Vusi Sibanda interview

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sloandog
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by sloandog »

Look at all that unmatched kit...OCD kicking into overdrive!

Googly
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by Googly »

I’ve not heard of any schools playing at Churchill for a while. I will find out the latest.
What are these white schools of which you speak? :lol:
The 4 or so “white” high schools are at least 60% not white, if not more. I wonder what percentage classifies it as white? I think perhaps 1% :lol: :lol:

Googly
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by Googly »

There’s not a single non indigenous left at Prince Edward anymore and they still have decent facilities and produce ok sides. Their rugby is still good. At one point the only white guy in the whole school was the headmaster :lol: but he’s gone to St George’s.
I really have a problem with Churchill, their over age nonsense is just disgraceful.
St George’s is almost entirely non white now as well.
Did you know that Greeks are classified as indigenous?
The only high schools that I can think of that have more than 1% and less than 40% are St. John’s (Harare), Hellenic (Harare and co-ed and don’t quite compete as a rule), Peter House (Marondera), and Falcon (Byo). I would estimate the total number of white boys in high school aged between 13-18 at about 1000 in total. Of those perhaps 70% don’t play cricket, so we’re talking about 300 boys in total that attempt to, of which maybe 20 can hold a bat and about 5 that have any chance of being FC players if they tried real hard from today. This is Country-wide. You read that correctly.

sloandog
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by sloandog »

That's a beyond scary statistic.

Googly
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by Googly »

I can’t talk with any authority on the number of black high schoolers (boys) but it must be around 1 million? The ones that play cricket can’t number more than 1000.
Interestingly, at the 4 “white” schools I mentioned you hardly ever see more than about 3 black kids in each team. It’s a bizarre thing, the kids just don’t seem remotely interested. So if you add that up that’s about 80-100 kids tops.
That leaves another 400 kids that play at Churchill, St George’s, Prince Edward, CBC (Byo), lomagundi (Chinhoyi), Jameson (kadoma) and maybe a couple of others that I’ve forgotten- I’m being generous here!
So our total is at about 500 so far.
I’m in the guessing area here but I’m thinking there’s not more than another 600 countrywide in all the other government and high density schools. I base this on the fact that they don’t have a single cricket field and I think I may have overestimated.
Of these lads we’re in the same ballpark with the number of guys that can hold a bat (20) and maybe 5 that have real ability. I’m sure some angry people might refute this and I’d like to hear their take on the numbers, but it’s definitely thereabouts.

Googly
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by Googly »

So when you hear about some nonsense cricket Academy in the middle of nowhere when they could resurrect or even just start cricket at a place like Marondera High (1800 boys), Chaplain, Mt Pleasant, Ellis Robbins, Oriel, Churchill, Vainona, Allan Wilson etc etc etc you know they’re not for real and it’s just a publicity stunt at best.
I’ve been saying this for years- our problems are much bigger than people ever imagined.
Again if we want to improve things the cheapest and most effective way is to find really good kids who want to play and put them in the few schools where cricket vaguely works and there are some facilities. There’s also an option to start a couple of Junior black clubs, that could make up teams from a few adjacent high density schools. Takashinga need a junior section that could compete against the good schools, surely they could make a plan? If this is happening they’re not on the “main” circuit that’s for sure.

Googly
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by Googly »

Out of this desperate situation we’ve somehow produced some pretty good cricketers and a couple of gems that have unfortunately gone, but it’s a bloody miracle if you think about it. The sad part is that ZC have only just realized that we’re fucked, well maybe they realized before but have only decided to try and act when it’s a bit late, but the reality is that they can’t do much. We desperately need an economic revival to help us, ZC just don’t have the money or ability to take cricket to the people, it’s just too big a task, particularly when people don’t really want to play. Junior cricket usually hinges on parental input and that’s simply non-existent anymore. A good example is at these T20 festivals, only a handful of black parents ever attend, they just let their boys get on with it. Often the reasons are economic, but it doesn’t change the fact that they have very little support, they can only rely on their coaches, who are usually not that good or that interested. I apologize to the few that are ok and who do make effort, but are usually hamstrung by lack of support themselves. It’s a tough and sad situation we find ourselves in.

Googly
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by Googly »

I’ve been watching quite a lot of SA development stuff on TV of late. They’ve got some good stuff going on, but they have a lot of money and some really passionate people. The franchise and national players all seem to chip in a bit as well. That doesn’t happen here other than in s token way.
Also in their efforts to level the playing field they’ve ignored some exceptional white kids, and they can afford to because they have the numbers. Well they can almost afford to, they’re getting their arses handed to them by Kohli and crew and with Faf, Ab and Q sitting out their lack of depth is glaringly apparent.
We almost had that luxury up until a few years ago (but not really), but now we have to identify the tiny number of exceptional kids and help them in every way possible, regardless of colour. The day ZC wake up and finally realize the good batters can’t be manufactured from 3 tours pre- U19 WC will be the day we turn a corner, but they just don’t understand cricket and clearly never will.
The good’uns are exceptional at 14 and if you don’t bring them on or you lose them it’s at your peril because they are so few and far between.

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eugene
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by eugene »

I agree with googly, pour the money and resources into three or four "cricket schools" and grow from their. Neglecting the strong cricketing communities and then thinking you can unearth the next Tendulkar in the bush is madness. Zimbabwe can compete with a small but talented player base, this has been shown in the past.
Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), Grant Flower, Dave Houghton, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Ray Price, Eddo Brandes

Kriterion_BD
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Re: Vusi Sibanda interview

Post by Kriterion_BD »

sloandog wrote:
Thu Feb 08, 2018 7:41 pm
That's a beyond scary statistic.
Surprisingly whites in ZIM only make up 1% of the population and the entire population is only 10 million or so. Thats 100,000 whites in the country.

I had assumed ZIM had 10% white population given how many whites are in the team.

What was the percentage of whites like in the 1990s in the Flower era?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtuZBykSzM (Noreaga - Blood Money Part 3)

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