U19 World Cup | South Africa | Jan-Feb 2024

[Googly]

I guess that leaves Chitare as u19 coach

[ZIMDOGGY]

Im not sure what you mean by invest in tapeball cricket?

Tapeball cricket is just something you do as a kid when you want to play on the street with your friend bored and you dont have any money so you put sticky tape over a tennis ball.

Not sure why you would 'invest' in that?

That is like me going to italy and saying we should invest in kicking around helium balloons as soccer balls in Napoli.

Why not just give them balls?

I try to explain myself better.

In Italy we have less thaan a dozen ethnic italian cricketers (myself included).

We have 1.000 cricketers (99.9% from subcontinent) playing hardball cricket in federation managed leagues .

We have some 20.000 (maybe more) tapeball cricketers.
None of them are kids. All of them adult or youth.

In every major town in Italy you may see tapeball matches held in public grounds or supermarket parking lots, every Saturday and Sunday.
Very, very often they hire soccer fields surrounded by track and organize floodlit tournaments. Often with live facebook streaming with a several thousand people audience (in their mother Countries).

All these tapeball cricketers are migrants with very low income jobs.

So tapeball is NOT kid pastime, rather it is the best grassroot opportunity.

When I mean investing in tapeball cricket in Zimbabwe, I mean to promote matches, tournaments, fast bowling contests, etc. to have the chance to scout potential talented athletes in low income black communities.

Distributing tapeball bats, tennis balls and some prizes for the best is not a budget-affecting policy.
Try, for example, with a contest where there is a small prize for all bowlers who bowl beyond 70mph. You would have plenty of youngsters taking the chance.
Figure out that among them you may scout someone who is really promising and give him the chance to try a short stint in an academy.
Word of mouth may turn out in hundreds of aspiring cricketers next time.

Blessing Muzarabani is a great talent. How many like him exist in Zimbabwe but nobody knows?

Give Zim youth a try with a low budget form of cricket, then you may have thousands of potential players from which to choose.

I see a bit more where you are coming from, because you actively play this.

However, would I be right in saying though that these tapeball games are self organised and casual? The same way kids would do it, except an adult version where people can have a laugh and maybe a beer afterward?


Because I think if Zim were to invest' in the game regionally and their answer would be to give them some used tennis balls and sticky tape, over actual cricket balls, that would be surely mocked worldwide and be issued a 'please explain?' from the ICC?

[Pat_Bee]

Ya these tapeball games are a casual thing where Shadystanis with luxurious moustaches and beards get together after a hard day dragging rickshaws or whatever they do and lay the rupees down on Ahmed shazamdawg being given out on the 7th ball of the 19th over, six and out smacking it into some neighbour’s compound where he keeps his dogs.

Way too “grass roots” for ZC to get involved.

However… the ECB backed kwik cricket or whatever it was in English schools back in the early 90s. Something more legit and with precedent would be given the rubber stamp by the BCCI, I mean ICC. Any older than say 10 or something then it’s cork and willow fella.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Yeah those old kanga cricket sets for little kids make more sense

[Pat_Bee]

Would end up with guys surreptitiously applying a little extra tape than the none existent regulations permit trying to get it reversing when old Ahmed shazamdawg is well into his daddy hundred and the game is only 20 balls old. It’s a none starter.

[Pat_Bee]

Bounced once, can catch it one handed and that’s out fella

[Kriterion_BD]

You should read this article which shows how big the gap is between the big three and the next six now: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/test ... ix-1417584

Yeah I read that article a few years ago. I've dug up some stats as well, which I'll share here.

The following is from July 2019 onwards - in other words from the WTC era. I think Test match pitches are much more result oriented in the WTC era...thats why there are so many 2 and 3 day Test matches occuring and so few 5-day draws.

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engin ... ;type=team

Here we see the Big 3's records in away Tests vs the Next 6. England surprisingly lead the way, with a 9-4-3 record. Australia follow with a 2-1-2 record, and India are still winning the majority of their games, but have also seem to struggle at times, with 7 wins and 5 losses.

Overall this means the Big 3 have 18 wins and 10 losses with 6 draws.

If we flip it over, the Next 6 have only 4 wins, but 29 losses, and just 5 draws overseas against the Big 3.

And lastly we have the Little 3 of Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Ireland vs the Next 6 in all Tests in the WTC era. 1 win and 11 losses, with 2 draws. The lone win is Afghanistan vs Bangladesh in 2018...must be noted before Bangladesh started their WTC campaign a few weeks later.

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engin ... ;type=team

So what we see is Big 3 > gap > next 6 > daylight > little 3. Makes the West Indies win at the Gabba all the more special!

[Mueddie28]

There’ll be no coaches left in the country at this rate. We’ve lost a lot over the past 12 months,

Why not celebrate that Prosper is going , hopefully Matsi leaves too and ZC can stop carrying excess baggage..

[andrea lanzoni]

I see a bit more where you are coming from, because you actively play this.

However, would I be right in saying though that these tapeball games are self organised and casual? The same way kids would do it, except an adult version where people can have a laugh and maybe a beer afterward?

Because I think if Zim were to invest' in the game regionally and their answer would be to give them some used tennis balls and sticky tape, over actual cricket balls, that would be surely mocked worldwide and be issued a 'please explain?' from the ICC?

Yes, I know tapeball because it's very popular in Italy, especially since Pakistani account for over 50% of all subcontinent immigrants.
It's not just a few friends pastime: there's plenty of tournaments with prizes, facebook live streaming, packed stands.

Surely there may be other forms of grassroots cricket which might better fit locally in Zimbabwe (and to the eyes of ICC).

My point of view is that hardball cricket calls for some investment in kit. This is something that I deem might be beyond budget of low income families.

In my club, where we play hardball only, less than half of players come to ground with their own kit: all others borrow helmet, gloves, pads and bat from the club'skit or from other members.

So, in order to widen the talent pool, you got to spread "cheap" cricket, something where any youth may practice without affecting the wallet.

Whatever the form of "cheap" cricket to pursue, the oucome is to see tens of thousands of youngsters to play.
From such pool you may then envisage to have new Muzarabani.

[Googly]

If kids were keen on cricket they'd play with a tennis ball and whatever came to hand as a bat. Trying to introduce a taped tennis ball won't change anything.

The only thing that will change that is if rhe national side starts winning games and they see opportunities in cricket.