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Prosper's Iliad

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Prosper Utseya lays racism allegations against Alistair Campbell | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo


Some absolute brilliance in this 10,000 word tome, with some of my personal favourite sections:

Utseya, who was in Zimbabwe's World Cup squad but did not get a game, claims he considered leaving the World Cup prematurely out of frustration, and cites Campbell's pre-tournament comments as a back story to support his contention that ZC's managing director conspired against his potential selection.
After being banned from bowling offspin and getting pumped in the warm-up games, he's really surprised he wasn't selected?


Referring to his strong Zimbabwe A performances vs. Canada:
In his letter, he uses this as evidence that he deserved to be picked at the World Cup, but does not elaborate on how Campbell was able to influence selection at the tournament.
Utseya goes on to list cases where Campbell appointed white people for coaching and administration posts, during his stint as chairman of the cricket committee and chairman of selectors, including coaching roles to Heath Streak and Grant Flower. Utseya claims the decision to make Mangongo assistant coach was merely "a cover up to have a black man".
Given Mangongo was an absolute nutcase while Streak and Flower are genuinely good coaches... I mean, sure, having a black coach would be great for Zimbabwe cricket, but not if he's Mangongo.
Also, appoint a black assistant coach and you're racist. Don't appoint a black assistant coach and you're racist. Look, I'm not one to deny that there are racial issues in Zimbabwean cricket, but FMD Prosper isn't putting together anything resembling an argument, let alone a compelling one.

If I can reinvent in 2 months and make it Man of the Series in my comeback series with my new bowling action I reckon within 4 months I will be brilliant and what more in a year's time I will be an artist at work. ICC can take away my offspin but they cannot take away my brains and experience
Read the last line with the mental image of Prosper Utseya in a tin foil hat, and it gets even better. "Chuckers of the world unite, we have nothing to lose but our off breaks!"
 

Spikey

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You're gonna have egg on your face when it turns out he said to Utseya: "And you will never be picked for the Rhodesian cricket team again"
 

cnerd123

likes this
If I can reinvent in 2 months and make it Man of the Series in my comeback series with my new bowling action I reckon within 4 months I will be brilliant and what more in a year's time I will be an artist at work. ICC can take away my offspin but they cannot take away my brains and experience
Zimbabwe's own Kanye West.
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
As far as I'm concerned this is a classic case of "a bad argument is worse than no argument"
 

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