2022 U19 World Cup Thread

[TapsC2]

Interesting to see that Zvinoera is already at Cardiff University. So he is gone. The 2 reserves who pitched up might he the worst UK imports we have ever seen , I wonder who scouted them exactly and when did they move to the UK. Even with Luke Oldknow.. he struggled.

[TapsC2]

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Oldknow because the last batch had some real talent and he would probably be the star in this side.. he really looked out of place

[Tinah09]

Interesting to see that Zvinoera is already at Cardiff University. So he is gone. The 2 reserves who pitched up might he the worst UK imports we have ever seen , I wonder who scouted them exactly and when did they move to the UK. Even with Luke Oldknow.. he struggled.

I agree 100%, this business of salivating over cricketers who are based in England, SA etc and preferring them to locally-based players, simply because they just happen to be in a different time-zone is going to be the downfall of ZimCricket. Our best performing U19 side ever, consisted of a bunch of locals, Taylor, Cameron, C Ervine, S Williams, Chigumbura, Panyangara..you know, the team that humiliated Australia and finished 5th. They were scouted in real-time, selected based on ability AS IT SHOULD BE. Pound for pound, are any of these UK imports as talented as any of the 2006 U19 Zim team? As you rightfully ask, "who scouted these kids in England?". If moving to England was entirely based on merit i.e. cricketing ability, then at least there will be a basis for calling each and every available Zim kid in England who can hold a bat. But, in reality, moving to England from Zimbabwe is largely predicated on privilege, how wealthy you parents/guardians are, if you have relatives there etc.

[Googly]

No it isn't, both English and SA schools offer overseas scholarships for talented individuals, either sport or academic.
The scholarships vary from 50% to 100%.
It goes beyond rich schools doing their bit for Third World countries, they get some kind of financial benefit out of it from their Ministries and its clearly worthwhile because they actively look for people.
The top English schools cost around £40k a year so 50% of that is still a lot of money. Even 100% remains expensive as there are airfares, uniforms etc. They also have these "field trips" where they may decide to go to Everest or the Amazon or somewhere obscure and expensive
What some of these schools offer is pretty amazing. Millfield play 28 different sports. Each head of dept is an ex International player. If you do the sums 40k x 1800 pupils- that is some serious cash. That's a drop in the ocean compared to what old boy benefactors throw at them.
Eastbourne for example built a 70 million pound indoor sports facility. Old Boys fought over who would have the privelege to pay for it basically. Eastbourne aren't even in the same league as Millfield. The money there is scary.

Everyone knows the real good kids that go, this is a small place. It's the better than average kids that are questionable. One assumes they will improve a lot, but by how much?

[Googly]

The dining halls there offer you a choice of about 4 different meals at each sitting. Buffets that you see in high end hotels. Endless staff behind the counters, the clean up operation of plates etc is mechanised.
The one Singaporean banker had a kid that played hockey. Every ground and training facility has 24 hour cameras that you can log into from anywhere on the planet. The one Singaporean banker had a kid that was good at hockey. He was having problems seeing the ball on the green Astra on his computer so he relaid their 9 Astra hockey fields in blue.
I mean that's millions of dollars. The accommodation is astonishing. Two beds per room, and high end. There's actually an internal bus route that operates every 15 min between the halls and the main campus. One kid used to arrive at school daily in a helicopter, weather permitting.

In my day we had to have a pet day scholar that brought us extra food and fruit of we'd die of scurvy and malnutrition. Yet I still would have rather gone to my school than Millfield.

[Googly]

I think it's Pretoria Boys High School if I'm not mistaken that owns a massive shopping mall that brings in millions of Rands a month. They shop around for the best athletes and an extraordinarily high number of their student body don't pay any fees at all. A Boer school with commercial property and endless resources amidst avaricious people with an axe to grind will not have a happy ending. Bothasoff School here had prime property in Borrowdale and elsewhere. They produced a number of our national cricketers back then. It became Eaglesvale School and the Board was eventually taken over in hostile fashion, then re-taken over by Grace and practically everything was lost. A beautiful old school with rich heritage reduced to not much. The story of Zim.

[Googly]

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Oldknow because the last batch had some real talent and he would probably be the star in this side.. he really looked out of place

This side also has some good players, trust me on that.
Shumba and Madhevere had the benefit of 3 World cups and other opportunities not given to equally good players. They've done well and it's been money well spent, but there are others.
Oldknow got a double hundred overseas which helped his cause. He was not too dissimilar to Marumani in that he had an excellent eye but lacked technique, if you lack technique at 19 you're facing an uphill battle in FC.

[secretzimbo]

I see in the local media that Utseya is saying the 4 Covid cases means he 'needs reinforcements from the standby reserves'. Convenient that those two are there already

It would make sense to fly the other reserves out at this point though, if ZC (or the players) can afford it. Zvaita and Chibanda are okay players.

[Kriterion_BD]

Oldknow got a double hundred overseas which helped his cause. He was not too dissimilar to Marumani in that he had an excellent eye but lacked technique, if you lack technique at 19 you're facing an uphill battle in FC.

Technique can be learned. I'll bet even Tendulkar or Dravid's technique wasn't what it was at 30 when they were 19. Marumani's problem is that his technique is so bad it negates whatever eye he's got. International bowlers aren't fucking around.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Oldknow got a double hundred overseas which helped his cause. He was not too dissimilar to Marumani in that he had an excellent eye but lacked technique, if you lack technique at 19 you're facing an uphill battle in FC.

Technique can be learned. I'll bet even Tendulkar or Dravid's technique wasn't what it was at 30 when they were 19. Marumani's problem is that his technique is so bad it negates whatever eye he's got. International bowlers aren't fucking around.

I don’t care what anybody says, a batsmen’s skillset is largely taught, but a fast bowler is mainly genetics.