I’m not sure that’s true. Everyone wants to win, they just don’t believe they can. When they eventually play a big side it’s going to feel particularly daunting. They see these guys on TV fairly regularly and read about them and here they are struggling against AssocIates. I don’t know how you gear yourself for that mentally. I’m not sure you can because we really are way off the mark now.
The expectation is that we should be competing and that’s particularly daunting. Associates can play a big side with clear heads.
When we first made our way in international cricket I know the players started out by being determined to just compete, to make the opposition have to actually fight for a win and they also knew that they had a couple of guys of real ability and international caliber. Also don’t forget the overall standard of international cricket has improved. Yes there were some great players back then in other teams but everything improves and that was nearly 20 years ago now.
Take a guy like Ed Byrom who’s been in a really good system for a number of years now, he actually believes he’s ready for the next level and he knows he’s got the skills to make the step up. Which of our guys could have peeled off 8 or 9 hundreds in County Two’s? Where are you going to find a guy that’s been in a fantastic system for 5 years, has played over 400 games and is genuinely good and believes in himself?
You also need guys who are not suffering from shell shock. I know none of our top batters would have managed that this season. We’re not ticking any boxes.
The guy we should never have lost is Dave Houghton. He was one of the real men that believed in himself and had that “fuck this, they’re only human, we can do this!”
Of course you need the raw material to work with, young guys with real grunt.
The reality is that when Zim cricket was taken over by guys that didn’t know what they were doing they thought this was a lot easier than it is. They actually bought into their own story of guys being denied opportunities. It was only partially true, a couple of guys were, but they did not realize that once you lost that nucleus of hard men there was no one to replace them. Talented guys like Hamilton, Vusi and Taibu I believe needed someone like Flower to make them really believe. Once you get to a certain level cricket is only played between the ears. Ideally you need to be in a team where you know there are a couple of hard men that are up for the fight, but when you suddenly look up and they’re gone and you realize you’re supposed to be the hard man before your time it ain’t gonna happen.
Everyone is way too quick to talk about once a generation cricketers, our two were Andy Flower and Houghton. They were the guys that brought the real fight to the table. The really crazy thing is that they’re still in the game and our muppets don’t want them. Well they probably do, but on their terms. These guys are not trained mice, they’re lions and they won’t be dictated to by our motley crew. What an absolute indictment on these people that we have world class, world renowned and world respected ex players and coaches out there that they don’t want!! They STILL believe they can fix this themselves.
It’s the same old thing, if this was put to the vote- who wants Houghton and Flower running our cricket? The results would speak for themselves. 6 guys would say yes and the other 200 would either say an emphatic no or a cautious maybe as long as they promise to tow the line and not bin us or shout at us if we are actually useless. Therein lies the answer as to why we’re going nowhere fast.