What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Participate in discussion with your fellow Zimbabwe cricket fans!
ZIMDOGGY
Posts: 6647
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:40 pm
Supports: MidWest Rhinos

What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by ZIMDOGGY »

a topic I often think about for whatever reason and I have deemed relevant to this forum because it seems to be top of mind for every third Zimbabwean kid who wants a cricket career.

This is the scenario.

ZC has folded completely and you are a 20 yr old ambitious kid who is good but no superstar.
You hav no family links or citizenship outside of zim. You just know you’re leaving and you want to play cricket.

You can choose to go anywhere for any reason. In fact you should factor in the whole picture.
Doesn’t even need to neccessarily be a Test nation if you don’t want.

The only thing I ask is you don’t be biased to whatever nation you live in now.
If you are going to argue Pakistan for instance, you better have a damn good reason to back it up as opposed to the fact you live there and have ‘Lahore pride worldwide’ or Afghanistan because your grandparents lived there (unless you can genuinely overcome whatever reason they left).

Some factors I would take into account personally;
Lifestyle
Risk relevance and ambition (some countries harder with higher reward, some not)
Weather
Pay/what looking to achieve
Future should cricket not work out
Last edited by ZIMDOGGY on Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:04 am, edited 2 times in total.
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:

FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay

'The' Gus Mackay.

Hero.
Sportsman.
Artist.
Player.

**
Q. VUSI SIBANDA, WHERE DO YOU HOP?

A. UNDA DA ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE*

sloandog
Posts: 9843
Joined: Wed Aug 26, 2009 11:28 am
Supports: MidWest Rhinos
Location: Manchester UK

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by sloandog »

The Uk, hands down.

The standard of living, the standard of cricket and the coaching here is as good as it gets.

Some will argue Australia

zimlover
Posts: 1027
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2012 4:55 pm
Supports: Mashonaland Eagles
Location: melbourne .vic
Contact:

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by zimlover »

Australia
1. The infrastructure is vast and abundant,just about every where in most suburbs there are cricket pitches,ovals every where,Lots of clubs too and not to mention the strong cricket culture.
2.Its working and commercially viable even at league level.
3.Cricket Australia has lots of money to burn.
4.Lots of opportunities if you don’t make it as a cricketer you can always venture into coaching and lots of coaching jobs,just in case this kid has an over valued idea about his cricketing skills.

sloandog
Posts: 9843
Joined: Wed Aug 26, 2009 11:28 am
Supports: MidWest Rhinos
Location: Manchester UK

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by sloandog »

zimlover wrote:
Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:30 am
Australia
1. The infrastructure is vast and abundant,just about every where in most suburbs there are cricket pitches,ovals every where,Lots of clubs too and not to mention the strong cricket culture.
2.Its working and commercially viable even at league level.
3.Cricket Australia has lots of money to burn.
4.Lots of opportunities if you don’t make it as a cricketer you can always venture into coaching and lots of coaching jobs,just in case this kid has an over valued idea about his cricketing skills.
Yea as I say, Oz and the UK won't be beaten

ZIMDOGGY
Posts: 6647
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:40 pm
Supports: MidWest Rhinos

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by ZIMDOGGY »

Edited OP because the bottom half was chopped off.
Mods, please change settings so you aren’t logged out after 5 mins. It jeapordises every long post penned.
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:

FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay

'The' Gus Mackay.

Hero.
Sportsman.
Artist.
Player.

**
Q. VUSI SIBANDA, WHERE DO YOU HOP?

A. UNDA DA ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE*

firebreaker
Posts: 169
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2017 8:55 pm

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by firebreaker »

HK. They have good domestic structure and have diverse team which means white, Asians, South Asians etc

ZIMDOGGY
Posts: 6647
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:40 pm
Supports: MidWest Rhinos

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by ZIMDOGGY »

This is what I find difficult personally and to be honest it’s all about the ambition. So I will answer in TWO ways.

If I want fame money and bitches. If I want it all. Has to be Australia easily. Not even close. You’ll get the most prestigious structured calendar. The right amount of fame and anonymity. Lifestyle, you name it.
The drawback is that unless you are a gun, you won’t make it. Just the mathematics of a fairly faithful selection system and 6 domestic teams.
That said, this year the BBL suffered for depth with a heavy international calendar both in terms of Aussie players and imports. Not to mention the added two teams. Means younger players have this deer in headlights thing going on cutting their teeth by coming in needing 39 from 14.
The handsome Chris Green comes to mind.

There is a strong argument for the UK of course. They have the financial angle if you make it big, and a bit of a safety net of a weaker domestic system due to sheer numbers. Hence why Sean Ervine can comfortably cruise for 15 years without doing anything amazing.
The drawback is living in the UK. The place is fast becoming a nightmare. I spent the last few months of 2017 Living in London and Estonia and London was not the place my parents talk fondly of in the 80s.
Maybe the other cities in UK better? I trust that to be the case.
I think Googly has some of the same gripes too from memory.
I like the weather of UK but some hate it so could also be a factor.


The other side of the coin I would consider is doing the Grandhomme thing and going to New Zealand.
This is the SAFE option. It isn’t hard to make NZ if you have talent. Small country with low depth. Good first 11 but opportunities there.
It also has a nice lifestyle and amazing nature.

The drawback to this lack of ambition is lack of pay and international opportunity.
The kiwis don’t get much more money than the Zimbabweans. In fact in general and in any walk of life, it’s tough to be rich in New Zealand.
You can’t live the Cocaine and clubs lifestyle that Jaybro described in Coogee a few months ago. Can in Oz and UK.

Then if you have a completely different lien of thinking you could go to Ireland and USA, Canada. You may want to be part of a growing cricket nation. However you’d need to have alternate ambitions too if you go this route.
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:

FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay

'The' Gus Mackay.

Hero.
Sportsman.
Artist.
Player.

**
Q. VUSI SIBANDA, WHERE DO YOU HOP?

A. UNDA DA ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE*

ZIMDOGGY
Posts: 6647
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:40 pm
Supports: MidWest Rhinos

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by ZIMDOGGY »

Another one that I wonder why is never mentioned is India.
Money to be made, emerging superpower.
I’m guessing dogshit lifestyle though. It’s never mentioned ever in these type of posts.
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:

FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay

'The' Gus Mackay.

Hero.
Sportsman.
Artist.
Player.

**
Q. VUSI SIBANDA, WHERE DO YOU HOP?

A. UNDA DA ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE*

User avatar
jaybro
Posts: 10390
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:36 am
Supports: MidWest Rhinos

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by jaybro »

Depends how good you are really

But surely Australia has beat living standards and all the rest
Chairman of the Neville Madziva fan Club

Originator of the #mumbamania movement

Googly
Posts: 14198
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 5:48 pm

Re: What’s the most attractive country to play cricket?

Post by Googly »

I’m sure I’ve asked this before- have India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka ever had a white guy in their FC structure? A good player would benefit hugely from a FC season there.

Post Reply