zimcricketnews.com

This started off as a comment to another article, but frankly it deserves a post of its own, so I’m reposting it here, with a few additions made now that I’ve had a chance to think about some of what I wrote.

There have been quite a few comments lately, asking for what I think about the prospects of player x returning to the Zimbabwe squad, or why they’ve been overlooked by ZC. I’m not going to get into any further discussion about if or when any of the “rebels” will return, for the simple facts that a) speculating on the matter won’t change the current situation; and b) a wholesale return of the old squad isn’t really what we need right now.

Despite their flaws (and there are many), ZC have done a half-decent job of building the current side into a team that has a chance of going places. The return of Taibu & Brent helped add some much-needed experience, and assuming he’s not immediately overshadowed by the likes of Utseya and Maruma, Ray Price could help in that department as well (although Zim are suffering from an embarassment of riches in the spin department at the moment) - but for the big names like Flower, Streak, and a number of others, a return is simply not on the cards. I said a long time ago that ZC’s best option for the future was to concentrate on developing what talent we had left - with some significant help from South Africa, they’re doing that and doing it quite well, and repaying the efforts of the current side by ditching them in favour of the old boys isn’t the way forward.

That said… Andy Flower has batting skills that we should be bending over backwards to make use of, but he’s been allowed to go and help the English cause instead. Alistair Campbell has helped with the coaching of the current side at times, and was spoken of as a potential national coach before ruling himself out before Brown got the job. Heath Streak has I think the best bowling record of any Zimbabwean - if he returns home now that he’s no longer playing County cricket, then ZC should try and get hold of his services as a bowling coach. Hell, Duncan Fletcher’s currently unemployed - he’s proven he can turn a side from a bunch of Test no-hopers to the #2 Test side in the world - and he’s a Zimbabwean! Coaching is how most of the “rebels” can help, should they choose to, and not as players - as many of them simply aren’t playing any more anyway. But none of this is going to happen until the ZC Board becomes more politically acceptable to the people who want nothing to do with Chingoka and co.

The players we should be looking to get back are the ones lost from the current generation, like Andy Blignaut and Anthony Ireland - but again, these players have issues with ZC that are unlikely to be resolved while the current Board is in charge.

When the current ZC Board is eventually replaced, we’ll see who’s still left available and I’ll debate the pros and cons of whoever you like. Until then, it’s just hot air.