The many silences of Heath Streak

[TapsC2]

To think that this man did his matchfixing in Indian club cricket, long after he retired from playing or coaching Zimbabwe!!. This situation is a god-send for any organisation with a half-competent PR department. Simply say, the man is a legend, will always be treasured here HOWEVER he ran into issues over there…that sh*t ain’t got nothing to do with us but we wish him well. End of story.

But these clowns can’t help themselves. To play the devils advocate, some of these older black cricket hopefuls have always felt hard done by, having grown up in what used to be an almost exclusive “old boys club” of the 80s and early 90s. Some feel like they were not given a fair shake to make it as pros. However, it was clear that even the “old boys club” was gradually and methodically opening up to black cricketers. Ken Flower literally took it upon himself to scout, recruit and train the likes of Mwayenga. The likes of Watambwa, Nkala, Madondo we’re gradually being integrated into the team. It was a slow yet effective process. But when the sh*t hit the fan, the Mawodza types took the reigns and took a bunch of black players who weren’t ready, and thrust them into the deep end. Long story the short, most of the players never matured and retired with zero tons in +100 ODIs as specialist batsmen, proving the “old boys club” right.

All this vitriol is one of a bunch of underachievers who proved themselves wrong and are now clutching at straws to rewrite history, framing Streak and Brendan as these unmitigated failures, just to make themselves feel better about themselves

https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/zim-crickets-unsung-hero

The problem is you have guys like this who you can clearly tell feel like they were cheated by the system back in the day but they contribute a lot even up to now. Whether they have a case or not is besides the point. They just will never forget. Quite a few guys controlling the system now have a similar story

[zimbos_05]

https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/zim-crickets-unsung-hero

The problem is you have guys like this who you can clearly tell feel like they were cheated by the system back in the day but they contribute a lot even up to now. Whether they have a case or not is besides the point. They just will never forget. Quite a few guys controlling the system now have a similar story

There's obviously another side to this story, but you can tell he is vindictive and feels very hard done by.

I've never heard of him, so he could really have been a good player, but he does mention that he was selected for the national side, just didn't get a game. Perhaps important which series he was selected for and who he was up against. He obviously didn't stick around long enough because he left at 19. Surely at that age, you are still kind of paying your dues, particularly in a very new Test playing nation.

[sloandog]

Sour grapes to me. Didn't get selected so he pulls the race card...shock. He epitomises that generation of black cricketers and their mindset.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Sour grapes to me. Didn't get selected so he pulls the race card...shock. He epitomises that generation of black cricketers and their mindset.

Well what doesn’t compute is from everything I have seen all previous management of Zimbabwe cricket were desperate to increase black participation in the sport.
They were crying out for that feel good story after getting test status.

[Googly]

I was Googling Tandi and Pswarayi's name also came up. He seemed angrier than Tandi at his non selection. There's actually a thread on this forum about him- he was less than complimentary about Olonga. I never saw either of them bowl, the most one could do is ask people who played in that era.

John Ward should have some memories of them?

You can ask a black guy and he'll say- they were excellent and hard done by and you ask a white guy and he'll say he was OK, but check his stats and who would he have replaced? In a white environment the black guy has to be obviously better and in a black environment the white guy has to be stand out. That needs to change and this generation of administration and even government has to change before we see some sort of impartiality. Anyone who's lived in Zim has some sort of innate prejudice, we've all had our own experiences, it's how one deals with it going forward.

Here's the truth- white guys have to deal with it or Zim becomes a difficult place to live, the black guys don't have to, they can pretty much say and do as they please with no repercussions. Not that most do, Zim is a pretty relaxed place these days. Some guys will stir the pot when they need to maintain relevance or come election time and it will always have traction, but less so these days. There's a statute of limitations on how long you can blame someone else and do worse yourself once you're driving the bus.

Anyone who leaves in disgust at 19 has no right to say they should have been up for national selection but were prejudiced, that's just bullshit.

The one certain thing is that there was a huge short sighted reluctance to include players and provide pathways. (Its 100 times worse now, but thats conveniently overlooked!) That would have delayed the inevitable head on clash by at least 5 years! I actually mean that as well. There was never going to be a happy ending back then. If 5 guys of colour had been selected the pressure would have been on for 10.

