Former Zimbabwe Cricket team allrounder Sean Ervine revealed the difficulty of his World Cup dilemma but admitted: I’m glad I came back to Hampshire.
The burly Zimbabwean admitted he was set on returning to international cricket for the recent showpiece, which would have meant the end of his Rose Bowl career.
But the all-rounder returned on Friday in a Hampshire shirt for the Championship opener against Durham after a change of heart saw him turn down a World Cup place to stay in county cricket as a Kolpak player.
Ervine explained: “Zimbabwe told me they wanted me to go back out there and play.
“We went through a few negotiations and talks but I wanted to speak to Rod (Bransgrove) and Chalky (Giles White) personally before anything went ahead.
“But Zimbabwe went ahead and just announced I would be in the World Cup squad.
“When I got to the Caribbean, I was probably 100% confident I would go with Zimbabwe.
“But then there were a few issues and I knew it would be a wrong decision if I made it.
“It was either me going to play for Zimbabwe, which is a risk, or carry on playing for Hampshire, which is a security thing.
“It was hard but it was pretty clear in the end. Watching the guys play in the World Cup, I was a bit disappointed I wasn’t there but I knew that afterwards some of the problems would start.”
While Zimbabwean cricket is moving in the right direction, Ervine knows himself there are still plenty of problems, which helped him with his decision to stay at the Rose Bowl.
He said: “All of the players are being cut 60-per-cent of their salary because Zimbabwe Cricket have got no money — that’s a big thing.
“My brother Craig was on £1,500 a month before that, not including match fees, but it goes to show you what it’s like.
“It was always the case that time would tell with Zimbabwe and it is showing already. There weren’t even any fixtures organised.
“There were supposed to be games against Bangladesh in April or May and then Pakistan and New Zealand in August – now they have been canned and put back to later in the year.
“Everyone talks about it being back on track and in a lot of ways it has improved but it’s more about the ICC putting in their money and which direction this money is going.
“Maybe I’ve had a lucky escape.
“Every cricketer is trying to achieve the goal of playing international cricket but they need to sort out a lot of things on the administration side.”
Ervine will now turn his attentions to playing has already shifted his attention to Hampshire’s Championship challenge, which started at the Rose Bowl on Friday.
He's made some good points...
But he's just talking about neagtives.
In my opinion, he can play for Hampshire as long as he wants....but in terms of him returnignt to Zimbabwe..no no!
Stick with the youngsters and we'll see the results.
But at the same time.....
Sean keeps mentioning that Hampshire are his family right?
Does anyone deny that?
Secondly, IF the feeling is mutual, as family loyalty is a 2 way street....
Then Hampshire would release him and ensure he is listed as their one export player, in the near future. If they were as loyal to him as he is to them there us no reason why he couldn't do both.
I do realize theres a current import in the team but there could be a gentleman agreement Sean takes over once the Pakistani winds his contract up
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:
FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay
Sean made the right choice, money wise, but how much does he get in county cricket. Top players in Zim are on $5000 + , Craig should have been on the $3000, he will be upgraded soon with his perfomances + test cricket on the way.
Better off with £1500 PER month Zim, than £3000 here in the U.K., you can't do much with it.
Would Sean get more chances of IPL if he is county or Zim cricket?
Zim Rules
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Satendra Singh, Delhi, India
Twitter: @drsitu
Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic) wrote:Thanks for the memories. Bye bye Sean.
This is how I feel as well. The future in Craig. Andy Flower got to where he is through hard work and playing for Zim, being a County journeyman would not have distinguished him at all. Sean mentions risk - well, in finance it's known that the bigger the risk the higher the return. At the end of both Ervines' careers, who's gonna have a higher return?
Hmm...the trouble begins. Where has all the money gone?
Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), Grant Flower, Dave Houghton, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Ray Price, Eddo Brandes
