Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE Chevrons may have struggled on the Test arena but Zimbabwe Cricket are adamant they will emerge from easily their busiest season a much stronger outfit ahead of their World Cup assignments.
Zimbabwe have hosted seven Test matches since December last year — the most of any nation. While they are not in the nine-team World Test Championship, ZC have underscored their commitment to ensuring the Chevrons continue playing in the longest format of the game. By the end of the year, the Chevrons would have played 11 Tests, equalling the most number by any nation, along side giants Australia.
Unlike Australia, poor results have been the downside of an otherwise busy season for the Chevrons with the latest being an innings and 359-run defeat to New Zealand at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo last month.
Since their thrilling victory over Bangladesh in Sylhet in April, the Chevrons have gone on to lose six straight one-sided Tests.
The Chevrons’ poor run has not been lost on ZC, with the association’s board chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani indicating that they are looking to put measures to steady the senior team’s ship.
Mukuhlani noted that Zimbabwe had only bounced back into regular Test activity in 2021, stressing that competing in such an arena was a “process and not an event’’.
“We only started playing proper cricket in 2021,” he said. “This (ZC) was a bankrupt and insolvent organisation, whose growing concern was that we would receive a distribution from the ICC prior to our arrival,’’ Mukuhlani said.
“Not on assets or any other income, be it TV rights, gate takings or whatever.
“This was a dead organisation.
“And there is no magic that anyone could have done to create or nurture cricketers in such an environment. “We started the process of stabilising the ship in 2021,” he said. Mukuhlani said although his board, just like the game’s stakeholders, were worried about the poor results, they were also realistic enough to note that there are no easy opponents in Test cricket.
Instead, ZC are looking to strengthen the player base and ensure the Chevrons become even more competitive.
“We seem to be in a bad place on the field and one can call us an old new Test member if you like,” he said. “This is because up to 2021 there was nothing of note being done to curb the spiral. “We need to be honest with each other, that left us as a weak Test nation.
“We have a Raza, a Sean Williams and a BT (Brendan Taylor) who we believe should go out there and win us games.
“However, the truth of the matter is we have lost enough years as a country in terms of cricket development and we need to be realistic. “We have lost time and because we have lost time there are going to be painful moments like we had with New Zealand and South Africa.”
He added that Zimbabwe were now forced to play catch-up.
“We have been overtaken by other countries; it’s a painful truth and, as a people, we must tell each other that harsh reality . . . we are no longer the same country that we were before.
“We need to move on from living in yesteryear and come back to reality.
“The reality is that we have some good players in the pipeline like the Dion Meyers, the Madheveres, Gwandus, Bennett and Curran but the question is that are they ready to take on the World Test champions (South Africa) yet?
“They are not. “We need to cushion them by making sure that we still play, we still participate and give them the opportunities to learn, grow and develop.
“There is a future for Zimbabwe Cricket, we just need time,” Mukuhlani said.
