Mediocrity should neither be celebrated nor tolerated!
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 6:04 pm
I have been termed negative and harsh quite a few times in this forum. In another jab directed towards me, it was implied that my standards are too high, and that I expect us to perform to the level of expectation of a number one side. Well, in my defence I have stated that I merely seek to be a voice of reason amidst the euphoria that has blinded our fans so much that, having been starved of Test cricket and seeing their boys in whites for such a long time, they are prepared to waiver the standards they normally apply to the rest the nations in the realm of Test cricket.
What is on show belies what can be defined as a Test: dreadful bowling by the Bangladeshis on day one; an embarrassing collapse by the Zimbabwean middle order and tail on the face of improved Bangladeshi bowling in the second day; weak opening batting by the Bangladeshi top order against the impressive young Zimbabwean opening bowlers; a questionable and uninventive bowling display by the same Zimbabwean bowlers who looked spent, after very little bowling the previous day, which has allowed the Bangladeshis to eat away a seemingly unassailable and comfortable lead; pathetic batting around the stellar performance of Vusi Sibanda by Zimbabwean batsmen in their second innings, thus leaving Bangladesh sensing a victory which looked remote from the outset!
Until recently, in the lengthy lows of the English, critics were unforgiving in their assessments of the team. The West Indies have endured similar treatment since their decline. Australian critics have jumped on to the same bandwagon against their team, as losing increasingly became a habit. We chose to be part of the Test setup, and while we may not be the real deal, we should at the very least look the part. We have been TESTED in this one-off game and we are heading towards failure in our own backyard. Failure against a rusty punching bag for all the other teams, which felt three days was sufficient prior practice to get them to the level sufficient to overcome us, thereby virtually relegating us to utter worthlessness in the hierarchy. Mediocrity should neither be celebrated nor tolerated. Not now, not ever! I will never be accommodating to that as well. Hence what is out of place should be looked upon with contempt and addressed swiftly.
Indeed, in the scheme of things Zimbabwe is battling both Bangladesh and a greater majority of people in the cricket world, who are genuinely negative and pessimistic about our prospects. Everything we do should lay the platform for current and future success. Thus giving the middle-one to those doomsayers. What I'm witnessing before me, however, appears not to reflect that. Our selectors have been poor and certain players too. It is hugely disheartening to continue to be subjected to failures which can be prevented. Bangladesh has been far from the level they are capable of, and had they been more clinical, we wouldn't be in this match! In spite of their poor performance we haven't been able to capitalise and take them out of this game. What we have done is let them back into the game. A win from us would have been deserved, but not valuable in the eyes of an acute cricket mind. We would have beaten a dead team. Throughout the match so far, I have heard the commentators(both Zimbabwean, South African and Bangladeshi) criticise the Bangladeshi players and the team, many times more than they've heaped praise or given credit to our players and team. Now what does that tell you? Perhaps unwittingly one of our colleagues here pointed out that our batsmen would have fared far worse had they faced our own bowlers! He was alluding to the fine work our bowlers displayed, but in fact, that highlights how far behind our batting is and equally, how much credit is due to the Bangladeshi batsmen. It also shows just how far behind those very bowlers are themselves! On that unintended observation, we have already lost this match!
One poor soul in this forum intimated at one point, that our openers are batsmen who are inferior to our number three and four batsmen, and meant to be used in the process of protecting those more valuable who are to follow. I, and indeed many other people, have always been of the understanding that openers are the the most solid and safest players in the team who have the ability to see off the new ball, and lay the foundation from which the team can push on through the stroke-makers who are to follow. Neither Vusi and Tino have been that. Tino has been nothing really, while Vusi has been the stroke-maker that we instead desperately need to push on our innings lower down the order. In fact, the reverse has been true. Taylor and Hamilton have played like our openers should, as they have often done for us in the recnt past, only they are performing that task at the wrong part of the innings.
