As others have pointed out, we are in the shit and bereft of ideas currently because everyone that's come through in the last 10-12 years have been mostly rubbish. They were good schoolboys though, but have been fucked hard up the backside by our incompetent administrators and coaches, lack of fixtures, poor domestic structure and general poor treatment amidst all the chaos. And low standards.secretzimbo wrote: ↑Tue May 10, 2022 3:52 pmRemember Wessly dominated SA schools cricket. And did very well across three U19 WCs.secretzimbo wrote: ↑Tue May 10, 2022 3:45 pmBecause I'm starting to run out of patience with Wes.
So, Wes is one of the most naturally gifted players we have. He has twice the natural ability that Shumba does. And yet, you watch Zimbabwe and it looks like Shumba is far better. Something major going wrong there. Wes has every shot in the book and heaps of talent. It's not an understatement to say he could be very special.
But unfortunately, he's already got his fancy haircut and he's bought a new car. He knows he's guaranteed a place in every squad in every format for the next ten years because there's literally nobody else. He's getting a great salary at a young age and nobody seems to care if he's actually underperforming. For his level of ability, he IS underperforming.
By all accounts you won't see him in the nets as much as some other guys. Shumba is there for hours each day apparently. Someone like Regis, we know he's one of the hardest grafters around. Is Wes? From what I've heard he's not.
He needs a rocket up his arse and needs to be dropped. If we keep accepting his underperformance and let him average 25 when really he has the talent to average 40, then he'll end up like all the countless other talented black players we've had over the years who settles for second best and are comfortable with doing the bare minimum to keep the cash rolling in.
He's young but this is when lessons are learnt. We can't hand these kids everything on a plate. This is the age where you have to drill in high expectations into these guys or else they'll end up as another Chibhabha, Maruma or Mutumbami - all btw, who were extremely promising as young men but wilted into insignificance due to our shite system, shite coaching, and our ready acceptance of mediocrity.
It's very possible that 2-3 years from now, a few schoolboys who Wes was consistently better than, will be playing for the Proteas performing well against top teams. Meanwhile Wes could be averaging 25 playing for 15th-ranked Zimbabwe against Nepal and Namibia.
Our old boys are great and our youngsters have potential but there's a massive age gap where everyone within that is pretty average.
We now have a small bunch of promising youngsters that miraculously seem to be committed to ZC, and it's really important that we don't let them go to waste like we have previous generations.
We need;
- More domestic fixtures. Tick! We've played plenty this year. Let's keep it going and build on it next season.
- More international fixtures (including A series). Tick! At the moment anyway. The next 4-6 months looks busy. Let's ensure it continues.
- Proper coaching. We are miles away on this. We might as well have Rajkumar in charge. Rajput is beyond terrible and the franchises in particularly have poor coaches and a poor setup. We need better coaches throughout the professional system.
- High Standards!!!!!!
With the above things then Marumani, Shumba, Madhevere, Madande et al might be able to go on and have decent international careers and potentially even stop our continued slide into the abyss.