Neil Johnson for Coach

[bayhaus]

I have been a fan of Neil Johnsons commentary, hes passionate and always positive about Zim cricket way more than Mbangwa. But I think he would be a good coach for ZIM. He is also very frank in his commentary, doesnt sloosh.

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

His heart was never for Zim ckt. Even while wearing Zimbabwean colours he mentioned lot of times that he wants to play for SAF. He was never a team man but a great great allrounder.

[eugene]

At this rate I wouldn't mind having him play for Zimbabwe.

[sloandog]

His heart was never for Zim ckt. Even while wearing Zimbabwean colours he mentioned lot of times that he wants to play for SAF. He was never a team man but a great great allrounder.

Wow really ?

[aydee]

His heart was never for Zim ckt. Even while wearing Zimbabwean colours he mentioned lot of times that he wants to play for SAF. He was never a team man but a great great allrounder.

Wow really ?

He was brought up in SA, and played almost all of his cricket there...

[Flower power]

Whatever you say about this man , I will always remember him as the great allrounder that could rattle any opposition with the bat or the ball . I remember his combination in the middle with Murray Goodwin, with the foundations being set by the Flower brothers just made me feel that Zim was finally becoming a world beater but alas Politics came and destroyed everything .
f

[eugene]

That batting lineup with Neil Johnson, Murray Goodwin, Grant Flower, Andy Flower, and Alistair Campbell is looking pretty good compared to the current brittle line-up.

[zimfan1]

Dave Houghton's view:

NEIL JOHNSON. He's not my most favourite man. I don't feel that Neil came and did anything for Zimbabwe cricket, and I've said it before in newspapers: Neil came and played for Neil. He had one or two good one-day performances for us and was exciting when he got going; he certainly had a good World Cup, but rarely did anything for us on the Test scene, where he averaged 24 with the bat and about 40 with the ball. As a Test cricketer he didn't produce what he is capable of. I was not sad to see Neil leave, because he is a South African, not a Zimbabwean, and he came here almost like our overseas pro.

He was completely different from Murray, who came back here and immediately got his Zimbabwe passport back, bought a house, settled down and wanted to be a Zimbabwean again. Neil never made any effort to reclaim his Zimbabwean birthrights and he was literally here as an overseas professional. I don't have anything against Neil as a person, but I'm a person who is passionate about Zimbabwe cricket, and someone like him should have come here, put time into coaching, worked hard in the clubs and put something into Zimbabwean cricket. He didn't do any of that. During his time here he got as much money as he could, got some exposure and left. Murray worked really hard at Alex: he coached at the nets; whenever I wanted someone to come down here and work with the youngsters, Murray was the first to put his hand up. Never charged us a penny; he just wanted to put into Zimbabwe cricket. Neil was exactly the opposite; he never coached a day.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/92491.html

[sloandog]

Dave Houghton's view:

NEIL JOHNSON. He's not my most favourite man. I don't feel that Neil came and did anything for Zimbabwe cricket, and I've said it before in newspapers: Neil came and played for Neil. He had one or two good one-day performances for us and was exciting when he got going; he certainly had a good World Cup, but rarely did anything for us on the Test scene, where he averaged 24 with the bat and about 40 with the ball. As a Test cricketer he didn't produce what he is capable of. I was not sad to see Neil leave, because he is a South African, not a Zimbabwean, and he came here almost like our overseas pro.

He was completely different from Murray, who came back here and immediately got his Zimbabwe passport back, bought a house, settled down and wanted to be a Zimbabwean again. Neil never made any effort to reclaim his Zimbabwean birthrights and he was literally here as an overseas professional. I don't have anything against Neil as a person, but I'm a person who is passionate about Zimbabwe cricket, and someone like him should have come here, put time into coaching, worked hard in the clubs and put something into Zimbabwean cricket. He didn't do any of that. During his time here he got as much money as he could, got some exposure and left. Murray worked really hard at Alex: he coached at the nets; whenever I wanted someone to come down here and work with the youngsters, Murray was the first to put his hand up. Never charged us a penny; he just wanted to put into Zimbabwe cricket. Neil was exactly the opposite; he never coached a day.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/92491.html

Very interesting....
He seems a genuinely good guy on commentry

[eugene]

Houghton is just jealous. Neil Johnson was never under any obligation other than to play. If they wanted him to coach they should have paid him to coach. Neil was a professional cricketer who was used to a professional enviroment - which Zimbabwean cricket certainly wasn't. Neil was paid to play - nothing else. For the few seasons he was around he was one of our star players and without him we wouldn't have made it to the Super 6s of the 1999 World Cup. Just because he didn't take on a whole lot of other unpaid duties shouldn't diminish his contribution to Zimbabwean cricket and to claim that he didn't give anything back to Zimbabwean cricket is ridiculous.