Rodney Mupfudza

[sloandog]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe/co ... 17623.html

18 years old and scores a match winning half century on debut.

You see it really baffles me when I see things like this happen.
I know the mens side had an absolute shocker today in Bangladesh, but back home there still seems to be enough batting talent to drip through to the national side. I'm still awaiting the doomsday prediction which googly has been foretelling since he joined ZCF. I remember something alone the lines that the last under 19's CWC squad in 2018 was our last real exciting batch....yet we've just had one of our more successful tournaments which arguably the most talented batch since 2004.
So I ask the fella's on the ground this simple question:

Has Zimbabwe still got enough talented school kids/15/16/17 year olds coming through?

After seeing the 'late bloomer' Campbel Jnr starting to find his FC feet and then this young man scoring a half century on debut, I'm inclined to think we have enough for now.

Keeping hold of that talent I appreciate is a totally different argument

[eugene]

Get him in the team!

[Googly]

We came 11th? Of our exciting players two were from 2018 and one was from 2016. We have about 4 schools that play half decent cricket.
A couple of the exciting players are leaving and one or two more are giving it up. Next World Cup we’ll have one exciting player from the previous World Cup, ZC may play a couple of over agers again to ensure we secure that 11th spot and we may find one or two more and come 11-14th. That’s my definition of Doomsday for school cricket.

The fact is you only need about 4 half good players not to completely embarrass yourself and to beat the associates and to paper over the huge holes, but that day is coming as well.

We have a Board that can’t run a bath, never mind cricket, whose machinations to keep themselves at the helm have cost us $4 million a year, which we never saw anyway because today feels pretty much like yesterday and we have club cricketers getting picked to play international cricket, again that pretty much fits any Doomsday scenario.

[ZIMDOGGY]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe/co ... 17623.html

18 years old and scores a match winning half century on debut.

You see it really baffles me when I see things like this happen.
I know the mens side had an absolute shocker today in Bangladesh, but back home there still seems to be enough batting talent to drip through to the national side. I'm still awaiting the doomsday prediction which googly has been foretelling since he joined ZCF. I remember something alone the lines that the last under 19's CWC squad in 2018 was our last real exciting batch....yet we've just had one of our more successful tournaments which arguably the most talented batch since 2004.
So I ask the fella's on the ground this simple question:

Has Zimbabwe still got enough talented school kids/15/16/17 year olds coming through?

After seeing the 'late bloomer' Campbel Jnr starting to find his FC feet and then this young man scoring a half century on debut, I'm inclined to think we have enough for now.

Keeping hold of that talent I appreciate is a totally different argument

But these are people scoring half centuries against a weak Logan cup attack without our best bowlers and backup bowlers. 110-120k bowlers.

It’s club attack. It’s not a platform to get excited about talent unless there’s scores of 150+

[zimbos_05]

I've always maintained that Zim will produce players with raw talent, the problem is that we don't have a structure in place to nurture that talent.

All of the young guys we are getting excited about can be really good, but there is no way that ZC structures and domestic scene are good enough to prepare them for the international scene. We have seen time and time again, a player of promise failing at international level because they just have not developed enough to be at that level.

Even the likes of Hammy, i still maintain, should have reached heights similar to the likes of a Faf or KP, but he never did because he was not interested in putting in the hard work. He wanted a cushy life and to take it easy. He took the easy road out.

That is what is happening with the youth. We see talented players, we rush them in to the first team, they fail. We either persist with them without any investment in them or we discard them.

[TapsC]

Burl and Tari better be the oldest players who feature in those county warm up games. I don't want to see anybody above 25. This is a perfect opportunity for us to really see which youngsters have what it takes. This should be our version of A team cricket. The last thing I want to see is Shingi Masakadza batting at 6. Let's give all these kids a sink or swim moment.

[ZIMDOGGY]

I've always maintained that Zim will produce players with raw talent, the problem is that we don't have a structure in place to nurture that talent.

All of the young guys we are getting excited about can be really good, but there is no way that ZC structures and domestic scene are good enough to prepare them for the international scene. We have seen time and time again, a player of promise failing at international level because they just have not developed enough to be at that level.

You know in my opinion, I have a completely different view.

