Thread about Rising Stars train wreck before it happens

[sloandog]

Are there any names floating about that you reckon should (not necessarily would) get a look in? The cupboard can't be that bare.

[Googly]

I’m not too familiar with the current crop. There are two decent PeterHouse boys that I watched at the St Johns T20. Muyeye is a really good batter, I think he got 3 hundreds in the tournament, including 160!! I haven’t seen him bat in a longer format though. Then there’s a bowler called Chiminya, also decent. They may still have a year left though and that’s a private school, implying that the folks have money and they may have plans for uni. Here’s a funny story, the Prince Edward opening bowler Deon Mandizvidza (sp?) was on the u19 tour but got sent home from Australia by Mangongo for calling him a racist (against the black guys!!). That’s what I like about Steve, takes no shit!! Anyway this kid has a great action and is currently around 130. He’s got something you can work with, but sounds like he’s got that all too familiar chip on his shoulder that makes this place such a f*^ing treat to live in. Dollar might not be available, he’s an ok batsman, bit of a hitter, no finesse, but is talented. The good thing is that this option is making kids think twice, which is great. That’s all I’ve really seen of late.

[Googly]

These ZC guys don’t like private school kids. They’re forced to pick them at age group and u19 because the rest are generally shit, but if you look at the franchise players you’ll find very few with a private school education. That’s not just because private school gives you more options, there’s genuine prejudice against “advantaged” guys, it may be getting slightly less now that there are so few decent cricketers out there. I don’t know if Jayden Shardendorff will be available, he’s ok, a bit one dimensional, but solid. His brother Dane, only 15 is a fantastic talent, perhaps the brightest talent over the last couple of years. He could do with toughening up mentally and hasn’t done as well as he should, but he’s the real deal. If someone mentored this kid he’d go far.
There’s Dion Myers (St George’s), also a prospect, but not finished school yet. The only other decent kids I’ve seen at high school level are Erasmus in Form 1, Bhawa, Welch jr, and Bennet in Form 2. Mitchell (grade 7). I’m talking batsmen here.

[sloandog]

Great insights as always mate.
Interesting that there's a Welch Jnr.

We just need one exciting talent a year to fit into the system. One genuine, exciting Musakanda/Burl/Welch like prospect who can be worked on.
Like you say, at least there's no a clear pathway to the national team which these kids can aspire to achieve.

Does anybody know what actually happened to the CFX Academy?

[Googly]

To answer your question, Sloan-
I don’t know who on the ground reports back to the ZC hierarchy anymore, Or what their talent spotting abilities are, but the truth is cricket is at an all time low. Most age groups will have only played 8 games the whole year and there are so few kids interested in specialized coaching and very few can afford the $20-$40 an hour price tag. It’s absolutely essential because school coaching is virtually non existent. It’s virtually impossible anyway to teach a young batsman anything in a school net environment in a 10 minute batting slot. More and more kids are giving up cricket for water polo as well. Things are not good.

[Googly]

The CFX academy ended up being a Campbell/Bvute initiative that was managed by Doug Higgins, who owned all the equipment and was the main coach. He wasn’t getting paid what was agreed and got fed up and mothballed his equipment. There’s an ongoing dispute over ownership of the facility I think? Anyway last time I checked it was lying idle, which is a great pity. That inspired Gary Brent and Sean Bell to set up the Howzat Academy at Heritage school, but they’re struggling a bit for membership. Its the same thing- all ZC have to do is pay to play, but they want everything for free and don’t seem to want to fully engage with Gary and less so with Doug Higgins, who calls a spade a shovel. It’s a crying shame because they have a wealth of knowledge. Alistair Campbell is moving to Cape Town permanently.

[TapsC]

I saw an article where Mangongo was singing praises about that fast bowler you are talking about Googly. Apparently he can hit 135kph already. Interesting to see they had an issue after all that. A lot of those kids are too young to make the academy anytime soon. I guess they need to work on a facility where the kids get intensive training during the school holidays. The only challenge with that I guess is that a lot of those kids are multi-talented and play other sports.

1 thing cricket does have over a lot of sports in Zim is that I think in terms of opportunities after school it is one of the brightest especially if you add the academy and I'm assuming they must have some kind of franchise contracts. I think only Athletics and Golf offer better opportunities because you get scholarships to the US. If you are not from a privileged background those 3 sports are your best way out if you have the talent. Rugby and football don't offer as many opportunities unless you are the absolute cream of the crop. ZC probably has more money than every other sports association in Zimbabwe combined.

Are there more guys like Taffy Mupariwa in SA? I saw that he played in the KZN junior setup on his profile. Matigimu who was bowling 135+ kph at the last world cup seems to have disappeared. I know he was based in SA on a scholarship I think.

[Googly]

Yes I’d forgotten about Mupariwa and Matigimu. I will look into them. Once they’re into that scholarship thing overseas they’re not likely to be available for RS.

[eugene]

If the Rising Stars project is keeping young talent in the country then it is serving an immense purpose, and clearly one that our existing first-class structure wasn't filling.

[Googly]

Well that depends on a couple of things-
Firstly will they ignore the white guys, because they’re mostly (but not entirely) the guys that are leaving.
If they are non partisan in their selection will the white boys actually see it as an opportunity?
If for example they picked one or two white kids they might opt out because they would feel out of place because that’s a long time to hang with people you feel out of touch with. I’m not saying that would happen, but it might. Let’s see.
It would be quite interesting if we had the capacity and money to have a mostly white franchise, an extra one. At the end of the day, we’re pretty different from each other and the system in general has polarized us. We mistrust each other and with just cause. The time is not quite right for that because the economy is so bad and people have no optimism for the future, but if circumstances were different, it would be an interesting prospect.