Is Zimbabwe cricket dying a slow death?

Zimbabwe recently concluded a Test match which they lost by a staggering margin of an innings and 117 runs. The first day of the game was a terrible sight for any Test lover who expects a fight from both the ends. They were rattled for a measly 164 in the first innings after being 8 down for 72 in the morning session itself.

The track wasn’t the liveliest but still they were bounced out by left-arm seamer Neil Wagner who made full use of the bouncers and scalped six wickets in the first innings. The following innings saw the visitors amass 576/6 with three of their batsmen slamming centuries to lay the victory platform for their team.

A simple observer of the game would easily convey that Zimbabwe was outclassed quite effortlessly in both the departments. They looked completely uncompetitive. The batting had no muscle while the bowling was toothless. The lack of exposure to Test cricket was clearly evident just by looking at their scorecards in both the innings.

It was the first time they were playing the whites in the past 20 months. The last time they played a Test was against Bangladesh on their own turf at the end of 2014. To add to the scarcity of Test cricket in the country, they had not hosted a game in almost two years. They hardly play Tests and their last prominent win was against Pakistan, way back in 2013.

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This dwindling show has resulted in calls from many players, ex-players, commentators, and fans for the ICC to strip the ZC of Test status until the internal crisis could be resolved.

But, is completely the fault of the players?

A ‘successful’ team is not just built by a bunch of highly performing players from the country but with a proper management. This is the basic fundamental of sports administration. Bad management directly means guaranteed failure.

The situation of cricket wasn’t always like this in the African nation. It all began with the end of the ‘Golden Era.’ Once the team comprising of the likes of Heath Streak, Henry Olonga, Andy Flower, Grant Flower and others were the nucleus of the rising team which promised a great deal to international cricket.

The 1999 Zimbabwe team reached the Super Six stage of the World Cup in England. They upset India and South Africa and gave Sri Lanka and Australia a run for their money. They were the most exciting teams on the cricketing map at the turn of the millennium. But, the loss of players around the 2003 and 2005 period because of the internal issues between the board and players hurt the team’s future very badly. Cricket just got lost from Zimbabwe in the next decade.

These days they seem to be nowhere near the Test standard and sit at the No.10 position by default. However, this is changing fast in the surrounding outside Zimbabwe’s shoddy cricketing world. Strong associates nations like Ireland and Afghanistan are pushing aggressively for Test status.

Their performances at the international level speak for their hunger. On top of it, the greatest advantage these two countries have over Zimbabwe is not the talent which the team possesses but the men running the game from the backstage.

If Zimbabwe really gives a dime about its cricketing future; it really needs to fix grass root level things.

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What led to these dire times?

Zimbabwe as a country is drowned in an economical crisis. The cricket board has 20 million in debts and survive on the annual funding from ICC. This has become the root of the bigger problem.

The lure of playing in other countries, earning big money in county cricket compared to what a cricketer earn in Zimbabwe and the security of playing in those leagues has seen some really good quality players moving out of the country. Zimbabwean Gary Ballance who is currently a part of the England middle order, Kyle Jarvis, Brendan Taylor (most recently) and other young guys left cricket in their country to pursue professional careers away. The b

Two current boys from Zimbabwe are among the emerging talents in England one. One is playing in England u-19 team and the other in the England Lions team.

It would have been nice if these really good players would’ve been playing in the Zimbabwean domestic structure and boost the national team. The current lot, which looks pretty ordinary, is the best they have. It remains dodgy if they can could the same sort of team which once brought a great success to Zimbabwean cricket.

It is said that there is some promise at the junior level and domestic cricket. But isn’t a good ecosystem (which is clearly lacking) required to groom such players? Also, if the talented ones keep getting out searching for better opportunities one cannot expect the team to survive at the highest level. For a cricket fan, the current situation only makes him think that ‘Is Zimbabwe cricket dying a slow death?’