The John Ward column

[eugene]

Get him in the team!

[Kriterion_BD]

Sounds like Musakanda might have some talent to him after all. He is very young and was out-scoring almost all the seniors.

[Detective RDS]

Am I the only one here who is keeping John Ward busy ?

C'mon guys fire in some questions, he has wealth of knowledge & love to read his in depth views.

Questions for John Ward.

1. What's your view on the selected 16 man test squad vs Sri Lanka ? What will be your XI for the 1st test ?
2. What's your view on the recent appointment of Heath Streak as head coach ? What are the areas which require immediate fix by him as a head coach ?

Thank you eugene.

[sloandog]

What's the chances of Brendan Taylor coming back after his stint with Nottingham has concluded?

[TapsC]

how would you rank our First Class system compared to other test playing nations? and what would you suggest we do to increase the quality of the system with the limited resources we have?are you for more teams or less?.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

For John Ward:

- How's cricket going in the rural areas? Do any of the old and historical sports/country clubs still put a team together? Do they still have grounds in reasonable conditions?

[Googly]

Is Zimbabwe in danger of losing its test status?
Surely Afghanistan and Ireland must be wondering how they are not under consideration? Would one of them be elevated at our expense or is there room for another member?
The ICC have turned a blind eye to most of the shenanigans here, but we must be sorely testing them. ZC must know something we don't because they continue along the same vein without apparent censure?

[Googly]

Who are the national selectors?

[aydee]

Is Zimbabwe in danger of losing its test status?
Surely Afghanistan and Ireland must be wondering how they are not under consideration? Would one of them be elevated at our expense or is there room for another member?

It seems increasingly likely that test cricket will be expanded to 12 teams in the near future.

[eugene]

1. What are the chances of Brendan Taylor returning after his Nottingham stint?
Impossible to speculate at the moment. I believe Tatenda Taibu and others are keeping in touch with him, but really I think the biggest factor is what state Zimbabwe cricket is in when that time comes. We can only hope!

2. How would you rank our first class system compared to other test playing nations? What would you suggest to improve the quality? More teams, fewer teams?
I would hope we have better claim to first-class quality in the Logan Cup than the South African semi-professional competition or the Sri Lankan club competition that is adjudged first-class! As things stand at the moment, I think four teams is the best possible solution. Fewer than four would make it hardly a competition at all, and lead to a falling-off in Kwekwe and Mutare as happened in Masvingo, and we don’t have the depth at present for more than four. Hopefully the time will come before too long when we can revive Masvingo as a first-class team.

3. What is the state of cricket in the rural areas? Do any of the old historical sports/country clubs still put a team together? Do they still have grounds in reasonable condition?
I don’t know much about rural cricket at the moment, but I think some are keeping going, but many have fallen away. I do know the Triangle area still has several teams and has ambitions in the long term to become a first-class side, while the Midlands have a regular club competition consisting of club sides representing about six to eight town teams.