Prematurely writing-off the new generation

[TapsC2]

As Secret said, the key is to have at least 2 or 3 kids as talented as Myers and co coming out of every single u19
World Cup. That's how you create a competitive team. We already have Bawa and Nyangani (although I thought he was too old to be in the u19s) in the next batch. We need to keep that going.

Zimbabwe's biggest downfall is that we went about 6 or 7 years without producing an exciting cricketer who stayed and played for us. That PJ, Mutombodzi generation really struggled to take it to the next level and that's why we are here now. In an ideal world at least 2 of the big 4 would have been forced to retire because of competition. What we are seeing now is terrible.

[ZIMDOGGY]

I have been told that there isn’t a lot of talent beyond the next under 19s.
Nyangani; the kids who went on the Namibia tour and that’s pretty much it.
No standouts age 16 and below.
At least the parents who bribe won’t be taking up space of a good player this time.

[secretzimbo]

I have been told that there isn’t a lot of talent beyond the next under 19s.
Nyangani; the kids who went on the Namibia tour and that’s pretty much it.
No standouts age 16 and below.
At least the parents who bribe won’t be taking up space of a good player this time.

Certain people have been saying that same thing consistently for nearly 20 years though, almost wishing it to happen I sense. So let's wait and see. School cricket heavily impacted by Covid last season of course so difficult to tell. If anything school facilities and coaching seem better than 5 or so years ago when it was at a real nadir.

[ZIMDOGGY]

I have been told that there isn’t a lot of talent beyond the next under 19s.
Nyangani; the kids who went on the Namibia tour and that’s pretty much it.
No standouts age 16 and below.
At least the parents who bribe won’t be taking up space of a good player this time.

Certain people have been saying that same thing consistently for nearly 20 years though, almost wishing it to happen I sense. So let's wait and see. School cricket heavily impacted by Covid last season of course so difficult to tell. If anything school facilities and coaching seem better than 5 or so years ago when it was at a real nadir.

True, but people who were naysayers were still talking about kids like Myers coming through. But don’t think we are getting the names anymore.
How close are you to the action can I ask?

[secretzimbo]

I have been told that there isn’t a lot of talent beyond the next under 19s.
Nyangani; the kids who went on the Namibia tour and that’s pretty much it.
No standouts age 16 and below.
At least the parents who bribe won’t be taking up space of a good player this time.

Certain people have been saying that same thing consistently for nearly 20 years though, almost wishing it to happen I sense. So let's wait and see. School cricket heavily impacted by Covid last season of course so difficult to tell. If anything school facilities and coaching seem better than 5 or so years ago when it was at a real nadir.

True, but people who were naysayers were still talking about kids like Myers coming through. But don’t think we are getting the names anymore.
How close are you to the action can I ask?

Personally not at all the last two years. I used to be a teacher so I used to see quite a lot. Still know people working in schools etc but from what I have heard Covid has been pretty devastating in terms of basically the entire last season being wiped out. That will be very detrimental to a lot of kids development sadly.

People have recently praised ZC though for helping to sort out school facilities and funding over the last year which is promising.

The next U19 batch (WC next year) there are about 15-20 names that I know of who are impressive and are in contention to be in the squad. I think that batch can be as good as the 2020 lot. Beyond that, current U16 level etc I'm not really sure of.

[Kriterion_BD]

As Secret said, the key is to have at least 2 or 3 kids as talented as Myers and co coming out of every single u19
World Cup.

I think only India is a country that can produce that level of talent in every U-19 batch. Even Pakistan and Bangladesh can't do that. England and Australia can't either, but they have robust domestic systems that in addition to the age-level teams is able to churn out 2-3 players every batch.

For Bangladesh the 2006 U-19 batch had Tamim, Shakib, Mushfiq, and Mahmudullah (even if he missed the cutoff date, he's just 1 year older than Shakib and Mushfiq so essentially the same generation). That was 15 years ago, and Bangladesh still hasn't replicated the level of batting talent in a single batch.

The 2020 batch has some promising talent with Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parves Hossain Emon, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Towhid Hridoy, and Shamim Hossain (who debuted vs Zimbabwe recently). But it remains to be seen how many of them get mismanaged by the BCB, and how many of them really have what it takes to cut it at the senior level. Sadly not every U-19 superstar will be good enough for international cricket.

[Donald]

Emmanuel Bawa could be the best of the lot. Need to hang onto him really.
Get Murray back and your cooking with gas for the next generation.

[secretzimbo]

As Secret said, the key is to have at least 2 or 3 kids as talented as Myers and co coming out of every single u19
World Cup.

I think only India is a country that can produce that level of talent in every U-19 batch.

Well, Zimbabwe has consistently had a few prospects of that level in every U19 squad this decade. We've just lost the vast majority of them over the past 10-15 years. We've had plenty of others with as much potential as Wes tbh. Including those that have sadly quit cricket altogether and now nobody knows where they are. The difference with the new four is that they are black and seemingly very committed which is an encouraging change.

But we've had loads of lads with talent before. We really do have an unreal amount of raw cricketing talent considering all of our national problems. There must be something in the water here.

[secretzimbo]

Emmanuel Bawa could be the best of the lot. Need to hang onto him really.

He's gone to the same school in England that Muyeye went to. Hopefully Muyeye doesn't give him any ideas!!!

[Donald]

As Secret said, the key is to have at least 2 or 3 kids as talented as Myers and co coming out of every single u19
World Cup.

I think only India is a country that can produce that level of talent in every U-19 batch.

Well, Zimbabwe has consistently had a few prospects of that level in every U19 squad this decade. We've just lost the vast majority of them over the past 10-15 years. We've had plenty of others with as much potential as Wes tbh. Including those that have sadly quit cricket altogether and now nobody knows where they are. The difference with the new four is that they are black and seemingly very committed which is an encouraging change.

But we've had loads of lads with talent before. We really do have an unreal amount of raw cricketing talent considering all of our national problems. There must be something in the water here.

Remember that ZC finances are a lot better and have almost paid off the legacy debt. Much more enticing for the young lads and their parents than being 20 million in the red