2022 U19 World Cup Thread

[Googly]

That's not something u see every day- out obstructing the field. That will have these u19's at each other's throats

[slcricfan1]

Tinah you have this all skewed.
a lot of us habe been here a while and have seen the downfall.
You’re still a new user, albeit a decent thinker, so I’m wondering if you are across the history.
In a nutshell,
ZC was peaking in the late nineties, a word class ystem with great coaches that was able to churn out a few world class players alongside enough talent to churn out a formidable team. We saw it at the 1999 WC.
Then the 2001 farm invasions happened which directly ilpacyed the white cricket community and the country’s economy in general.
A lot of talented people (of all colours) started to pack their bags and flee.
Up until 2004 ZC was for the most part largely unaffected, as most cricketers (armband protestors aside) stayed.
The 2004 squad for the most part retained all the top tier talent, bar Flower,Olonga (who was on the downer Chatara style) Johnson Goodwin and a couple of others. More importantly, teams toured, facilities were maintained, the junior system was held in extremely high regard and in tact (if not for some depleted white community that left, we had sponsorships and ZC had a 6 million surplus.

Then In came Ozias Bvute who demanded the quota for blacks increase from 3 to 7/8. This obviously annoyed the playing group.
The logic at the time was Streak, Ervine, Bligs and G Flower were shoulders above the rest of the squad so what was the point of retaining and entertaining the wishes of Ewing,Marillier, Wishart, Carlisle, Gripper etc who were only just ahead the emerging black counterparts. Note that at this point Vermeulen became brain damaged after initially being successful and seen as a rising star, with a few centuries under his belt by then.
Streak was furious, Bvute didn’t even care about cricket so stuck to his guns and we had the 15 man exodus.
So 2005 ended the competitive Zim come and for all.
As the juniors were still good, the BT/Cremer/Elton/Willi generation were promoted well before their time. Talented players but years needed to mature.
From 2005 on The theft started.
Bvute and the cronies hacked and siphoned money out of the the organisation at an alarming rate. The economy was tanking and here was the last remaining cash cow in the country, and by 2010 they were well and truly broke and in debt, coaches were disregarded, silenced or chased away. The remaining coaches retired or died over the years (a notable one died 2 years back) and all sorts of drama from an elite level of board members who’s sole focus was the cash bag, with the functionality of cricket a sole focus.
Players went unpaid all throughout the ‘10s, snitches like Peosper were set up to silence players speaking up, BRMT and others were in and out of the team. Grounds were sold or left to rot. The school system left to rot. Clubs died, were kicked out or just had minimum effort places into it by management.
All sorts of dramas I’ve forgotten over the years. Players chased away. Talent who would be in our team have literally drifted into careers like selling cars and not cricket. Sponsors don’t want to give them the money.
There’s literally a breakaway Harare league privately managed and sponsored that pulls in all the best players from the ‘00s. You’ll be astounded at the names on the scorecards.

In short, the system that created Andy Flower and BRMT are long gone. The junior system crumbled between 2005 and 2009 and now it’s just a side game that’s propped up with some decent schools and enthusiastic coaches and do players that remain. In spite of ZC and not because of it.

Thats a depressing read

[Marshmallow]

So this is our official jersey.

[secretzimbo]

That's not something u see every day- out obstructing the field. That will have these u19's at each other's throats

I wish these games were being streamed. None of our group games are being televised unfortunately. I'm still hopeful the ICC website might stream the non-televised games.

Couple of early wickets is a nice start though. Looks like Welch and Mataranyika still aren't available if that teamsheet is correct. And no Bawa?! Hope he hasn't got the fucking virus.

[secretzimbo]

Pretty sure the ICC/ESPN team sheet is wrong then. I think that's indeed Bawa at the toss in the photo.

[Googly]

That would really be ominous if he had covid, contracting it is a team sport. An injury is equally ominous. They wouldn't rest or drop him because he's captain. Not good news.

[Googly]

Ya that looks like him, plus that guy is wearing shite old boots so it must be him

[Googly]

Decent looking ground and deck as well.

[secretzimbo]

Can someone tell them its Mgcini Dube, not McGini. He's not Scottish

Also have they decided if it's Bennet with one T or two yet? Or are they going to continue alternating between both spellings every single match

[Googly]

I don't know how to spell Bennet (?) either, and I know about 4 families.