State of SA

[eugene]

If they limited themselves to only six domestic teams that would mean only 24-30 white players making the cut domestically, at least with 14 there is a bit more room for guys to defy the quotas.

[Googly]

I dunno if anyone saw that documentary about the SA WC campaigns? It was hours long and was riveting stuff. They are absolutely jinxed. I still vividly recall the party I was at when we beat SA and the tremendous excitement, the drinks flowed freely that night!

[Googly]

Robin Jackman's recent passing prompted me to do some reading about his career and I came across this fascinating article
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/robi ... 972-106011
That year we would have won the Currie Cup had EP not staged a walk off and had CSA not reversed their decision.
That was a helluva cricket team.
Wilmot the EP captain ended up doing some jail time for unwanted advances on a 12 year old.

[Googly]

Dave Ellman-Brown has also just died. He and Alwyn Pichanick were the men principally responsible for getting our cricket on the map against all odds.
https://dailynews-co-zw.cdn.ampproject. ... chanick%2F

Here's an interesting interview with Mr Ellman- Brown
https://www-espncricinfo-com.cdn.amppro ... t-2-105649

There's very little acknowledgement of the contribution these two men made by the ineptocracy that currently and permanently drive our bus.

I was following a thread of people paying their respects to DEB and there was an interesting and somewhat inappropriate comment in the context of the thread made by Murray Goodwin- he said that had DEB not become a Chingoka puppet he'd most definitely still be playing.

[ZIMDOGGY]

I was following a thread of people paying their respects to DEB and there was an interesting and somewhat inappropriate comment in the context of the thread made by Murray Goodwin- he said that had DEB not become a Chingoka puppet he'd most definitely still be playing.

He would still be good enough for our top 6 but at 48 he would be one of the oldest test players of all time.

[sloandog]

How can we find that SA documentary

[eugene]

Reading that DEB interview from what I am guessing is the late 90s, early 2000s makes me wonder, where would cricket be today in Zimbabwe if it never got pro-active on racial quotas and taking the game to the masses? I know this could have never happened in the real-life political environment of Zimbabwe, but hypothetically speaking, what would the talent level be in cricket had it stayed largely in the domain of the white community with black growth hapening through osmosis at both admin and playing levels? Is the community to small to sustain much now? Would we have missed out a lot of talent with a less aggressive approach among the black community?

[TapsC2]

Reading that DEB interview from what I am guessing is the late 90s, early 2000s makes me wonder, where would cricket be today in Zimbabwe if it never got pro-active on racial quotas and taking the game to the masses? I know this could have never happened in the real-life political environment of Zimbabwe, but hypothetically speaking, what would the talent level be in cricket had it stayed largely in the domain of the white community with black growth hapening through osmosis at both admin and playing levels? Is the community to small to sustain much now? Would we have missed out a lot of talent with a less aggressive approach among the black community?

I think our situation would still be very similar because of the political and economic situation around the country and less about cricket. The talent drain could not be stopped . You will find a lot of guys like the Currans for example might not have left if they still had their farms up and running. Would Graeme Cremer have left if the national airline was paying his wife top dollar? Would the clubs still be self sufficient when the economy is collapsing?

A lot of people black and white have left because of the economic situation and that would have led to a talent drain anywhere. The only sport that is set to benefit from this is soccer because kids are getting better training and exposure out there to be good enough to play for us but not good enough for England. That’s how the West and North African countries have decent soccer teams. As for cricket the rules don’t allow that yet and it’s frustrating

We probably would have been Bangladesh at best.

[Googly]

Young cricketers have left if they've had options because they can't scratch a living from cricket unless they're on a central contract. That's a big gamble to take three or more years out to try and get the nod and you need a support base to be able to do that.
I accept that if the country and economy were in a better state some would have stayed, but that doesn't change the fact that we need a system where really good youngsters need pathways to make a serious commitment to our cricket. Just a full season of cricket would be a start.
This T20 thats just been cancelled was only 4 games, they hadn't even thought to have back to back T20's in a day so they could play 8 games. Its hard to fathom.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Reading that DEB interview from what I am guessing is the late 90s, early 2000s makes me wonder, where would cricket be today in Zimbabwe if it never got pro-active on racial quotas and taking the game to the masses? I know this could have never happened in the real-life political environment of Zimbabwe, but hypothetically speaking, what would the talent level be in cricket had it stayed largely in the domain of the white community with black growth hapening through osmosis at both admin and playing levels? Is the community to small to sustain much now? Would we have missed out a lot of talent with a less aggressive approach among the black community?

I think our batting lineup would be much stronger and our bowling lineup would largely be low 120’s medium pacers.