Regis Chakabva moves to Australia

[Googly]

We need a Merlin bowling machine really badly. They're about 20k. Could one of the admin forgo a month's salary to purchase one or perhaps get all 50 players that get paid $500 a month to donate 100 bucks a month for a season so we can get one? Just don't feed one of your kids.

Then of course we need a place to put it. We don't seem to have an uncover facility or an academy or a high performance centre. Eeish I need my meds.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Nobody should be tired of playing Afghanistan. They're our benchmark. When we start beating these guys on a regular basis it tells everybody we've finally turned a corner.
Theyre a good side with a particularly formidable bowling attack that can trouble any batting line up on the planet.

The problem is I'm not sure how we go about that, other than playing them so regularly that our better players get used to their bowlers. We either continue getting dicked by them and reinforce where we are at or somehow claw ourselves up a couple of rungs. Don't forget we went through long periods of not playing games which suited ZC so our poor cricket was not constantly on display and we could pretend we were better than we are.
I'm really hoping that we now get more games and somehow learn to raise our game.

It's still not official whether they're just ducking the test or the entire tour. Why would they duck just the test, they need test exposure as much as we do, don't they?
Again not an official word from ZC. Maybe they haven't finished the discussions, but its likely we will eventually get word through their unofficial channels. I mean what's up with that? Just make an official statement and not empower a random nasty fellow with an axe to grind.

For me it’s just boring. Endless Rotation of Bangladesh and Afghanistan. I get sick of their whiny little chirping all the time too. Like a bunch of chihuahuas.

I get they’re close to our level and we should play them but lets play other countries a little more. It was exciting when they toured Oz. A thrill when they won that game.

Personally speaking, I’d like to see more games against the windies. They are on the Afghan level nowadays and I think the Zim fans would prefer this too.
My anecdotal observation is the black fans like the West Indies because they are black and blingy. I see a lot of West Indies worship on Zim Facebook groups over the years so didn’t arrive at that conclusion lightly.

[Googly]

It doesn't change the fact that we have to beat these teams to even be considered by the bigger teams. It doesn't matter which of these 3 we play, but if we could play them every week we should. Afghanistan are the ones with an arrogant bad attitude towards us and we need to somehow get on top of them over the next couple of years. It has to be our goal. Quite how is up to Houghton magic because we don't have the system and talent pool to deliver.

Aside from the black, gold, swagger and dreads I don't think we have much in common with the West Indians.
Unless you're killing it on the cricket field it's not a good look in that it's all a bit casual. You have to be super good to pull that off and that bird has all but flown for the West Indians, it's back to the drawing board for them. Ghetto Black guys kicking the snot out of establishment whites will always cause mass hysteria, but its time to move on, it's not Groundhog Day. There will always be the annual re-run of Fire in Babylon which I also enjoy actually, but my go to annual movie is Django Unchained. I know it's a bitter pill, but truth be told I don't think they think much of us.
I'd be curious to see how the West Indian playing for Eagles has fitted in and how well he's been received.

I'd like to see us playing Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands. We dodge them because we don't want to play down, but they're not down, that's our level. We've sunk but they've improved big time. They're on the up and we need to deal with that.

[zimbos_05]

Nobody should be tired of playing Afghanistan. They're our benchmark. When we start beating these guys on a regular basis it tells everybody we've finally turned a corner.
Theyre a good side with a particularly formidable bowling attack that can trouble any batting line up on the planet.

The problem is I'm not sure how we go about that, other than playing them so regularly that our better players get used to their bowlers. We either continue getting dicked by them and reinforce where we are at or somehow claw ourselves up a couple of rungs. Don't forget we went through long periods of not playing games which suited ZC so our poor cricket was not constantly on display and we could pretend we were better than we are.
I'm really hoping that we now get more games and somehow learn to raise our game.

It's still not official whether they're just ducking the test or the entire tour. Why would they duck just the test, they need test exposure as much as we do, don't they?
Again not an official word from ZC. Maybe they haven't finished the discussions, but its likely we will eventually get word through their unofficial channels. I mean what's up with that? Just make an official statement and not empower a random nasty fellow with an axe to grind.

Afghanistan have players that are making waves in international cricket, and often this coincides with their International tours. These players are bringing value to their team and themselves, so playing against Zim all the time, a side they can see isn't really improving, is not worth their time.

Other nations look to Afghanistan for their T20 leagues and this is something their players see value in. Even in the upcominng BBL, Izharulhaq Naveed has been picked up by Sydney. A fairly unknown commodity is more valuable than our biggest names.

