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They don't really go hand in hand. Do they? Do we have any players at all who retired from the game properly like other teams witness regularly? Like going out with satisfaction and at the right time, and on their own terms? I can't think of many such cases. Retirement in Zim cricket is pretty much non-existent because of these other reasons that account for players moving on:

1. Retiring prematurely to chase other careers / interests (Friend, Taibu, Mbangwa, ...)
2. Dumped ahead of time from the team due to whatever undercurrents (Price, ...)
3. Retiring early to ply their trade elsewhere (Kevin Curran, Sean Ervine, Anthony Ireland, Taylor part 1, Goodwin, Johnson, ...)
4. Pushed out after being there for way longer than their form and fitness (Chigumbura, Utseya, ...)
5. Extraneous factors (all the 2004 Rebels, Olonga, Andy Flower, ...)
6. Injuries cutting careers short (Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, ...)
7. Just fizzling out of contention (Rennie brothers, Bryan Strang, Dougie Hondo, Mluleki Nkala, ...)

I can come up with 3 names if I struggle hard enough - of proper retirements. Two out of those 3 are still not convincing:

Gary Brent (Possibly the only 100% proper retirement case)
David Houghton (I think he took the call himself at some point, but was he forced out by the Flowers and Campbell?)
Guy Whittall (injuries had taken toll, he had Humani ranch on his mind, but the timing was pretty much right)
Anyone else?

So, I don't expect any of our current crop also to retire on their own terms, but to fall in one of those categories (most likely category 4)...

Gary Brent hardly retired in a happy context
http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe/co ... 51392.html

Grant Flower during he second, all be it very brief comeback retired with dignity ahead of the 2011 CWC and went straight into coaching.

sloandog wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2018 1:43 pm

Gary Brent hardly retired in a happy context
http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe/co ... 51392.html

That was typical Steven Price style negative reporting by Cricinfo at that time. Brent later confirmed that he went out on happy terms with ZC. This was captured by brmtaylor.com as an update: http://www.brmtaylor.com/news-69.html

Article link is dead there, but the same content can be found here: https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2008/05/2 ... igh-brent/

You may recall I brought this up a few years ago.
I added the extra caveat of a player who was never forced out of the game/quit in anger or rebellion.
There is literally not one in living memory.

FYI Brent was mentioned then too but he was exiled for a few years and didn’t count

I did feel a bit of deja vu while posting this and felt that you had started a thread like this earlier, but couldn't confirm, so went ahead with this post. Triggered by the news of a couple of Namibian players retiring yesterday and our post-qualifiers speculations in the other thread...

CrimsonAvenger wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2018 2:08 pm

sloandog wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2018 1:43 pm

Gary Brent hardly retired in a happy context
http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe/co ... 51392.html

That was typical Steven Price style negative reporting by Cricinfo at that time. Brent later confirmed that he went out on happy terms with ZC. This was captured by brmtaylor.com as an update: http://www.brmtaylor.com/news-69.html

Article link is dead there, but the same content can be found here: https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2008/05/2 ... igh-brent/

It should be noted that Steven Price isn't a real person. I have never found a single person in Zimbabwe who knows who he is. If Dean du Plessis and John Ward don't know who he is that tells you something. How many cricket journalists can there be in Zimbabwe? Interestingly, cricinfo kept up the charade by posting an article that mentioned that Stephen Price had become disillusioned with the game and now focuses on his business in Harare.

eugene wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2018 3:39 pm

It should be noted that Steven Price isn't a real person. I have never found a single person in Zimbabwe who knows who he is. If Dean du Plessis and John Ward don't know who he is that tells you something. How many cricket journalists can there be in Zimbabwe? Interestingly, cricinfo kept up the charade by posting an article that mentioned that Stephen Price had become disillusioned with the game and now focuses on his business in Harare.

LOL, you know more people in ZIM than I've known people in BD my whole life. LOL.

I wonder whether their contracts were based on qualifying
and there’s a bonus attached or whether ZC was looking further ahead ( ) and wanting them around regardless of qualification so there was a passing of the baton, so to speak?