once promising team? Now the man touted as their captain won't play the ODI's against Kenya, apparently as he is owed $200000. Fair enough, that is alot of money in anyones language.

But ZC have now called the police on Dion Ebrahim, and had him locked up for driving a ZC car. This is going too far.

It must, surely, go back to the corruption in the country itself.

I remember when the Flowers, Campbell, Whittall, Streak, Blignaut, Johnson, Goodwin etc were making this team look so promising less than five years ago. It really has fallen apart very quickly.

So, how do you feel about your national team playing Zimbabwe and what do you think should happen to them?

Basically, I thought that they were going nowhere and that they should be gotten rid of. Seeing NZ play them was just a sad excercise in carrying out one's duty and improving one's stats.

Then you look at the way they played at the U19 World Cup and think there IS some promise there.

You have to say though, until the ZC board is repaired, the game in Zim will continue to go backwards.

With Zanu PF in power, there is simply no hope for anything in the country. It takes no genius to spot the fact that with Zanu PF ruling, the board will stay dominated by the likes of Bvute and Chingoka.
Simple fact of the matter is, in my estimation, no-one should be playing Tests or ODIs against Zimbabwe, not just because it's not in a fit state but because they, along with all the other substandard teams, damage the credibility of the ODI and Test game.
I hardly see that Blignaut has ever been a promising player, but 6 and 7 years ago they had Johnson, the Flowers, Campbell, Wishart, Carlisle, Goodwin, the Whittalls, the Strangs, Streak, Olonga, and several others. Zanu PF has ruined that like it's ruined everything else in the country.
Of course it will recover, humans are remarkably resiliant things, but it will take a very long time and it will certainly not happen with Zanu PF in power.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

In my opinion, Blignaut had a much all round potential as Wishart did.

 

[Chubb]

In my opinion, Blignaut had a much all round potential as Wishart did.

Much better with the ball, Wishy never made any claims to being an allrounder- used to describe his bowling as "filthy"

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Much better with the ball, Wishy never made any claims to being an allrounder- used to describe his bowling as "filthy"

I worded my post incorrectly, what I meant was that I think Blignaut is a better cricketer than Wishart. Obviously Wishart, being a batsman, was going to contribute more runs but Craig, from what I saw of him, wasn't that good as a player.

 

[Autobahn]

I remember Blignaut playing a bit for durham in the 2004 season and he wasn't very good.

 

[Richard]

I worded my post incorrectly, what I meant was that I think Blignaut is a better cricketer than Wishart. Obviously Wishart, being a batsman, was going to contribute more runs but Craig, from what I saw of him, wasn't that good as a player.

Wishart, like Campbell, Carlisle and Whittall, IMO had potential at Test and ODI level but simply didn't fulfil it.

 

[sirjeremy11]

Wishart, like Campbell, Carlisle and Whittall, IMO had potential at Test and ODI level but simply didn't fulfil it.

I would certainly rate Campbell above those guys. Man, when that guy was going, he was nice to watch. He did rather well against NZ on more than one occasion too.

Wishart's main claim to fame I thought was tonking Namibia round at WC03.

 

[Richard]

That was his top ODI score, yes, but IMO he could've been a fine player, as could Carlisle.
Yes, I quite agree that Alistair Campbell achieved more - in ODIs - than anyone bar Neil Johnson and Andy Flower, I always liked him, but still I don't feel he anywhere near fulfilled his promise (in Tests especially).
Not that Zanu PF didn't have their part to play in that, too.

 

[sirjeremy11]

That was his top ODI score, yes, but IMO he could've been a fine player, as could Carlisle.
Yes, I quite agree that Alistair Campbell achieved more - in ODIs - than anyone bar Neil Johnson and Andy Flower, I always liked him, but still I don't feel he anywhere near fulfilled his promise (in Tests especially).
Not that Zanu PF didn't have their part to play in that, too.

Yes, I would have loved a parellel world where certain members of the Zim parliament dropped dead, and their country improved. You know, free speech and all that.

 

[Richard]

Haha.
Parrallel universes - not something anyone should wish for.
You know the saying about butterflies and earthquakes? Often, very often, seemingly innocuous actions can have unspeakably far-reaching consequences.

 

[sirjeremy11]

Haha.
Parrallel universes - not something anyone should wish for.
You know the saying about butterflies and earthquakes? Often, very often, seemingly innocuous actions can have unspeakably far-reaching consequences.

Like booting Zimbabwe out of international cricket? Please ICC, get some gonads.

 

[Richard]

Hmm, that doesn't strike me as seemingly innocuous.
Strikes me as something which would do good for the game of cricket, and might - only might - help speed-up the country's removal of it's political tyranny.

 

[sirjeremy11]

No, but if they could get anything rolling in that place it would be a miracle.

 

[Richard]

'T'would indeed.
Modern ICC is concerned with little other than the $$s.

 

[sirjeremy11]

That's why they can't do anything when India basically hold them to ransom I guess. And they don't make them play the Bangles.

 

[Richard]

I wait with interest to see what happens here.
We all know what happened last time India tried to take-on Malcolm Speed's authority.
Paul Condon has saved cricket.