So it get's boring playing them because nothing really changes. They treat us with disrespect all the time, and our squad never really improves to actually prove that we are better than them.

[Kriterion_BD]

It doesn't change the fact that we have to beat these teams to even be considered by the bigger teams. It doesn't matter which of these 3 we play, but if we could play them every week we should. Afghanistan are the ones with an arrogant bad attitude towards us and we need to somehow get on top of them over the next couple of years. It has to be our goal. Quite how is up to Houghton magic because we don't have the system and talent pool to deliver.

Aside from the black, gold, swagger and dreads I don't think we have much in common with the West Indians.
Unless you're killing it on the cricket field it's not a good look in that it's all a bit casual. You have to be super good to pull that off and that bird has all but flown for the West Indians, it's back to the drawing board for them. Ghetto Black guys kicking the snot out of establishment whites will always cause mass hysteria, but its time to move on, it's not Groundhog Day. There will always be the annual re-run of Fire in Babylon which I also enjoy actually, but my go to annual movie is Django Unchained. I know it's a bitter pill, but truth be told I don't think they think much of us.
I'd be curious to see how the West Indian playing for Eagles has fitted in and how well he's been received.

I'd like to see us playing Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands. We dodge them because we don't want to play down, but they're not down, that's our level. We've sunk but they've improved big time. They're on the up and we need to deal with that.

Very true. Granted, I don't see much gold or swagger from any of the ZIM guys.

There are different parts to this "question". Firstly, I would like to see the ICC do their part, unlikely as it probably is. I would like to see them do two things: establish a Test fund for AFG/IRE/ZIM, and another fund that includes top Associates like NED-SCO-NAM and whoever else for white ball cricket. So far the Associates are all getting plenty of 50 over cricket through the various World Cup leagues. Thats a very good thing. But Afghanistan, Ireland, and Zimbabwe should not be cancelling Test matches because of financial reasons. That is unacceptable, and the ICC needs to take money from rich (9 WTC teams + ICC global event revenues) to ensure the smaller 3 play 4-5 Tests per year. It would literally take 1% of the ICC's annual revenue at most.

The second issue is at the board to board level. The ACB should not cancel series against ZC, because while Afghanistan may be one notch above Zimbabwe, they are also 1 notch below the next best teams. Thats a fact. Afghanistan have played in a lot of World Cups now, over the past 10 years, and they have never beaten a top 10 side. Thats like 50 games without a win. Yes, bilaterals are important, but if Afghanistan wants to get to a level where they can compete with Sri Lanka, West Indies, or Bangladesh they will need to play as many games as they can, and that includes against Zimbabwe. Bangladesh didn't become a top side by refusing to play against Zimbabwe circa 2010. We played half of all our games against Zimbabwe.

Correction: Afghanistan have won 1 game against top 10 teams in an ICC event. They beat eventual champions West Indies in the 2016 T20 world cup.

[Googly]

The fact that games between full members are more expensive than between Associates needs to be addressed.
ICC hand money out, but then get a chunk of it back by charging extortionate fees to run a game is just weird.
The shenanigans going on within ICC will never be rooted out. They're deeply corrupt and heavily compromised by the big nations. Can you imagine the salaries these ICC critters get paid! That's why they don't blink an eye when they see what the fat cat country board members give themselves.

Also the requirement to televise can easily be changed.
Livestream is more than sufficient. High quality static cameras that are mounted above each sidescreen, perhaps on the crease line and a couple of other strategic places are one off purchases and cheap as chips these days. They should be in place for all domestic games

[TapsC2]

You never answered my question about what you thought was a lucrative contract?
5k for example is a nice contract. 3k is marginal.
95% of all our players don't get anything like that.
You have to lack a conscience if you collect 20k and you watch a professional young cricketer scoop lunch into his bag so he can save some bucks
And you have to know that you're just papering over the big cracks so you can keep enjoying a very extravagant lifestyle.

Right now I personally think we have 4 players who deserve more than 5k. That's Blessing plus the 3 senior players left. The rest of them should consider 5k to 6k a lucrative contract if we are being honest. We have been playing a lot of games, the match fees make it even more lucrative

As for the $600 domestic salary well it would be interesting to know how much domestic players in Bangladesh, Afghanistan ad Sri Lanka earn. As I said before the ICC know exactly what's happening, they were approving it. So my suspicion is that their pay scales mustn't be too far off from what they expect a domestic player in a country they consider minnows gets.