As it stands we are staring down the barrel of a gun. Taylor's uncharacteristic batting approach, and likewise his rudimentary captaincy, has been inviting more pressure on the team than anything else. Taibu is not back to match fitness. As for Craig Ervine, we might as well make it 92/5, while Elton's performance is anybody's guess. The rest is just there. Setting Bangladesh a target of 280 by lunch(we'll probably all-out by then), leaves them a day and a half to cover the deficit. For all the praises that have been thrown in the direction of our two new young bowlers, they do not have the tools to curb a highly motivated Bangladeshi batting line-up. Which shall be the satate they'll be in if they knock us over for under 300. One of their aggressive openers Tamim didn't fire in the first innings, and if he does in the second, they will whittle down our score with relative ease. The Bangladeshi bowlers and technical team have, like myself identified the weaknesses of our bowlers and they will look to get on top of them. We have seen them play against and dominated some of the best attacks in world cricket right now, so replicating that against the two raw rookies should be very simple in comparison.
All is not lost, and the Test may very well be salvaged, or better yet, won by our countrymen. That is the very reason for the optimism which engulfs our die-hard folk. A large secluded part of me hopes for that to be the case, and relishes the prospect of us resuming our Test cricket on a fine note. However, in many ways a loss might be what we need to knock some sense into everyone - the selectors, the players, and ourselves the fans. A century and half century opening partnership against this poor attack has hidden the flaws of our opening pair, along the way assuming records which eluded much better pairs who've opened the batting for us against qualified attacks. The middle order is filled with the wrong personnel, and too much faith has been placed in the wrong set of bowlers too soon! Taken in that light, the pain of defeat is necessary to force key people to make the obvious changes. Our strengths have not been utilised appropriately. We simply cannot continue to make ourselves a mockery in the eyes of the world. Change is needed and with that change success is attainable, and for mediocrity, once again we'll read excellence. At this rate that remains a far-fetched dream and we shall forever be consigned to the scrap heap.
What is on show belies what can be defined as a Test: dreadful bowling by the Bangladeshis on day one; an embarrassing collapse by the Zimbabwean middle order and tail on the face of improved Bangladeshi bowling in the second day; weak opening batting by the Bangladeshi top order against the impressive young Zimbabwean opening bowlers; a questionable and uninventive bowling display by the same Zimbabwean bowlers who looked spent, after very little bowling the previous day, which has allowed the Bangladeshis to eat away a seemingly unassailable and comfortable lead; pathetic batting around the stellar performance of Vusi Sibanda by Zimbabwean batsmen in their second innings, thus leaving Bangladesh sensing a victory which looked remote from the outset!
Until recently, in the lengthy lows of the English, critics were unforgiving in their assessments of the team. The West Indies have endured similar treatment since their decline. Australian critics have jumped on to the same bandwagon against their team, as losing increasingly became a habit. We chose to be part of the Test setup, and while we may not be the real deal, we should at the very least look the part. We have been TESTED in this one-off game and we are heading towards failure in our own backyard. Failure against a rusty punching bag for all the other teams, which felt three days was sufficient prior practice to get them to the level sufficient to overcome us, thereby virtually relegating us to utter worthlessness in the hierarchy. Mediocrity should neither be celebrated nor tolerated. Not now, not ever! I will never be accommodating to that as well. Hence what is out of place should be looked upon with contempt and addressed swiftly.
Indeed, in the scheme of things Zimbabwe is battling both Bangladesh and a greater majority of people in the cricket world, who are genuinely negative and pessimistic about our prospects. Everything we do should lay the platform for current and future success. Thus giving the middle-one to those doomsayers. What I'm witnessing before me, however, appears not to reflect that. Our selectors have been poor and certain players too. It is hugely disheartening to continue to be subjected to failures which can be prevented. Bangladesh has been far from the level they are capable of, and had they been more clinical, we wouldn't be in this match! In spite of their poor performance we haven't been able to capitalise and take them out of this game. What we have done is let them back into the game. A win from us would have been deserved, but not valuable in the eyes of an acute cricket mind. We would have beaten a dead team. Throughout the match so far, I have heard the commentators(both Zimbabwean, South African and Bangladeshi) criticise the Bangladeshi players and the team, many times more than they've heaped praise or given credit to our players and team. Now what does that tell you? Perhaps unwittingly one of our colleagues here pointed out that our batsmen would have fared far worse had they faced our own bowlers! He was alluding to the fine work our bowlers displayed, but in fact, that highlights how far behind our batting is and equally, how much credit is due to the Bangladeshi batsmen. It also shows just how far behind those very bowlers are themselves! On that unintended observation, we have already lost this match!
