Bongani Ndlovu
UNSURPRISINGLY the Bengal Tigers have completed a 3-0 whitewash in the one-day international series over the Zimbabwe national cricket side in the Chevrons’ ongoing tour of the Asian country. Bangladesh bowler Mustafizur Rahman also took a hat-trick of five-wicket hauls against Zimbabwe in the same series. What a record!
It’s unsurprising really; what did we expect from a side that was humiliated by minnows Afghanistan, who in their war-torn country have found spare time to play cricket.
Take nothing from Afghanistan’s splendid performance at Queens Sports Club, which demonstrated exactly how mediocre our cricket has become, the Afghans showed grit and verve.
While they did so, skipper Elton Chigumbura and his boys broke yet another record for the wrong reasons as they became the first Test playing nation to lose a series to an Associate nation.
So when the Chevrons flew to Bangladesh for the ongoing tour, it was a foregone conclusion that they will lose their matches emphatically, without grace and in a whimper; and lose they did.
In the last ODI on Wednesday, the Bengal Tigers even had the luxury of deploying a seven-man slip cordon as well as a fielder at gully and point during one of the overs.
After a string of disastrous one-day series losses over the past years, one wonders what the problem is with our dear Chevrons.
The bowling attack is impotent to be brutally honest as it fails to stem the runs and choke the opposition into submission. This deficiency was aptly exposed in the series against Bangladesh, as the Tigers were far superior with both the bat and ball.
Whether we want to admit it or not, our very own Heath Streak has greatly improved the Bangladesh bowling attack and the evidence is there for all to see. They have beaten Australia, South Africa and India in a series this year.
In this present tour, the former Zimbabwe fast bowler was pitted against Douglas Hondo, the Chevrons’ bowling coach. Numbers and experience don’t lie and that’s the whole essence of any sport, especially cricket. We will not even begin to compare their careers.
However, comparing what their experience has brought to their respective sides shows that the bowling figures don’t lie.
Hondo cannot compare or compete with the likes of Alan Donald (Pakistan), Craig McDermott (Australia) and Charl Langerveldt (South Africa).
In terms of stats and experience, all the coaches far outweigh Hondo and no amount of pampering can hide this. This shows on the field each time our boys are playing.
Cricket is not an emotional sport or one that rides on sentiment, but very technical and if you don’t have the technique and experience, whitewashes are the only result.
Yes, the Chevrons do surprise us with a T20 win against the Aussies here and there, but the bottom line is we presently can’t compete at the highest level.
As Zimbabwe were still licking wounds of their second ODI defeat at the hands of the Tigers, some were celebrating Chigumbura’s feat of surpassing 4,000 runs in ODIs.
However, it should be pointed out that this feat was achieved at an average of 21 runs per game out of the 190 matches he has featured in. And there’s something wrong when a team’s innings are hinged on a number 6 batsman; where are the top order batsmen?
Chigumbura joined the likes of brothers Andy and Grant Flower, Alistair Campbell and Brendon Taylor, who have all scored well over 4,000 runs.
Andy’s record of 6,726 is still intact and with Chigumbura’s average, it will take him another 90 matches to match or surpass that record.
With recently fired batsman Andy Waller, who during his playing days averaged 23 runs per game, it is not surprising that the Chevrons are poor with the willow. Most of our top batsmen’s averages are in their 20s in ODIs.
The problem with Zimbabwe cricket at the moment is that they are busy settling personal vendettas instead of trying to better the game.
It’s common sense that if you train a former good player as a coach, chances are higher that he will become a good coach and his team will win games.
Look at the composition of the national selectors, convener Kenyon Ziehl, Walter Chawaguta, David Mutendera, Chevrons coach Dave Watmore and Chigumbura.
Bangladesh have three legends Faruk Ahmed, Minhajul Abedin and Habibul Bashar, who all played at the highest level for a long time, as their national selectors. In total the trio has 135 ODIs between them. Our own Chawaguta has no ODI match to his name while Mutendera only has nine and we expect them to work miracles and select players to compete at the highest level.
The end result of all this tomfoolery is choosing players that have turned Zimbabwe into the whipping boys of international cricket.
Can someone at Zimbabwe Cricket start smelling the coffee, bakebazinuke amakhwapha.
Fans want to watch a competitive Zimbabwe and the sooner all these boardroom squabbles come to an end and the right people are engaged, the better because numbers don’t lie.
Establish structures that can churn out good players from the juniors to build a competitive Chevrons’ side for us to start enjoying a day’s outing at the cricket ground.