People forget that even when ZC was predominantly white, the white population was not amazingly high. It was not as if white people were overflowing all over the place. It was just that cricket was the sport the white people invested in. They took an interest in it and basically went all in 100%. They were not playing football. Some were playing rugby, and you had the Black brothers in tennis, but other than that, Cricket was the sport (of all the mainstream) that they were invested in.
So it was not as if they had a huge talent pool then too. Some of the guys who got selected for International cricket had averages of 20 as a batsman. They were getting selected, but ZC was improving as was proven by 02/03 when most of, if not all the batters in that team had averages in the 30s.
From what I can recall.
White pop. today is around 20k
15 years ago was 40k.
2000 was about 60k
2003 about 45k.
There would also be a few expats floating around who are back to zim to visit family, so it might appear higher in the summer for instance.
just general observations I tried to take note of at the time.
It feels like there are more. You meet white zimbabwean tourists in Europe, you see them pop up in business and sport, everyday i see new people with 'harare' in their location, Sam Levy just looks like a shopping centre in a white country, but im assured thats it.
What is basically happening is whites have consolidated in north Harare, as opposed to being pretty spread out as they were 20+ years back.
Googly once told me there is only about 100 or so whites left in Bulawayo
These are all ridiculously low numbers. An average rural town in Australia, a bigger than average rural town 20 years nack.
I'm in Gweru, and spend a lot of time in Bulawayo. The number of us down here has reduced rapidly, thats for sure! I know dozens, if not hundreds, of white families that have moved to Harare in the past 5-10 years or so.
I'd guess there are still a couple of thousand whites in total living outside of Harare though.
Basically these are the whites imo near the national team at the moment and the bottom 4 there are not really that good to assume they may ever be dropped on race. Personally to show that talent has nothing to do with race, I think Richard Ngarava is and will be a better bowler than Kyle. Barring injury Chatara is a better bowler than Jarvis too. My point is that there is a generally accepted narrative that whites are better than blacks at the game which I think has been more of a coincidence and an exposure thing and should not be a cause for selection or for bias. At our supposed peak in 2002, the Windies would still beat us. The best batter in the world right now is non white. Zim with some serious people in admin and in coaching does not need to be either black or white. With the right people in charge, contrary to popular opinion, an all black zim team can do very well just like an all white would all things equal. Burl and Moor like Taps mentioned will actually be selected because they are white and easy to identify, but these guys arent any much better than Roy Kaia.
What we suffer from is also a shortage of genuine international standard players black or white. And to further highlight how insensitive the race issue is now, We have had white captains mostly in the last few years all on merit.
In conclusion, not sure who exactly needs to hear this, Zim not performing well is not because it has more black players in the team, but because of poor admin and coaching, maybe also due to the alleged corruption in grassroot talent nurturing.
Basically these are the whites imo near the national team at the moment and the bottom 4 there are not really that good to assume they may ever be dropped on race. Personally to show that talent has nothing to do with race, I think Richard Ngarava is and will be a better bowler than Kyle. Barring injury Chatara is a better bowler than Jarvis too. My point is that there is a generally accepted narrative that whites are better than blacks at the game which I think has been more of a coincidence and an exposure thing and should not be a cause for selection or for bias. At our supposed peak in 2002, the Windies would still beat us. The best batter in the world right now is non white. Zim with some serious people in admin and in coaching does not need to be either black or white. With the right people in charge, contrary to popular opinion, an all black zim team can do very well just like an all white would all things equal. Burl and Moor like Taps mentioned will actually be selected because they are white and easy to identify, but these guys arent any much better than Roy Kaia.
What we suffer from is also a shortage of genuine international standard players black or white. And to further highlight how insensitive the race issue is now, We have had white captains mostly in the last few years all on merit.
In conclusion, not sure who exactly needs to hear this, Zim not performing well is not because it has more black players in the team, but because of poor admin and coaching, maybe also due to the alleged corruption in grassroot talent nurturing.
Yeah that's all that's left cause all the other white players have left. Sure (of course) black players can be just as good but most of the good white players are not in the Zim system any more.
We didn't peak in 2002 mate. Between 1997-1999 i reckon we peacked.
There was a potential for a second peak in 2004 just before the rebel saga. That side had a number of exciting, young players. Travis Friend was bowling heat, Blignaut was an integral part of the side and Sibanda, Vermuelan and a few others were starting to score runs.
Basically these are the whites imo near the national team at the moment and the bottom 4 there are not really that good to assume they may ever be dropped on race. Personally to show that talent has nothing to do with race, I think Richard Ngarava is and will be a better bowler than Kyle. Barring injury Chatara is a better bowler than Jarvis too. My point is that there is a generally accepted narrative that whites are better than blacks at the game which I think has been more of a coincidence and an exposure thing and should not be a cause for selection or for bias. At our supposed peak in 2002, the Windies would still beat us. The best batter in the world right now is non white. Zim with some serious people in admin and in coaching does not need to be either black or white. With the right people in charge, contrary to popular opinion, an all black zim team can do very well just like an all white would all things equal. Burl and Moor like Taps mentioned will actually be selected because they are white and easy to identify, but these guys arent any much better than Roy Kaia.
What we suffer from is also a shortage of genuine international standard players black or white. And to further highlight how insensitive the race issue is now, We have had white captains mostly in the last few years all on merit.
In conclusion, not sure who exactly needs to hear this, Zim not performing well is not because it has more black players in the team, but because of poor admin and coaching, maybe also due to the alleged corruption in grassroot talent nurturing.
I think a point fuelling this is that a lot of very average white cricketers at club and school level just don't go professional compared to blacks. Only those whites with a genuine chance of national team selection keep playing Logan Cup etc, which is why there are so few white players in the competition now and why basically all of the white players playing first class cricket in Zimbabwe are also in the national team conversation. Most young white players who aren't good enough just end up studying or working overseas or going into their family business instead. Why persist trying to play Logan Cup for a few dollars per match if you are only ever going to be good enough to average 20 or something, like a lot of the current black first class players do? Most white people in Zim still have a lot better alternative opportunities and careers etc through wealth, family or foreign citizenship
So you end up largely only with 'good' white players in the system, and no particularly really rubbish ones. This fuels the narrative that white players are better. Which of course isn't actually true at all.
There are more than 100 white people in Bulawayo. There are also a couple other areas with small populations
I always thought Bulawayo had quite a sizable white population.
Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), Grant Flower, Dave Houghton, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Ray Price, Eddo Brandes
