'The whole objective is to crush opposition'
Steven Price spoke to a leading provincial Zimbabwean administrator of more than 20 years standing about Zimbabwe Cricket's recent move to change the structure of the game and his views on the situation inside the country now
05-Jun-2006
Steven Price spoke to a leading provincial Zimbabwean administrator of more than 20 years standing about Zimbabwe Cricket's recent move to change the structure of the game and his views on the situation inside the country now
Why do you think Zimbabwe Cricket has made the move to scrap the five existing provinces and replace them with ten new ones?
It's to remove the existing administrators who oppose Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute's methods of running cricket. By removing the administrators and those who have played cricket and want to put something back to the game they love so much, they can install their own supporters and instruct them on how to vote and operate.
It's to remove the existing administrators who oppose Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute's methods of running cricket. By removing the administrators and those who have played cricket and want to put something back to the game they love so much, they can install their own supporters and instruct them on how to vote and operate.
ZC does not have the legal framework to dissolve boards and create new provinces as this has to be done and accepted by the existing boards at AGMs and EGM's, they tried this last year and failed as the provinces refused to attend and subsequently they did not have a quorum. But with no rule of law they do as they please.
ZC claims this will make the regions more democratic and will help the game develop and spread. Is that how you see it?
It will stifle debate - the whole objective is to crush opposition. As long as they stay in power it means that instead of going ahead in leaps and bounds, cricket goes backwards.
It will stifle debate - the whole objective is to crush opposition. As long as they stay in power it means that instead of going ahead in leaps and bounds, cricket goes backwards.
How will this work in practice as surely Zimbabwe cricket is not strong enough to sustain 10 provincial sides - will it create another set of regional entities to play first-class matches?
Firstly, ZC does not have the finance to keep the existing provinces going, let alone to add to them. Also, what people do not understand that in some of the areas created there are either no suitable grounds or no grounds at all, and no league structure. So how can you expand the game if you cannot sustain an existing structure?
Firstly, ZC does not have the finance to keep the existing provinces going, let alone to add to them. Also, what people do not understand that in some of the areas created there are either no suitable grounds or no grounds at all, and no league structure. So how can you expand the game if you cannot sustain an existing structure?
Building facilities is a huge expense, especially with building costs in the country, so I do not envisage that new grounds will be built. The coaches, while they try hard, generally have never played the game before nor at the higher levels and had just attended coaching courses and obtained the necessary certificates. While this is acceptable at lower levels, you need considerably higher levels of coaching if you wish to achieve targets of creating world-class players.
We do not have enough quality players to sustain ten provincial sides. If you look at the recent Faithwear Cup tournament, results were a joke and it shows that we barely have two teams let alone ten.
How many of the existing administrators in your region will continue?
Very few will be involved. We are losing many people emigrating weekly and those that remain have been fighting for many years. With the lack of response from the ICC, I would say many have lost heart and will find another pastime. I for one am not prepared to be involved in the farce. There is no transparency in anything ZC does and with the exception of those already aligned to ZC, I believe very few will remain unless they believe that they can financially benefit. For many years being an administrator meant giving your time for free and not expecting any financial gain for your involvement ... now payment is expected for everything.
Very few will be involved. We are losing many people emigrating weekly and those that remain have been fighting for many years. With the lack of response from the ICC, I would say many have lost heart and will find another pastime. I for one am not prepared to be involved in the farce. There is no transparency in anything ZC does and with the exception of those already aligned to ZC, I believe very few will remain unless they believe that they can financially benefit. For many years being an administrator meant giving your time for free and not expecting any financial gain for your involvement ... now payment is expected for everything.
How do you see this working out in the medium to long term?
The country has a wealth of talent, but it will all depend if they change the focus to the game and not what they can make out of it. Experienced players have left. The loss in the West Indies in one-day matches was significant, so how on earth are we going to cope at Test level?
The country has a wealth of talent, but it will all depend if they change the focus to the game and not what they can make out of it. Experienced players have left. The loss in the West Indies in one-day matches was significant, so how on earth are we going to cope at Test level?
ZC is bullying valuable staff into resigning - whether it be by actual harassment or by not increasing salaries in line with inflation - we have lost good managers and coaches. Now we have lost our most experienced groundsman [Bulwayo's Noel Peck] and this has left a huge void, especially in view of the ICC's stance and concern on the quality of pitches.
Why have so many administrators - such as yourself - quit?
I saw that we could not achieve anything, especially with ICC maintaining that it was an internal matter. I was also disappointed with some of the players who opted to go for the money and align themselves with ZC. Some of them I do not blame, as it was a means of income which is critical in the environment that we live in and some do not have the academic abilities to do anything else but play cricket.
I saw that we could not achieve anything, especially with ICC maintaining that it was an internal matter. I was also disappointed with some of the players who opted to go for the money and align themselves with ZC. Some of them I do not blame, as it was a means of income which is critical in the environment that we live in and some do not have the academic abilities to do anything else but play cricket.
In your view, have things bottomed out now and where do you see Zimbabwe cricket in, say, two years' time - and will they be ready to resume playing Tests in January?
Here I have a good laugh. Five years ago there were comments that there was rasicm in cricket and, while I had not come up against any, I would presume that there may have been some but not to the magnitude that was portrayed. A proposed change to the ZCU constitution was made with Price Waterhouse and this was rejected by all provinces. Before we knew it, the Sports Commission came in and said that we either accept the changes or they take over cricket and so on, that day the players the grassroots of the game lost all control on cricket.
The targets/quotas that the proposal had were a joke - there was even a quota for spectators. What is really amusing is that the Racial Integration Commission (RIC), which Bvute was part of, was concerned with the make-up of the team. And yet when you look at the Zimbabwe side today there are at least seven whites - so what has happened to all these targets? What a waste of time.
What is more, I believe that there are a couple of deserving black players who should be in the side. This means that all the money used to run the RIC could have been used elsewhere more effectively. Even if you go back to the days of Andy Flower, we did not have a great team just a few quality players who did very well with what they had but Zimbabwe were still bottom of the rankings until Bangladesh came along. Now the team we have would have been Zimbabwe's sixth or seventh XI if we had the player base we had then. To answer your question, we will not be ready even in five years to play Tests.