Editorial Comment: Zim cricket must rise, make us smile again

THE bumper $94 million package, which the International Cricket Council will inject into Zimbabwe Cricket over the next eight years, could not have come at a better time for an organisation that has been terribly short of funds to oil its cocktail of expensive operations.

The deal means Zim Cricket will receive $19 more than the $75 million which they would have received, under the previous arrangement, and has already been welcomed by ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukhuhlani as a massive boost for the Association.

ZC have been struggling, of late, to meet their obligations — weighed down by a huge debt estimated to be around $18 million — and the huge cost that comes with running such an organisation that requires huge financial muscle.

We have seen, now and again, the contracted national team players — the best paid professional athletes in the country — going on strike, over unpaid dues, while things haven’t been rosy, too, for those down the structure who play the domestic competitions.

ZC also have to pour huge financial resources to keep alive their development structures, the production hub that has ensured the country continues to have a steady supply of competitive players coming through the ranks to play for the Chevrons, to ensure we keep — at least — justifying why we deserve our ICC Full Membership status.

Estimates show that ZC will get about just over $13 million, every cricket season, until the package is exhausted at the end of this financial cycle used by the ICC to distribute revenue among its members.

There were a lot of backroom manoeuvres to try and, effectively, down-grade Zimbabwe’s status, which would have seen ZC receiving far less money than what is now set to come into their coffers, as domestic cricket continues to resist attempts by some powerful members of the ICC to virtually relegate it from the elite club of the big boys.

But, to their credit, the ZC leaders — working in tandem with the Government — worked around the clock to lobby some of the game’s powerful countries, including Pakistan, to fight in our corner and ensure that the machinations of those who wanted to deprive us of what is due to us were defeated.

When ZC officials sanctioned the Chevrons’ trip to Pakistan two years ago, where Zimbabwe became the first Test-playing nation to tour the Asian nation since militants attacked the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009, they received a lot of criticism here at home.

The then ZC chairman, Wilson Manase, was even dragged before a disciplinary hearing by the Sports Commission, who claimed they had not given the team the green light to embark on that tour, leading to his brief suspension from the game’s administration before it was lifted by the Administrative Court.

Hlongwane, too, has also been in Pakistan recently as part of the lobbying for support from the Asian country and the fruits of their efforts has now been realised by the boardroom victories which have seen those who were trying to effectively downgrade us being defeated and ZC getting its fair share of the cake.

But it’s one thing having funds in your coffers and it’s another thing delivering results on the pitch and, for the game’s fans in this country and for the sake of also convincing those who support us that we deserve to retain our classification as part of the elite group of cricket-playing nations, the Chevrons have to find a way of winning on the field.

We understand that it’s not easy, when the players are deprived of regular competitive matches — which they need to improve — but when we regularly lose against the likes of Afghanistan, surely, it becomes difficult to justify why we getting more revenue than them and why our membership of the Test league isn’t something that, as those who always fight against us preach, don’t deserve right now.

The onus is on Mukhuhlani and his leadership to deliver the results that the country has been crying out for, in a long time now, and Heath Streak and his coaching staff know that their honeymoon, when the fans gave him enough time to stamp his authority on the team the way he used to do as our inspirational captain, is over and all they want are good results from the Chevrons.

Some analysts have suggested that there is need for an overhaul of the playing staff because some of the players, who have been around for more than a decade now, have lost their right to remain part of the Chevrons because, in recent years, they have failed to justify their places in the team while also blocking the paths of a number of younger players who can be nurtured into very good players.

The Warriors, after about a decade of staggering in the darkness when they failed to qualify for the Nations Cup finals, ended that dismal run last year when they qualified for the 2017 AFCON tournament in Gabon.

That showed it can be done and the Chevrons have to draw inspiration from that to not only put a smile on the faces of their fans, but also justify why this game deserves such massive financial injections from the ICC.