[TapsC2]

The fact that games between full members are more expensive than between Associates needs to be addressed.
ICC hand money out, but then get a chunk of it back by charging extortionate fees to run a game is just weird.
The shenanigans going on within ICC will never be rooted out. They're deeply corrupt and heavily compromised by the big nations. Can you imagine the salaries these ICC critters get paid! That's why they don't blink an eye when they see what the fat cat country board members give themselves.

Also the requirement to televise can easily be changed.
Livestream is more than sufficient. High quality static cameras that are mounted above each sidescreen, perhaps on the crease line and a couple of other strategic places are one off purchases and cheap as chips these days. They should be in place for all domestic games

It's a big scam. They need an FBI investigation.

[Googly]

You never answered my question about what you thought was a lucrative contract?
5k for example is a nice contract. 3k is marginal.
95% of all our players don't get anything like that.
You have to lack a conscience if you collect 20k and you watch a professional young cricketer scoop lunch into his bag so he can save some bucks
And you have to know that you're just papering over the big cracks so you can keep enjoying a very extravagant lifestyle.

Right now I personally think we have 4 players who deserve more than 5k. That's Blessing plus the 3 senior players left. The rest of them should consider 5k to 6k a lucrative contract if we are being honest. We have been playing a lot of games, the match fees make it even more lucrative

As for the $600 domestic salary well it would be interesting to know how much domestic players in Bangladesh, Afghanistan ad Sri Lanka earn. As I said before the ICC know exactly what's happening, they were approving it. So my suspicion is that their pay scales mustn't be too far off from what they expect a domestic player in a country they consider minnows gets.

I don't agree. As far as the national guys go, you can't say well they're not performing so they should get less. Is that a magic wand to make them play better?
Plus why should a senior player doing as poorly as a junior one be on a better contract?

As far as the franchise guys are concerned , you can't live off 600 a month. Well you can subsist, but that's it. If you break a bat that's 300 bucks before you start. Plus we get more than the countries you're comparing us to.

So we've got administrators getting 10-20k as salaries, before shenanigans, and their one job is to organise internationals outside of scheduled qualifiers and WC games and they're failing miserably
I'd love to see a monthly report- this month I did fuck all, last month I also did fuck all, and next month I'm also anticipating doing less than fuck all. I did buy some pointy shoes and pack on another 3kg though.
I don't see how cricket affairs occupy more than one hour a week of their time, there's a lot of spare time and money to pursue political careers, not sure how that doesn't constitute political interference.

[TapsC2]

You never answered my question about what you thought was a lucrative contract?
5k for example is a nice contract. 3k is marginal.
95% of all our players don't get anything like that.
You have to lack a conscience if you collect 20k and you watch a professional young cricketer scoop lunch into his bag so he can save some bucks
And you have to know that you're just papering over the big cracks so you can keep enjoying a very extravagant lifestyle.

Right now I personally think we have 4 players who deserve more than 5k. That's Blessing plus the 3 senior players left. The rest of them should consider 5k to 6k a lucrative contract if we are being honest. We have been playing a lot of games, the match fees make it even more lucrative

As for the $600 domestic salary well it would be interesting to know how much domestic players in Bangladesh, Afghanistan ad Sri Lanka earn. As I said before the ICC know exactly what's happening, they were approving it. So my suspicion is that their pay scales mustn't be too far off from what they expect a domestic player in a country they consider minnows gets.

I don't agree. As far as the national guys go, you can't say well they're not performing so they should get less. Is that a magic wand to make them play better?
Plus why should a senior player doing as poorly as a junior one be on a better contract?

As far as the franchise guys are concerned , you can't live off 600 a month. Well you can subsist, but that's it. If you break a bat that's 300 bucks before you start. Plus we get more than the countries you're comparing us to.

So we've got administrators getting 10-20k as salaries, before shenanigans, and their one job is to organise internationals outside of scheduled qualifiers and WC games and they're failing miserably
I'd love to see a monthly report- this month I did fuck all, last month I also did fuck all, and next month I'm also anticipating doing less than fuck all. I did buy some pointy shoes and pack on another 3kg though.
I don't see how cricket affairs occupy more than one hour a week of their time, there's a lot of spare time and money to pursue political careers, not sure how that doesn't constitute political interference.

How big is the current ICC allocation? Because if its still $5 million then it's extremely tight. Hosting 2 tests would eat 20% of the budget it just doesn't sound right