Ive always felt that our players are NOT naturally gifted at all. You rarely see 'athletes' in the system. They are always midgets, fat, or fat midgets.

We rarely see a bowler of serious pace, as has been discussed very often recently.

We dont see off spinners that have any real tricks in the way of a Nathan Lyon or any brown test country. Real turners.

And its rare we see players who make batting look effortless, even our best make it look like tough work done well.

What we DO have an have always had, at least up until now, are very technically correct batsmen, with good solid techniques. They struggle to keep the turnover ticking, but they look well drilled. Our nineties teams were tough minded and had heart, but not alot else.

Our spinners tend to be in the mould of Utseya, Price and Chisoro. Guys who get traction from accuracy as opposed to flair and tricks. This is a learnt skill of dedication.

Our pacers have had to make do with line and length, again, a learnt skill.


What I am getting at, is up until now, we have had great junior coaches.
Not necessarily the Mangongo's and Brents, but thr guys at schools with no real name. The Bill Flowers, these dudes.

NOT natural talent, just well coached kids. The OTHER big clue to this is how many test quality players we popped out from such a small pool. Thats not coincidence.

Remember, even 15 years ago, the white population was only 25,000 or so. Think how many star white players Zim have had, both here and the diaspora, from a population the size of a small town.
This isnt genetic, but cultural and from coaching.

[Googly]

I don’t agree. A guy called Harry Hall, who was some kind of psychologist, wrote a paper on the abilities of pink people here. He’d done numerous tests and discovered they were well above average. Some theories were put forward- the Brits who came here after WWI and WW2 had to be qualified in something. The guys who came from south were tough determined folk with an ability to endure and make a plan or they wouldn’t have made it.
We went through a process of natural selection, much like the black guys who survived the journey to America in the slave ships. Then through a careful process of selective inbreeding we rose to lofty heights
I say it half in jest. For the tiny population that we were, we produced some incredible sportsmen, not only sport people, but folk that have been successful out of all proportion to the tiny community they came from.

What really made a difference though was compulsory sports in tough, competitive schools. Back in my day there were about 20 high schools that were all big into sport and there were some big rivalries amongst them, it makes a huge difference.
It’s still evident amongst the top schools in South Africa, especially in rugby. They’re killing off the cricket faster than Coronavirus will damage this continent.

[Googly]

I see Matsikenyeri was 12th man in the Zim game.
That can’t have happened too often, pity he didn’t get to bat.

[zimbos_05]

You know in my opinion, I have a completely different view.

Ive always felt that our players are NOT naturally gifted at all. You rarely see 'athletes' in the system. They are always midgets, fat, or fat midgets.

We rarely see a bowler of serious pace, as has been discussed very often recently.

We dont see off spinners that have any real tricks in the way of a Nathan Lyon or any brown test country. Real turners.

And its rare we see players who make batting look effortless, even our best make it look like tough work done well.

What we DO have an have always had, at least up until now, are very technically correct batsmen, with good solid techniques. They struggle to keep the turnover ticking, but they look well drilled. Our nineties teams were tough minded and had heart, but not alot else.

Our spinners tend to be in the mould of Utseya, Price and Chisoro. Guys who get traction from accuracy as opposed to flair and tricks. This is a learnt skill of dedication.

Our pacers have had to make do with line and length, again, a learnt skill.


What I am getting at, is up until now, we have had great junior coaches.
Not necessarily the Mangongo's and Brents, but thr guys at schools with no real name. The Bill Flowers, these dudes.

NOT natural talent, just well coached kids. The OTHER big clue to this is how many test quality players we popped out from such a small pool. Thats not coincidence.

Remember, even 15 years ago, the white population was only 25,000 or so. Think how many star white players Zim have had, both here and the diaspora, from a population the size of a small town.
This isnt genetic, but cultural and from coaching.

If anything, you're making my point for me and on the same page, just saying it differently. Maybe, natural is not the right word. Maybe raw.

All of these guys you talk of like Nathan Lyon and such, were never a finished product from the beginning. They had raw talent, and it was nurtured and put through properly.

Take a look at the pool between Aus and Zim, and consider how many talented players Zim produced in comparison. Therefore, having natural talent and ability has always been there.

You can also coach a kid as much as you want, but if they don't have the natural ability or talent, they won't be as good as you are coaching them to be.