Inside Sport: It’s time to disband the Chevrons

Sport
There is no humiliation in international cricket, or any sport for that matter, that is worse than a loss to Afghanistan.

There is no humiliation in international cricket, or any sport for that matter, that is worse than a loss to Afghanistan.

MICHAEL KARIATI

But Zimbabwe suffered this disgrace not once but twice.

Hamilton-Masakadza

It is true that every team has their ups and downs now and again, but the down in which the Zimbabwe national cricket team is right now shows that chances of an up are very remote.

It appears now that there is only one solution to the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) crisis. That solution is to disband the Chevrons, and build a completely new team from scratch.

ZC has changed administrators and coaches several times but the players have remained the same. The results have been there for everyone to see — one humiliation after another.

The evidence is now abundant to show that Zimbabwe can no longer continue to rely on the same old players and that there is a danger that at the current rate of form, Zimbabwe will not qualify for the 2019 World Cup.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) have changed their format of World Cup qualification and the Chevrons, who had the luxury of automatic qualification as a Test playing nation, will now have to fight to earn their place.

According to the international cricket controlling body, starting from the 2019 World Cup finals, only hosts England, and the seven top-placed teams according to the ICC ODI rankings, will have direct entry into the World Cup.

The bottom four teams on the ODI team rankings by September 30 2018 deadline, along with the top teams from the ICC World Cricket League and the ICC World Cricket Championship will head to the ICC World Cup qualifiers to battle for the two remaining slots.

As things stand now, Zimbabwe are way off the automatic World Cup qualifying place as they are in 12th place behind Afghanistan, and Ireland, and their automatic World Cup dream is slipping away by each game they play.

Even if they do not qualify automatically, the team we have has proved that even against the weakest sides in the world, they do not stand a chance. Expecting them to go to the 2018 World Cup qualifiers and win would be expecting too much from them.

In other countries, players come and go but in Zimbabwe, they stay, even if they have outlived their usefulness. Zimbabwe can no longer continue to put its faith in the likes of Hamilton Masakadza, Chris Mpofu, Graeme Creemer, Tinashe Panyangara, and crew. This is the time to bring in fresh inspiration even if it means sacrificing immediate results. As long as we are doing the right thing immediate results will not matter.

ZC should make bold decisions even if it also means sacrificing Australian coach Dav Whatmore and bringing in a local coach who knows our junior players better.

With the current team, there is no future for Zimbabwe cricket and now is the time to start building a new team that might lose today but guarantees a better future for the Chevrons.

This is the time for change.

The Warriors must deliver Now that the Warriors are not grumbling over accommodation, food, transport or allowances, the onus is on them to honour their side of the bargain — deliver results.

The Zimbabwe Football Association has played its part by providing a conducive environment, an environment that any national team would like to have. What the nation expects now is for the Warriors to go to Rwanda and be counted.

The last time the Warriors were at the Africa Nations Championships in South Africa in 2014, they finished fourth and nothing less than a place in the final in Rwanda will be entertained back home.

As they prepare to leave, the Warriors should be warned that no excuses will be entertained this time around.

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