The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S early exit from the ongoing International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup might have far reaching consequences for the game in the country.
The country’s national team ended their campaign against India in an inconsequential Pool B fixture in which Zimbabwe was merely fulfilling an obligation.
As the cricketers find their way home and probably watch the rest of the tournament on television, their failure to progress beyond the group stage of the event is likely to have a negative impact on the future of the game.
Drawn in a pool with two ICC Associate members Ireland and United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe were expected to perform better than they did. The loss to Ireland last Saturday which brought an end to hopes of making it to the quarter-finals has the potential to harm the local game.
The defeat to Ireland by five runs means that the Irish who take on Pakistan today have a chance of making it through to the last eight.
Pressure has been mounting on the ICC to change their plans to have only the top eight ODI ranked countries as of 30 September 2017 qualify directly for the 2019 World Cup to be staged in England in what is meant to be a 10 team event. The bottom four will play in a 8-team qualifier in 2018 where only two slots would be up for grabs.
While Bangladesh, ranked ninth at the moment have been impressive with a spot in the quarter-finals now guaranteed, Zimbabwe, ranked 10th have not played well to force a rethink of the ICC decision. It would be, therefore hard for Zimbabwe to make it through in the qualifiers, more so if the games are played in the sub continent.
ICC Associate members Ireland, Afghanistan as well as Scotland have shown lots of improvement at this World Cup while Zimbabwe struggled.
If Zimbabwe fail to make it to England in 2019, that has huge financial implications for the game in the country. Zimbabwe Cricket survives mainly on handouts from the ICC for participating in events such as the World Cup and World Twenty20. What that means in the event that Zimbabwe did not qualify for the next World Cup, their dues from the ICC would be significantly reduced a scenario that would be huge setback for the game in this country.
Without ICC funding, ZC will find it hard to give players contracts, pay administration staff and run domestic competitions.
After woeful display at the WC, a lot needs to be done between now and the qualifiers in 2017 to ensure the team do make it to England.
The high uncertainty has already seen one of Zimbabwe’s star players Brendan Taylor sign up for English county cricket side Nottinghamshire. According to reports, Taylor, a right handed top order batsman who also keeps wicket has been snapped up by the English side for three years on a Kolpak deal. The development means Taylor would not be classified as a foreign player and cannot play for Zimbabwe while at Nottinghamshire.
Taylor is not the first Zimbabwean player to take up such an arrangement to play county cricket in England, others include Heath Streak, Grant Flower, Travis Friend, Raymond Price, Grant Flower, Sean Ervine, Anthony Ireland and Kyle Jarvis.
Others like Sean Williams and Craig Ervine because of their ancestry could follow the same route taken by Taylor if nothing is done to guarantee their future.
While our boys will watch the rest of the games on television, they will surely be concerned about what the future has for them following that forgettable stint in Australia and New Zealand.