One poor soul in this forum intimated at one point, that our openers are batsmen who are inferior to our number three and four batsmen, and meant to be used in the process of protecting those more valuable who are to follow. I, and indeed many other people, have always been of the understanding that openers are the the most solid and safest players in the team who have the ability to see off the new ball, and lay the foundation from which the team can push on through the stroke-makers who are to follow. Neither Vusi and Tino have been that. Tino has been nothing really, while Vusi has been the stroke-maker that we instead desperately need to push on our innings lower down the order. In fact, the reverse has been true. Taylor and Hamilton have played like our openers should, as they have often done for us in the recnt past, only they are performing that task at the wrong part of the innings.
As it stands we are staring down the barrel of a gun. Taylor's uncharacteristic batting approach, and likewise his rudimentary captaincy, has been inviting more pressure on the team than anything else. Taibu is not back to match fitness. As for Craig Ervine, we might as well make it 92/5, while Elton's performance is anybody's guess. The rest is just there. Setting Bangladesh a target of 280 by lunch(we'll probably all-out by then), leaves them a day and a half to cover the deficit. For all the praises that have been thrown in the direction of our two new young bowlers, they do not have the tools to curb a highly motivated Bangladeshi batting line-up. Which shall be the satate they'll be in if they knock us over for under 300. One of their aggressive openers Tamim didn't fire in the first innings, and if he does in the second, they will whittle down our score with relative ease. The Bangladeshi bowlers and technical team have, like myself identified the weaknesses of our bowlers and they will look to get on top of them. We have seen them play against and dominated some of the best attacks in world cricket right now, so replicating that against the two raw rookies should be very simple in comparison.
All is not lost, and the Test may very well be salvaged, or better yet, won by our countrymen. That is the very reason for the optimism which engulfs our die-hard folk. A large secluded part of me hopes for that to be the case, and relishes the prospect of us resuming our Test cricket on a fine note. However, in many ways a loss might be what we need to knock some sense into everyone - the selectors, the players, and ourselves the fans. A century and half century opening partnership against this poor attack has hidden the flaws of our opening pair, along the way assuming records which eluded much better pairs who've opened the batting for us against qualified attacks. The middle order is filled with the wrong personnel, and too much faith has been placed in the wrong set of bowlers too soon! Taken in that light, the pain of defeat is necessary to force key people to make the obvious changes. Our strengths have not been utilised appropriately. We simply cannot continue to make ourselves a mockery in the eyes of the world. Change is needed and with that change success is attainable, and for mediocrity, once again we'll read excellence. At this rate that remains a far-fetched dream and we shall forever be consigned to the scrap heap.
Very interestingly biased responses so far. Clearly you do not yet grasp the import of my message! Funnily enough, I remember when I first made my entry into this forum, the majority accused me of being in dreamland as I was so optimistic and expectant of our Zimbabwean cricket team, and I remain the same. What you fail to recognise is that I'm on either extreme, and never in the middle, which is necessary to arrive at assessments utainted with emotion and loyalty. Hence you conclude that I am negative. In many ways my article echoes the sparse comments of many in this forum, except it's in a condensed form. If you consistently review most of what you have posted here you will no doubt realise that you have been far more scathing in some of your comments, than some of my statements here, and you will struggle to absolve yourself form that allegattion. Free your mind and allow it to be enlightened!