Regis Chakabva moves to Australia

[Googly]

I would doubt that's Houghton's decision. ZC will be completely gun shy and he'll be agreeing with them which ticks all their mutual boxes.

Been tried before with known players and didn't work.
He could say that he hasn't had enuf time to tweak existing players and they'll come good.
There are a couple of players in the wings with potential.
Ervine, Williams and Raza have a couple of years left before they need to panic.
Aside from Ballance the overseas guys have hardly proven stand out.

All of the above is correct.

If Afghanistan don't come they've dodged a bullet because our poor batting performances are still raw and Afghanistan would definitely put them under the pump again in a very short space of time and it would not be a good look.
There's now breathing space to regroup.

Existing players probably have a year to step up, thereafter there's going to be some concern.
Everyone is believing in the Houghton magic, but it went from euphoria and blind faith to a bit of skepticism quite quickly. He's bought some time for sure, but not too long before people start muttering.

[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.

[Googly]

Afghanistan opting out also means they continue to not rate us and they believe there's nothing to be gained from giving us another snotty.
We need to thrash some arrogance out of them.

[secretzimbo]

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.

Last I heard most domestic guys are getting about $600 a month currently, October-April. The older guys get more. Quite a few of the fringe franchise guys who only play a few matches here and there are completely uncontracted and get paid a just really small match fee.

I’ve asked around and the talk is that National contracts this year starts from about 4k/month (12-months) with the seniors on more. There’s only about 14 contracts though. I would assume with national contracts there are probably performance add-one and ICC match fees and things too and probably allowances

[Googly]

The fact that you can give an "older" player a couple of hundred bucks more a month because he's married with 3 kids is just unacceptable in my book.
Don't underestimate the loyalty that buys either!

[zimfan1]

Random one but I saw that Keegan Meth has turned pro in golf. Based in Canada I think.

[jaybro]

Afghanistan opting out also means they continue to not rate us and they believe there's nothing to be gained from giving us another snotty.
We need to thrash some arrogance out of them.

Well can we blame them?

From my count Afghanistan & Zimbabwe have played 6 ODI series with 4 being in Zimbabwe. Afghanistan have won 5 with 1 series drawn. In t20s I believe Zim has only ever won 1 match against Afghanistan ever. Tests are 1-1.

Understanding that these guys should be grateful to get the opportunity to play as fixtures are rare for them. You can understand why they’re not excited about touring Zimbabwe again especially during a period where they’ll put the likes of Rashid, Mujeeb & Nabi in that difficult situation of country v franchise.

I have grown tired of thinking of ways to fix the international cricket schedule, because ultimately everyone is just waiting inline to play India for a pay day. I guess that’s why I have lost interest over the pass 12-18 months, after hoping/ waiting for change for over 20 years I have realised it ain’t happening.

[Mueddie28]

Dave Houghton clearly knows what he is doing and there is a reason why he is saying money must not be thrown around and that everyone must come and earn it. We almost lost everything the last time that happened and it didn't work out.

How did we almost lose everything?

Dave Houghton is following the company line
Listen Mukklani ( ZC boss) wants players to play domestic cricket...So what should Dave Houghton say...
Remember Streak used to be in fights trying to implement his vision
Streak preferred PJ Moor while the bosses wanted Zhouwa as opening batter...we lost the UAE game because of run rate...Zhouwa was hitting boundaries all long the tournament but was benched in the final in place for PJ Moor..I think that's why PJ Moor has had the rough end of the stick..
BT and Jarvis were treated with kid gloves after the UAE incident heads started rolling and disunity started until now with Dave Houghton...
U think Dave is not pissed about Zulu's dissimal and has to carry Matsi as a batting coach..
BALLANCE is out there , Zc says Dave if can get him we have no restrictions that man would be in Zimbabwe colors

[zimbos_05]

Do you guys actually know the rules and conditions for you to be a full member and what it says about domestic cricket. None of those names you people mention can play in England and Australia unless they give up their contracts there. Regis can because its grade cricket but from Ballance to Cartwright to Muyeye.They are all registered as local players. So I actually don't know what you guys are on about. The only way they can play for us is to be contracted to us. It's as simple as that.

