Zimbabwe cricket heads for nightmare

Jeffrey Murimbechi
FIVE years ago, pundits would have laughed off the slightest suggestion that Afghanistan would beat any Test playing nation in a bilateral One-day cricket series.

Things are changing fast at the bottom of the Test rankings and poor Zimbabwe could soon wake up to the horror of calling Afghanistan an equal. Or a superior talent.

The Asians are making a habit of pulling the rug from underneath Zimbabwe’s feat with the recent 3-2 defeat of the Chevrons in Harare another sign that Afghanistan means business.

The International Cricket Council’s reforms for attaining Test status have Zimbabwe in a precarious position as the associate nations thrust forward towards the big boys’ table.

To earn Test status, the holy grail of cricket, Afghanistan needs a definite domestic competition for sustainable production of quality players.

Apart from basic sustainability competences, Afghanistan – like other associate sides – needs to compete in an ICC Test Challenge and win it.

Winning the ICC Intercontinental Cup gets them a chance to compete with the lowest ranked test team once every four years in the ICC Test Challenge.

The inaugural ICC Test Challenge will take place in 2018.

The format of the ICC Test Challenge is quite fair as two associates, the lowest ranked Test team, and the winner of the ICC Intercontinental cup competition in two five-day games at home and two five-day games away.

Previously, an associate had to beat five Test playing nations to earn the right to state their claim. Now Afghanistan will just need to beat Zimbabwe, something they have grown accustomed to doing.

Zimbabwean players blame the lack of competitive cricket for the team’s demise. This claim is not factual. Over the last seven years, Afghanistan has played 122 competitive Twenty20 and One-day International matches while Zimbabwe has played 177 matches including Tests.

One cannot rule out the fact that the last three years have been difficult as Zimbabwe has relied on invitations while Afghanistan is a heavily touring side. Since 2014, the two have met 24 times with Afghanistan coming out tops on 16 occasions.

Clearly Zimbabwe needs to get its act together fast as further will see its Test status coming under threat.

Consistency has done the trick for Afghanistan and their coach Phill Simmons wants them to continue on that path so as to become attractive opponents for some of the game big boys.

“These guys were good against the Zimbabweans. But if you look at their performances in the World T20 last year, they came close to winning on a number of occasions, but could not seal the deal. My job as the coach would be to help them through.

“I like to be realistic. The important thing would be to remain competitive at this level, and when that happens you are bound to get your chance against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.I think the upcoming series in the Caribbean in May is a step in that direction,” Simmons was quoted saying last week.

Sadly as Afghanistan becomes more competitive, Zimbabwe is hitting a new low with each passing match.