Pro50 Championship 2023-24

[mnelson68]

Our Chairman can 100% get it done and all the friends he has made at the ICC will look the other way. If its true then I'm expecting that by the end of the season it will be sorted. We just don't need public outcry if he really kicks on. Let's stick to the Raza regen story. Citizenship by investment is a valid and legal way he can do it.

Interestingly enough I think if they can get Byrom by some miracle then they just might have found 3 guys to replace the big 3. Let's see what happens.

Don't discount Bennett

[Googly]

I've gone through Theos tweets, fully understand the point SZ and Googly are making that he actually has to reside in Zimbabwe for 4 years to get citizenship or at least 3 years as per ICC rules. Obviously Antum hasn't done that, once he does I don't think any one of us has any problem, because obviously the lad is talented.

But yeah, I get the point that we are bending the rules to get him in, which ethically is not correct. Legally we can always find ways to get it done. Can't really give my opinion here, up to the Zimbabweans to accept him or not.

I never said any of that stuff Sam.
Here are the facts-
You only need a passport to play provided you haven't played for another country, then you'd have to wait 3 years.
His issue is how he gets the passport. Naturalisation in Zim is 10 years. Clearly that's not feasible. Investment passport is his route to go and its now possible here. Perfectly legal and above board, no skullduggery required, but its a recent thing. Prior to them allowing this option (2021 i think?) it would have been a non starter unless he was going to try for a back door passport and its too high a profile case for that to happen. He'd get away with it here but would have to wait and see what the ICC had to say. They're more corrupt than Zanu so it would probably go well, but as I said it's a moot point- he can legally get an investment passport if they tick the investment criteria. Those rules can of course be fudged as well and nobody would know and its really nobody's business.


What a few of us don't like is a guy being able to just walk in essentially as a mercenary, which is why he's banging on about what a great place this is and how nice the people are and they're dishing out cash and trying to fully integrate as fast as possible. It's a bit lame but they're doing the box ticking exercise. Raza will be thinking- I had to wait 10 fekkin years!!! A part of him will understandably be thinking- this is bullshit!! He's not alone.
What a few of us find annoying is our home grown players can't put their hands up because our system doesn't work very well. There have been some good improvements of late obviously, but there's a long way to go and those extra yards I don't think will happen, especially if they go ahead with The Money Pit.

The flip side of course is we desperately need good players. Desperately sad we can't produce our own, that's an indictment on ZC, but of course they won't own that one.
It's a calculated gamble because nobody knows how he'll do internationally. Baaed on his form, odds are fair that he will be ok, but there are no guarantees. When your country is against the wall everyone wants a hero.
We'll soon say how "patriotic" he is when he gets his passport and knows the day he plays his first game he's fucked for the next 3 years minimum if he changes his mind. You might see a bulldozer having to push him over the boundary rope.

[sam_ahm]

Yeah fair points Googly and Taps. I think Zimbabwe can still produce good local talent, the problem is we keep losing them to country cricket and we all know that it has hurt Zimbabwe to no end, and any day guys we would love to see local talent thrive over anyone else.

Then again as Taps said, it's naive to think other boards don't bend rules for a special talent, ZC will be under pressure to do well folks, we can't be so medicore with the likes of Afghanistan and Netherlands getting the attention of the world and slowly Zimbabwe is just getting lost out there, not enough games, no one cares, missing out on so many ICC events, barely play tests... Not going good. So results are of vital importance and I can't entirely blame ZC for looking for some quick fix.

The thing with Antum is that he literally is two players in one, so the kind of balance he will end up providing is immense, for a moment even if I agree that it won't make a huge difference to Zimbabwe's results over Top 6-7 teams, one thing it will do is ensure we don't lose out on WC spots (and making the WC is huge guys, it's not a small thing) losing to the likes or Scotland and UAE, we won't be so vulnerable.

[Googly]

We haven't lost anyone to County cricket in 3 years (Dane Schardendorf) and no-one else for about 5 years prior to that. That bird has long since flown. We are no longer producing young players that a County would vaguely be interested in. If a system was healthy any good guys wouldn't be even looking elsewhere. No young players get stolen anyway, that's a fallacy.
The red carpet for Muyeye will only be rolled out for so long before it gets put into storage. He only has to put together a string of about 3 good innings out of 5 and he's straight into the Lions side and he may not do that, he's yet to and he's had fair opportunity.
Even Hick went on a ZC scholarship, he wasn't poached. He was very unpopular when he made his move. I remember him copping quite a bit of flack when he did jump ship, and that was when the ship looked to be setting course and not actually sinking. In hindsight he'd have been better off staying as far as his international career went. He'd have made a lot less money, which obviously is vital, but he'd have been a legendary Flower and not an if only Hick, probably the greatest player in the game to not have made it.

Naqvi is clearly a very good player, but he's not a special talent or he'd have not left Aus. Why is he two players in one? He can bat, but he's a part time spinner essentially.
Its so naive to think of him as a saviour. Hes one unproven guy and its a team sport. Its an act of desperation to think he's solving our problems, sure he may help.
You can of course be overlooked, especially in a place like Australia that produces so many good players. New South Wales is essentially their Takashinga, if you don't play your cricket there you've essentially halved your chances of selection.
I'll guarantee you could pick world class sides from places like Australia and India from players that nobody had ever heard of. There's politics everywhere.

Ya I'm not blaming ZC for looking for a quick fix, I blame them completely for our cricket being in a position to require one. We need about 7 quick fixes, but who's counting?

[Googly]

Here's a sad fact- if you took a poll from current fans whether they could pick Naqvi, Ballance or BT 90% would jump on the Knackerville bus.
One unproven guy with a remarkable domestic record vs a couple of guys with international pedigree.

I'm just saying there are folk here desperately short of cricket acumen.

[Pat_Bee]

Some choice yo.

Knackers, a two faced scumbag coke head and a legendary coke head

I’d pick BT any day of the week.

[Crastle_cog]

BT at 50 years of age would still be our best player

[Pat_Bee]

Probably not wrong my friend

I regret giving him a hard time now when his shenanigans first came out. Addiction is a real heartbreaking illness. He’ll always be a hero; good old BT

[secretzimbo]

Here's a sad fact- if you took a poll from current fans whether they could pick Naqvi, Ballance or BT 90% would jump on the Knackerville bus.
One unproven guy with a remarkable domestic record vs a couple of guys with international pedigree.

I'm just saying there are folk here desperately short of cricket acumen.

It’s grim isn’t it. Some of the stuff about him on social media….Eeish!!! Mostly led by the usual Indian or Pakistani dudes ‘Antime Nauqvi in Zim Team when will happen Sir?’,

or the local ‘new’ cricket fans we seem to have attracted in the past year or so.

[Pat_Bee]

They were all on the raza bandwagon last year hey.

then there’s the guys who think picking 11 murungus will solve the problems, based solely on them being murungus like what?! That’s like reverse quota.

Best of the lot however are those who post about giving some random ineligible kid from England citizenship when he’s over for his winter holidays and makes a few runs

No wonder our cricket is in the shit state it is when simpletons like that don’t even know the basics.