People have long memories of those days and it hugely contributes to the ongoing prejudices of today. You can't undo the wrongs of the past, but you can most certainly learn from them. Our blokes have mostly just taken a blueprint and in some instances ramped it up.
It's such a pity there was no footage around of those days so we could see for ourselves, that would end the debate for sure.

Individuals nearly always think they were better than they actually were. Half my mates will tell you they could have been a Bok if the knee or ankle hadn't popped, or if they'd taken sport more seriously. Even me!

Here's an unpalatable fact- there probably is about 5 or so guys that were overlooked from the 80's thru to the early 2000's, but there's probably three times that number that were given the same treatment subsequently. So many really talented and committed cricketers that either jacked it in or tried elsewhere because they thought they would be prejudiced or that there was no future because cricket was going down the toilet. There's 3 sides to every story.

[cricket_22001]

Just stating that I found G Tandi on cricketarchive.com & there was an junior international event in '93 & he was a squad member. Most scorecards are incomplete so I can't give performances. So was Darlington Matambanadzo.
But the LC started as a FC comp in 93/94. Mashonaland under 24s competed & 18 players represented them. Clive Chadhani, Hitesh Hira, the Matambanadzos, Blessing Ngondo (the keeper) & Pswarayi made apppearance that year. So 33% were "of colour".
Ali Omarshah, Ujesh Ranchod, Manish Ranchod, Ethan Dube & Henry Olonga played for other teams that season.
A total of 64 players made an appearance in the 1993/94 LC.
Hira, Pswarayi & Ujesh Ranchod made appearances for the Zim Board team in the UCB bowl. 17 players were in that squad.

[Tinah09]

https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/zim-crickets-unsung-hero

The problem is you have guys like this who you can clearly tell feel like they were cheated by the system back in the day but they contribute a lot even up to now. Whether they have a case or not is besides the point. They just will never forget. Quite a few guys controlling the system now have a similar story

I had no idea this guy existed. According to the poorly-written article l, he walked away after playing U19. Claims he had a good European tour for Zu19 but was overlooked for the snr natl team. He sounds more like an entitled prick than a serious cricketer. Did he really expect ZC to discard experienced bowlers to accommodate him on the back of an allegedly good European tour?

Plus cricket is the most stats heavy sport in the world, if you were as good as you claim, where are the stats to back it up brother?? Where are pictures of you posing with your man of the match/ series trophies? I gues ls we should just take your word for it huh?? I guess we should pretend that black players like the Matambanadzo brothers, Olonga, Nkala, Mbangwa were emerging during that period too

[CrimsonAvenger]

Just stating that I found G Tandi on cricketarchive.com & there was an junior international event in '93 & he was a squad member. Most scorecards are incomplete so I can't give performances. So was Darlington Matambanadzo.
But the LC started as a FC comp in 93/94. Mashonaland under 24s competed & 18 players represented them. Clive Chadhani, Hitesh Hira, the Matambanadzos, Blessing Ngondo (the keeper) & Pswarayi made apppearance that year. So 33% were "of colour".
Ali Omarshah, Ujesh Ranchod, Manish Ranchod, Ethan Dube & Henry Olonga played for other teams that season.
A total of 64 players made an appearance in the 1993/94 LC.
Hira, Pswarayi & Ujesh Ranchod made appearances for the Zim Board team in the UCB bowl. 17 players were in that squad.

Thanks for digging this up. So, Tandi did not even play a full domestic season while many others you have listed here did, and more than one season too. Olonga, Everton and Ujesh Ranchod went on to play for the national team too. Surely, Tandi should have naturally gotten more opportunities if he was as good as any of these (unless there was some personal grudge involved at some level, which can't be ruled out)?

[ZIMDOGGY]

Pretty much every black ppl Ayer in the late nineties was only there through some unofficial/official quota.
I remember watching Nkala bowl in 2001 and it was embarrassing. 125 k pea shots in the tri series.
I don’t recall enough of olonga but I suspect he got a leg up too.

Point is if Tandi was close to good enough he’d be there at least in the nineties.