I'm pretty sure that it is only England that has the restriction on the club vs country thing, and kudos to them for playing the system. Something we could learn a thing or two from. Africa is so damn corrupt, but now wants to be all high and mighty when it suits them. You make a good point about Australia being on the same season as us. This is where the value of playing for Zim has to come on top, but right now playing domestic cricket in Australia is way more valuable than playing international cricket. That should be alarm bells, not ZC making things harder.

It’s very tempting to look for value and grab a player for unders, cheaply, but there’s no salary cap in international cricket and if playing for Zimbabwe earns itself a reputation of being lucrative everyone will either return or not leave.

This. Many don't see the value in playing for ZC, because as much as international cricket should hold prestige, making a livelihood in Zim is not appealing enough. We need to be adding to their lives, not making them feel as if they have no life without ZC.

. They also didn't have promises of huge contracts when they came back to Zimbabwe.

It's a very delicate balancing act because you can create real problems with the domestic players who are slaving away. The example was imagine Ben Curran had been given a lucrative contract then he came and performed like that. What do you think would be running through someone like Kevin Kasuza's mind if he saw that?

You're right. They didn't have promises of big contracts. They didn't need that though. Zim was a rising cricket nation. The appeal of playing on the biggest stage and making an international name for themselves was enough of an appeal. We finished 5th in 1999. Who wouldn't want to play for a well run organisation that was actually going to give them international acclaim. Most of the players from that era easily went on to have strong domestic careers after the breakaway.

One of the original problems just before we got suspended was that ZC felt that they gave the coaching staff everything they asked for to qualify for that world cup. Remember Sean Ervine requested something previously before and they didn't give him the money. This time they did. That's where a lot of the anger came from and I personally think the domino effect that created fled to the whole coaching staff being fired all the way to the SRC intervening and us getting suspended.

Obviously a lot of things happened in between and that's not the only reason but it did play a part. As I said before Dave Houghton has done his maths.

Sean Ervine never came back, so I am not sure why you have brough him up. Also, the money used to bring back BT and Jarvis was not the reason for our fall. Without them we would have done much worse I feel. SRC intervened because ZC held an unconstituional election. It was very clearly explained by the SRC. It had nothing to do with Sean, BT or Jarvis.

From my count Afghanistan & Zimbabwe have played 6 ODI series with 4 being in Zimbabwe. Afghanistan have won 5 with 1 series drawn. In t20s I believe Zim has only ever won 1 match against Afghanistan ever. Tests are 1-1.

Understanding that these guys should be grateful to get the opportunity to play as fixtures are rare for them. You can understand why they’re not excited about touring Zimbabwe again especially during a period where they’ll put the likes of Rashid, Mujeeb & Nabi in that difficult situation of country v franchise.

Yeah, I'm tired of playing Afghanistan. For one, they keep beating us and every time we play them, they show that they are improving, and we are just stagnant. It's tough to watch. A lot of their players get lucrative deals elsewhere. With BBL, BPL, CSAT20 and the Dubai League all coming up, chances are those players don't want another pointless series in Zim.

Streak preferred PJ Moor while the bosses wanted Zhouwa as opening batter...we lost the UAE game because of run rate...Zhouwa was hitting boundaries all long the tournament but was benched in the final in place for PJ Moor..

Zhuwao is definitely a big hitter. He averages 17 in ODI though. Throughout the 5 games he played in that Qualifier, he his 10 fours and 7 sixes. He scored ducks aginst Afghanistan and West Indies. He was too hit and miss. Everyone likes blaming PJ when that is just not true or fair. Mire and Hammy failed in that match. PJ came in early, and then also lost BT cheaply. Someone had to be an achor. That was PJ. Yes he scored slowly, but cricket does not need 11 batsmen to hit at a SR of 200. UAE were swinging that ball early and causing all sorts of problems. He helped see out that new ball.

PJ leaving is partly the fault of the fans. Everyone blames him for that loss, and whilst he is not without fault, he is not the reason. All the excuses also come back to black vs white. Coches vs board. PJ vs Cephas. This is why we never get any progress.

[Googly]

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.