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They could have been contenders

Fri Jul 04 12:13PM

So Zimbabwe live on as one of the ICC's 10 full members for a while yet.

While Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka claims their withdrawal from next year's World Twenty20 in England is for "the larger interests of the game," of course the real reason is they keep their funding.

From a "purely" sporting perspective the whole breakdown of Zimbabwean society has denied the nation's leading cricketers from becoming something of a force in the game.

As with all nations with a small pool of players you need to maximise your golden generation and if you look at who could have been playing for the Zimmies, they would certainly be on a par, if not better, than the likes of New Zealand and West Indies.

Andy Flower (4794 runs at 51.54) and Murray Goodwin (1414 runs at 42.84) are top notch players at the top order while Sean Ervine was a genuine all-rounder and Heath Streak (216 wickets at 28.14) would have led the seam attack alongside the promising Anthony Ireland now at Gloucester.

The likes of Tatenda Taibu and Ray Price have retired and unretired themselves but their progress has been stymied while Brendan Taylor and Elton Chigumbura are the latest prospects to risk the wrath of their union by playing club cricket in England.

With next year's two-Test tour cancelled, there is gap in the schedule so why don't the ECB, the government and the ICC get their collective thick heads together and let this team of exiles play an unofficial Test (or at least one-dayer) against England?  

Throw in another couple of English based players Henry Olonga, who can lead the post-match sing song, and Grant Flower and you've got a handy XI.

To quote user mr_supremo2010 "there is a lot of Zimbabwean talent scattered all over the world just being wasted into oblivion."

The fall and fall of Zimbabwe cricket (compiled by N.Ananthanarayanan):

2003

Feb 10 - Zimbabwe players Andy Flower and Henry Olonga wear black armbands in their opening 2003 World Cup game against Namibia in Harare to protest against what they call "death of democracy" in their country.

Feb 13 - England's scheduled World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare is cancelled after England refuse to travel, citing safety concerns.

2004

April 2 - Heath Streak's tenure as captain ends after he questions the composition of the selection panel. Tatenda Taibu, 20, is installed as the youngest international captain ever.

April 15 - Thirteen Zimbabwe players with 257 Test caps between them go on strike.

April 25 - An inexperienced Zimbabwe team is dismissed for a world-record low 35 in a one-day international against Sri Lanka.

May 10 - The Zimbabwe Cricket Union fires the rebel players.

June 10 - The International Cricket Council suspends Zimbabwe's remaining Tests for 2004.

2005

Sept 1 - Zimbabwe Cricket announces new, performance-based contracts for the squad, but the players reject them.

Nov 24 - Captain Taibu cuts all ties with Zimbabwean cricket, citing mismanagement by administrators, unhappiness with the new contracts and threats against him and his family.

Dec 5 - ZC chairman Peter Chingoka and managing director Ozias Bvute are arrested under the country's Exchange Control Act. They are held for two nights for questioning and released without charge.

Dec 22 - The Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers' Association announces "no player will train or avail himself for national duty", prompted by dissatisfaction with the "continued tenure" of Chingoka and Bvute, non-payment of salaries and transport issues.

2006

Jan 6 - Zimbabwe's government takes over the running of cricket with officials saying they are prepared for any repercussions, including the possibility of the southern African nation losing its Test status. Government installs a new interim ZC board, with Chingoka reinstated as chairman.

Jan 18 - The interim board decides to suspend Zimbabwe's participation in test matches until early 2007 on account of the poor performances of its teams.

2007

May 31 - The ICC decides the team should not return to Test matches until it shows it can perform at the required standard. Zimbabwe drop out of Test rankings list in July.

2008

March - An independent audit finds serious irregularities in the Zimbabwe board accounts. The ICC does not call for any sanction, decides there is no evidence of criminality and no individuals had gained financially.

April 25 - ICC's outgoing CEO, Australian Malcolm Speed, is asked to go on leave until his end of contract, indicating major differences among top officials over Zimbabwe.

June 23 - Cricket South Africa, traditional supporter of Zimbabwe, suspends domestic cricketing ties with its neighbour.

June 25 - The England and Wales Cricket Board cancels Zimbabwe's 2009 tour of England and suspends all bilateral ties under instructions from the British government, amid rising violence over a controversial presidential election run-off.

July 4 - Zimbabwe Cricket agrees to pull out of next year's World Twenty20 in England, ending a deadlock in the governing body over calls to sanction the Zimbabwe board.

- - -

FEEDBACK OF THE DAY: "they are horrible tryina make political statements trhu sport, thereby killin it.what has this world come to.its nothe cricket players they are after, its the hierachy of the country.if you ask me,i think they are beavin no diff from a terrorist," Simbarashe M.

TALKING POINT: Have your say! Have the ICC fudged a decision? Who really runs the game? And what about letting the exiles have a game.

LIVE: Bangladesh face Pakistan in Karachi, follow the game now on the LIVE SCORECARD and there is also West Indies v Australia  and Durham v Kent  

  • Comments1 - 9 of 9

  1. so...by saying that Zimbabwe could match NZ or the WI as team, are you therefore implying they'd be BETTER than england???

    ben.alchinFrom ben.alchin on Fri Jul 04 02:50PM

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  2. Hey! Olen Rose, seksikäs tyttö Ranska. Haluan mies täällä ja hän huolehtii minusta. Haluat nähdä kaunis kuva, siirry Sugarcupid.cQm. Minulla on profiili nimeltä MGivy76.

    li_tenFrom li_ten on Fri Jul 04 02:59PM

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  3. on the topic of an exiles XI, why not throw together allsorts of mickey mouse XI's and make a tri-series out of it?? how about the Zimbabwe exiles V the commentators XI, who wouldn't love to see old richie benaud shuffling in to bowl some spin...and we could even chuck Ian Smith behind the stumps just to make villes day :-)the 3rd team could be compiled from all the surviving dubious record holders you had up here the other day

    ben.alchinFrom ben.alchin on Fri Jul 04 03:00PM

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  4. oh man, now they are even spamming us in jibberish......

    ben.alchinFrom ben.alchin on Fri Jul 04 03:01PM

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  5. Hey Cowers - they are Zimbos not Zimmies. Would love to see all the old guys I used to watch get together and play - they were very good

    patandbarbaraFrom patandbarbara on Sat Jul 05 07:37AM

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  6. not exactly sure why when i wrote richies benaud in my earlier post it was blanked out the same way as is i had written @#$% i didn't realise the great mans name was a dirty word round these parts....

    ben.alchinFrom ben.alchin on Sat Jul 05 11:23AM

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  7. It might be interesting to put together an all left-handed team - might be a bit short on pace bowlers perhaps.

    donkingdom40From donkingdom40 on Sat Jul 05 11:26PM

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  8. LOL, thanks for making my day, ben.alchin....but from what I gathered on the last day of the one-day series, seems Smiffy's gone home! Anyone else catch Bumble's spoof letter praising Smiffy's wit, perspicacity and insight?

    vlllesFrom vllles on Sun Jul 06 02:49AM

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  9. zimbabwe are too bad, many top associates would crush them

    skaterboy_timFrom skaterboy_tim on Sun Jul 06 09:45PM

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