Zimbabwe vs South Africa | 2nd Test | 6-10 July | Bulawayo

[zimbos_05]

Let's face it. We are crap. We are associate level or below. We are going to be punished so much this year, particularly in test cricket.

Let's not expect any major improvement as long as the current board continues to run the game.

We need management change. I don’t understand why this is so difficult to do. No other test team have had the damage management embedded for 15 years, let alone a failed one

The last time anyone tried to hold them to account, TM ran to ICC and demanded to be banned. He then went on radio saying, "I don't need to be here, but I am trying to save our cricket and our game", playing the victim card and woe is me

Cricket provides opportunities to go on holidays to England, or India, or Australia every once in a while, so why would they give that up. They don't care about the game. We will get destroyed by South Africa and they blame it on some white guy somewhere. We will then have a one off moment against a Pakistan and it will be, "All hail TM for his hard work got us to this point. After what he took over, he has earnt it", then ignore the rest of the bullshit.

I'm getting really sick and tired of it. The ICC also don't care. They just let TM get away with shit. They don't give a shit about the fans, nor does any other board. We have become a practice series for them, and the likes of Afghanistan and Ireland use us as a means to be like, "see, we are better than this shit team, so give us more" and they get it. We meanwhile keep thinking the community cares about us and continue to regress. Losing to fucking Uganda and Singapore.

Mukhulani and Bvute are frauds who deserve to be locked up. No one can stand up to ZANU because they just intimidate you or use violence. We need real change. If anyone also speaks up, then their puppets are quick to bring out the race card.

[zimbos_05]

When they eventually declare, we will go out there and bat at like 1.76RR and get bowled out for under 200 or something. It's clear the guys have already lost. Mulder has mentally destroyed them.

It's embarrassing having 2 players score such high scores against us in the modern era.

[mnelson68]

The bowling has been an issue for years , doesn't get exposed as much in the shorter format but test cricket there is knowhere to hide.

[tgk]

Lara record is in serious danger. This is so embarrassing.

[Bulawayo Boy]

Wow, this is an unmitigated disaster. A national embarrassment.

Well - the chickens are well and truly coming home to roost. Years and years of mismanagement by the board, siphoning off of funding, racial discrimination and racist selection policies, neglect of the grass roots, and downright incompetence have done us good. TBH I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

SA to post 700+ I think.

[AussieZimFan]

They'll use Sammons and Ervine as the scapegoats. That's the usual MO

[Googly]

We need management change. I don’t understand why this is so difficult to do. No other test team have had the damage management embedded for 15 years, let alone a failed one

ZC board is much like Zanu. Everyone is captured from the provinces all the way up. If you oppose then you are just taken out of the system. The current board or chairman is not going anywhere anytime soon.

That is true, but I am wondering why stakeholders within Zim tolerate it as It is a national embarrassment. Those provinces that prop it up need to be targeted themselves. Or the entire organisation needs to be shut down. I refuse to believe that this is impossible to do. The fans will be behind it. The only people that support ZC are ZC themselves and a select few in the local media.

If an apathetic, downtrodden, ill-informed and frightened public won't or can't do anything about how things are run that genuinely impact their lives believe me cricket administration is last on the list of priorities. People just shrug their shoulders and get on with trying to make money and survive, and where possible use the system to their advantage. A lot of people just flat out don't want to be dragged into the First World. me included!
Im on a few groups where people actually laugh at what's going on. You have to laugh at some things or you'll cut your wrists, but there's two generations here now that dont believe we used to function well in all aspects of society. Its Rhodie propaganda.

The current ZC admin have actually made a lot of good changes in the last couple of years. Its nowhere near what's required, but we are now playing more games and being exposed to better teams. Its a Catch 22, the more we play the games we desperately need the more we get exposed. In making some good changes they've exposed how bad the system actually is. They've almost shot themselves in the foot.
I dont agree with a lot of stuff they do, but we are at least now playing games and teams are visiting and we've hosted a crazy number of qualifiers.
Tawac is correct in that they're not going anywhere. Its entirely up to them what level of cricket they're happy to accept, and thats dicated by what ICC have to say about it all and they dont give a shit about the day to day issues of a failed state.
We seem to have them in our pocket at the moment anyway.

The ZC of old avoided much of this by going into self imposed exile and deliberately playing as little cricket as possible, but now we're under a nasty unavoidable spotlight.
Cricket has improved dramatically world-wide and we've been left behind. We need to play these guys and be vaguely competitive in order to access the funds and hopefully get more. The problem is we need to spend money on actual cricketers and not peripheral stuff like the Batonka Stadium to do this and they absolutely dont want to do that. Cricket is a means to make money. The Batonka is a money pit that will in no way improve our cricket.

Do we have the cricketers to be competitive? I'm a glass half full guy. I firmly believe that. I've watched a shit load of cricket over the years and I know good cricketers when I see them. We absolutely have some good players here, but theyre all badly mismanaged or just straight-up ignored. Its a delicate act of man management which ZC are completely incapable of. Do they really want opinionated, confident players that believe they can win and want the best for their country? Thats a hard no, impossible to keep those guys at heel. Keep them wringing their hands, doffing their caps and wondering where their next meal is coming from.

[Marshmallow]

So you think they are not questionable?

[Train Driver]

They'll use Sammons and Ervine as the scapegoats. That's the usual MO

Nah, it's all down to Ian Smith

[Googly]

Where did I say that?