The ManicaPost
ZIMBABWE cricket team has had a fair share of coaches in the past few years, from local to international ones. The team has seen former World Cup winning coaches like Dave Whatmore taking the ropes.
Whatmore lost his job a few months ago, resulting in the appointment of Heath Streak. Streak took over from Makhaya Ntini who is back to being a bowling coach. Streaky as he is popularly known has a very tall order ahead of him. In this column, I will look at a few reasons why it is going to be hard for Streaky to take the lads to the 2019 World Cup.
1. TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE SOUP
The Chevrons have been led by too many hands in the past couple of years, meaning that the side has lost its identity since every coach who comes has brought in a new style of play, from Iain Butcher who tried to bring in his English style of cricket to Steve Mangongo with his Takashinga Cricket Academy mentality into the game which saw us being whitewashed in the sub-continent in Bangladesh.
With Whatmore coming in with his vast experience the nation thought there was going to be a change on the field, but alas the boys showed lackluster performances at both World Cups. So streak has to correct the recipe made by many of the coaches who coached the national side.
2.WHAT IS HE GOING TO CHOOSE FROM
With the local franchise cricket format looking like dying a natural death, it is going to be very hard job for Streaky and the selectors to select the team. The franchise format which should have been running and attracting international players seem to be in a rigor mortis state as there has not been any domestic cricket being played close to a year.
So what are the selectors going to use as a criteria to choose a side that is going to be a competitive one when as a nation we do not have a vibrant domestic league to choose our players from? The same old players who have proved time after time to be mediocre are the ones that are still being banked upon to take us back to glory.
3.NOT NOUGH INTERNATIONAL GAMES IN THE CALENDAR
The last time we played a Test match before the one we recently played against New Zealand was in 2014 and this is isn’t ideal for a national side. We have become minnows to teams like Afghanistan because we play less games in a year.
Often I defend the lads when I am in discussion with people over our losses. To be honest we need to play many international matches especially Test cricket to better our game. Alistair Cook of England has played more test matches than Zimbabwe has played in the past 20 years if I am not mistaken. International matches are a need to better the game in the nation.It is my hope that the coming in of Streaky will bring an identity of play into the team, with him being a local and a proud Zimbabwean he will bring us back to glory.
I also hope that he will put pressure on the governing body for them to bring back the domestic league. To have many internationals in the country playing the longer format of the game will boost the game and the economy as well since there will be tourists coming in to watch and enjoy the beautiful scenery and weather.
Mr Mhlanga from Rusape thank you for the feedback it is my hope that the administration and the nation fall behind Streaky all for the good of the game.
For more feedback contact: +263778 712 404 or email: [email protected]
