U19 World Cup | South Africa | Jan-Feb 2024

[zimfan1]

Namibia have Australia 57/5 chasing 91.

[secretzimbo]

I’ve been watching it. Really really tough batting conditions. It feels like 150 would have been a great score.

Namibia are decent, some good bowlers by the looks of it. I think they are almost all SA schooled.

[secretzimbo]

Brassell looks really good

[sam_ahm]

I'm literally depressed watching Namibia having Australia at 95/6 albeit in a losing cause.

Looks like a first round exit is possible although I trust the boys to do better.

That SL game could have been won, they should have limited them to 150.

[Googly]

Where is the money for it (realistically) coming from?

Even with 40 players you are looking at maybe an extra $1m annually. Where are we finding that?

And I’m talking realistically here. E.g not reducing the salaries of the board and admin because that will never happen

We are out here also calling for more schools playing, more club cricket, more development programmes, more ‘A’ tours, a high performance centre/academy, more u13/u16 age group cricket and more everything as well.

It’s all important and it all needs funding from somewhere.

Well we now have more cash so some of this is do-able.
The age group stuff parents can contribute towards, that helps enormously. They need a manager not to steal the tour money though or anger the hosts with their shenanigans, not an easy task.
A tours can be Namibian, South African, Ugandan or Kenyan because thats our new low, (thankyou ZC) and by making Zim a good venue for County sides in Feb and March. Ideally they need to stay in Harare because Bulawayo is more expensive than Oslo if our friend has anything to do with it. Maybe they will pay the iniquitous premium for the night life at Queens, who knows.

[andrea lanzoni]

That is very true. A kid will only take it seriously after the u19 World Cup and then they see there is something. The likes of Wes was different because they invested in them since they were maybe 13 or 14 so they saw what ZC could do for them.

I’m thinking the only way you change this is by paying competitive domestic wages. This is how SA for example gets kids invested early on. They can see a career out of it. It will cost a fortune. Ball park figure of 2k for example multiples by 100 players and you looking at 2.4 million a year for a basic contract. They could do it. Maybe around 4 million with more senior contracts. Then also have junior contract maybe from age 16. Franchise u19 players on maybe 500 but that’s probably what they pay the guys now for less months. Something has to change.

Talking to some guys who got scholarships for a different sport in SA. You would get your tuition paid, free Accomodation and allowances. That more than enough motivation for a kid. It’s like getting paid to go to uni by the sport you love.

What I do know is that these guys have the money to implement some of these things. Yes most other boards don’t pay for some of these things. The whole point of a franchise system was to give some of the provinces some financial independence but because of a failed economy. Nothing changed. We have to be smart about how we use our money. The national team focused approach isn’t working

I can't but agree: I had repeatedly posted that in Zimbabwe it is mandatory to set up a pool of full time professionals. Maybe a small pool at first.
Ireland apart, all other test nations rely on professionals.
Having part time cricketers to deploy against other nations means using arch and arrow against tanks.
The outcome is always few wins amidst plenty of losses.

When I posted my point of view it seemed something weird. Now I feel glad that I'm not the only one.

Yes but you’re leaving out that you wanted 100+ professionals. That was the crazy part.

40 or so- it’s worth the talking point.

If we consider professionals it means that we consistently have to make them play (all year round).
If we stick to 40 professionals only, we can't even have four teams/franchises: no sense.

If we have 100 professionals (including coaches and umpires) we may rely on at least 6 franchises, hopefully 8. 11 months a year.

You may get this with 1.5 million $ (including overheads).

That money is not an exorbitant portion from ICC proceedings.

Finally consider that I have not mentioned any sponsorship.
Sponsorships are not to be sought locally: Zimbabwe economy is always struggling and domestic market is composed by few millions people.
Sponsorships may be sought wooing advertisers who want to insert their ads on Zimbabwean leagues matches, provided they are ADEQUATELY broadcasted on YouTube.

Present broadcasting of domestic league is unacceptable: there is only one camera which cover the pitch only.
In County Championship they make acceptable broadcasting, live on YouTube, with minimum resource. The cost to achieve that quality is something you can do in Zimbabwe also.

Hopefully some matches are to be night time to leverage on the european audience. Daytime matches may fit as well as in subcontinent it's evening.

[ZIMDOGGY]

6 Franchises means the talent pool is too diluted. We already have extremely serious depth issues.

I think what makes the most sense is the 15 national contracts (or whatever it is) status quo, plus a special 'development contract' of about 5 of the best under 25s, then a handful of upper franchise pro's per team. no set amount. One year maybe 20, next 22, whoever deserves it. teams are rounded off with people looking to make a new for themselves and imports.

This is cost effective and kinda touches on what you want.

So lets just hypothetically say:

Williams
Ervine
Ngarava
Burl
Bennett
Blessing
Kaia
Raza
Evans
madande
Jongwe
Wellington
Gaylord
Wes
Mavuta

All have lucrative national contracts.

then:
Marumani
Shumba
M Welch
k long
Schadendorf
Gwandu

Development contracts. So they can develop without worrying about bread to eat.

then you have upper franchise players
Campbell, Chivanga, Naqvi, Chari, NWelch on livable but modest contracts. Maybe 5/6 per squad. Any one of these players can impress and be elevated the next year. Then, round the rest off with match payments to older heads like Chatara and Nyathi, Richmond and cephas and these number makers and the imports (of which thers about 3 per team).

[secretzimbo]

You mean well but most of what you post is always largely unrealistic, Andrea

[sloandog]

Watched the Namibia under 19's. I'm very impressed with their bowling unit. Wouldn't surprise me if Brassle or Badenhorst get a national call up in the next 6 to 8 months. Tall, capable of extracting bounce and a bit of pace to work with too. Their future looks very very bright, especially if a lot of their lads are schooling and playing cricket in South Africa. Good on them. Its refreshing to see

[TapsC2]

6 Franchises means the talent pool is too diluted. We already have extremely serious depth issues.

I think what makes the most sense is the 15 national contracts (or whatever it is) status quo, plus a special 'development contract' of about 5 of the best under 25s, then a handful of upper franchise pro's per team. no set amount. One year maybe 20, next 22, whoever deserves it. teams are rounded off with people looking to make a new for themselves and imports.

This is cost effective and kinda touches on what you want.

So lets just hypothetically say:

Williams
Ervine
Ngarava
Burl
Bennett
Blessing
Kaia
Raza
Evans
madande
Jongwe
Wellington
Gaylord
Wes
Mavuta

All have lucrative national contracts.

then:
Marumani
Shumba
M Welch
k long
Schadendorf
Gwandu

Development contracts. So they can develop without worrying about bread to eat.

then you have upper franchise players
Campbell, Chivanga, Naqvi, Chari, NWelch on livable but modest contracts. Maybe 5/6 per squad. Any one of these players can impress and be elevated the next year. Then, round the rest off with match payments to older heads like Chatara and Nyathi, Richmond and cephas and these number makers and the imports (of which thers about 3 per team).

I think they might have something similar to this already but I don’t think your player roster is similar to theirs. That’s also another problem. Who gets what?