Matthew Bentley plans a career with Ireland

[CrimsonAvenger]

Ironically the Franchise system is actually reducing the chances of youngsters getting a chance as there are more full time professional cricketers than there has ever been in Zim

Look at Jongwe he is immensley talented, but at his age (17) the likes of K.Davies, Olonga, Taibu, Masakadza, S.Ervine, Nkala, Coventry, Englebrecht were being fast tracked into First Class Cricket. Last season only 3 players under the age of 20 played first class cricket in Zim; Mayavo, Kasuza and Musoko.

That is a very interesting observation. Has cricket become more of a career option and less of a talented professional sporting discipline (importance being former instead of latter) and thus ensured over-institutionalization than scouting for real talent?

[eugene]

Yes I have noticed that too, very few under 20s are getting much game time these days.

[betterdays]

I am not 100% sure about your point Robin, but surely with a little will most of those issues could be easily rectified!!?

[jaybro]

I watched the under 19's world cup here in Aus and I can tell you Lake, Burl and Bentley are massive losses and are part of Zimbabwe's " Best young talent " . I was also very impressed with Musoko, Bowie, Wellington Masakadza and of course Kazusa .
And if the reason Ballance and Sean Ervine decided to try their luck in England ( and why the others are to ) is because they would rather play for a " Larger Nation " that is very sad, the reason I have grown attached to the Zimbabwean cricket team is watching them come to Australia and play in world cups and play with so much passion and pride for their small cricketing nation so to think this no longer the case is very disappointing.

this article shows how much things have apparently changed

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/ ... 37078.html

[Jemisi]

Yes I have noticed that too, very few under 20s are getting much game time these days.

It is good that 17 year olds can't just walk into teams though, isn't it? Sure throw a brilliant player a game if there are any, but mostly they should be still in club cricket at that age.

[ZIMDOGGY]

From reading this and other articles concerning young Zimbabwean cricketers leaving to play and qualify for European nations this must be a massive concern for the board and alarm bells must be ringing. Since Im not there can some one please explain to me why all these players would rather play for a non-Test playing nation like Ireland over their country of birth ??? Is it just about money ??? or are there other contributing factors ???

I think people here get caught up in the cricket, the picturesque Harare sports ground and the aristocratic aloofness of the zim cricketers/identities..

and forget that this country is ZIMBABWE

a.k.a farm invasion zimbabwe, Mugabe zimbabwe, 45 yrs life expectancy zimbabwe, 20% aids rate zimbabwe, lowest 10% living standard zimbabwe, power cuts, food shortages, thuggery,crime poverty etc need i go on?

[betterdays]

I think people here get caught up in the cricket, the picturesque Harare sports ground and the aristocratic aloofness of the zim cricketers/identities..

extend that to "the middle classes" people are still having Braais by the lake ... watching movies ... eating out ... (going back!!!)

and forget that this country is ZIMBABWE

a.k.a farm invasion zimbabwe, Mugabe zimbabwe, 45 yrs life expectancy zimbabwe, 20% aids rate zimbabwe, lowest 10% living standard zimbabwe, power cuts, food shortages, thuggery,crime poverty etc need i go on?

I used to think conviction was the shakiest foundation from which to build your viewing point but i realise now it's 'nostalgia'.

[herb]

45 yrs life
expectancy zimbabwe, 20% aids rate
zimbabwe, lowest 10% living standard
zimbabwe, power cuts, food shortages,
thuggery

a few corrections: life expectancy is 59; aids rate is 13 % (down from 25% in 2000) ;and i dont know what you mean by thuggery ,but a quick look at the stats will show that we are much much better than most african countries. That being said i agree that zimbabwe has plenty of problems and sport has suffered coz of that. Whilst its asy to to blame zc for every player that leaves ,every single sport in zim has lost players. In the last rugby world cup you make a full team from players that had left zim . a team that would include David Poccock and Tendai Mutawarira (the saffers cant even pronounce his first name). Princess Charlene of Monaco left zim to swim for south africa in the olympics. so whilst there is a fair bit of mismanagement at zc ,you should realise that there is simply no money in the country. a football player (biggest sport in the country) would be glad to get half the money that a centrally contracted player gets

[Googly]

Good post

[Googly]

Yes I have noticed that too, very few under 20s are getting much game time these days.

It is good that 17 year olds can't just walk into teams though, isn't it? Sure throw a brilliant player a game if there are any, but mostly they should be still in club cricket at that age.

Disagree, age has very little to do with it. If he can cope at 15, 16, or 17 that's when he needs to play up. Practically every single top cricketer has played up, we are missing a big trick by not doing this. I've seen the CC youngsters at league level and they are ready for the jump, no question.