West Indies v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

[Ljp86]

Re: West Indies v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

I've done more than my fair share of ripping on Zimbabwe, and I'm certainly no big fan of theirs, but lets be a little fair here. Let's keep in mind that THEY LOST MOST OF THEIR TEAM over the past year or three of internal strife. All of their players are new, and they were missing on of their brighter prospects, Sibanda. The oldest player on the team today was 24. More than half of their team is 19, 20, or 21. Quite simply, it's going to take them 3 or 4 years to get better. 19 and 20-year-olds aren't going to suddenly compete with Chris Gayle or Brett Lee overnight.And what of all the people shouting for Bangladesh to be booted out too? Was their 265 against Sri Lanka an embarrassment to international cricket? I should think not. And yet Bangladesh lost the recent series against Zimbabwe 3-2.

Yes, I understand that Zimbabwe has lost a lot of their better players but the ICC should be able to recognize by now that the current crop of athletes representing Zimbabwe cricket are well below the standard of what is required to remain competitive.

The Zimbabwe players just aren't good enough to play at the elite level, simple as that. And until the country sorts out its cricketing problems they shouldn't be allowed to play games such as the one that was played against West Indies.

They should be playing games against teams such as Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland and Kenya.

 

[Ljp86]

Re: West Indies v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

Infrastructure might be a different story. I'm not really sure what's happening there. Last I heard about it Zimbabwe had scrapped the Logan Cup and were replacing it with a completely different domestic first-class comp.

Yeah, there was talk of restructuring the whole set-up and changes to provinces and stuff like that. The Zimbabwe cricket board is still corrupt though yet the ICC still won't act on it.

I guess no-one really knows what is happening except for them. I read an article on Zimbabwe cricket a few days ago with the threat of Peter Chingoka being ousted from the board but besides that I haven't read anything on the Zimbabwe situation for some time.

 

[marlyminks]

Re: West Indies v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

With regard to whether or not lower-ranked teams should be allowed:

I believe they should, for the simple reason that it will enable them to improve. If a second-tier side never gets to play a match against top-flight opposition, they will never know exactly where they stand. Even if a side is blown out as badly as Zim was in this "contest", they gain valuable experience and information. Until you stand in against a bowler, you don't know how good they are. Similarly until you bowl to a powerful batsman, you don't know how hard they will hit you, and thus how much harder you need to work to get to that level.

To be honest, I was never sure why this is called the Champions Trophy. What exactly are the teams champions of? I think there should be representation from around the world. Bermuda, as Americas Champions, should be allowed to participate in the qualifying stage. So should the winners of the other regional WCL events. Play them off in a qualifier and then let the winners into the main tournament with the big dogs.

Just my (rather extensive) two cents.

Well put Willbix, i coudln't have said it any better.
Your idea about the champions trophy having respresentatives from around the world sounds good too, but the sad fact is many posters (and they know who they are) on these boards are anti-minnow and think they shouldn't even be in the World Cup , more or less the Champions Trophy!!

 

[marlyminks]

Re: West Indies v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

I think it's amazing how some posters on here think that these minnows can compete with the big boys, Zimbabwe are just totally out of their depth at the moment. What will happen when the countries ranked lower than Zimbabwe play teams like Australia, Pakistan, South Africa and India? They'll get smashed and we're talking huge margins here, the field will resemble an abbatoir.

Ljp86, lighhten up, what will be, will be, until the ICC changes things so until that happens, get over it and accept it, unless of course there is somthing practical you can do about it (besides complaining)

 

[marlyminks]

Re: West Indies v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

I've done more than my fair share of ripping on Zimbabwe, and I'm certainly no big fan of theirs, but lets be a little fair here. Let's keep in mind that THEY LOST MOST OF THEIR TEAM over the past year or three of internal strife. All of their players are new, and they were missing on of their brighter prospects, Sibanda. The oldest player on the team today was 24. More than half of their team is 19, 20, or 21. Quite simply, it's going to take them 3 or 4 years to get better. 19 and 20-year-olds aren't going to suddenly compete with Chris Gayle or Brett Lee overnight.And what of all the people shouting for Bangladesh to be booted out too? Was their 265 against Sri Lanka an embarrassment to international cricket? I should think not. And yet Bangladesh lost the recent series against Zimbabwe 3-2.

Obviously, Zimbabwe is going to be bad for a few years. As I was mentioning above, it really is going to take them a few years to simply grow older. (Though it would help if a few of their older players returned to the team.)

They're not going to be playing tests for at least another 12 months, so what's the harm of letting them continue to play ODI's? Even if they were relegated to the lower level, they'd still be able to play ODI's, so what's the difference?


As for them being placed behind Kenya, well, that's debatable. They split their series against each other 2-2 earlier this year, but the recent Bangladesh tours to both Kenya and Zimbabwe seemed to indicate that Kenya is still below Zimbabwe at the moment.

On the other hand, I think I'd place Ireland and maybe Scotland ahead of both Zimbabwe and Kenya at the moment. Beyond the top 8, this is how I'd rank them:

9. Bangladesh (No, they're not as good as New Zealand or England or Pakistan or whoever else, but I think they're far closer to the Test nations than they are to the Associate teams.)
10. Ireland
11. Scotland
12. Zimbabwe
13. Netherlands
14. Kenya
15. UAE
16. Canada
17. USA
18. Namibia
19. Bermuda
20. Nepal

Bravo Cleaze!

I don't think i agree with you in your rankings though, Bermuda 19th oh come on! in case you forgot they are the America's Champions.

 

[Ljp86]

Re: West Indies v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

Ljp86, lighhten up, what will be, will be, until the ICC changes things so until that happens, get over it and accept it, unless of course there is somthing practical you can do about it (besides complaining)

I wouldn't call it complaining, merely protesting at how some teams shouldn't be playing at a level they aren't capable of.

 

[SouthSwans]

Re: West Indies v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

I wouldn't call it complaining, merely protesting at how some teams shouldn't be playing at a level they aren't capable of.

And you're 100% spot on about the Zims.