Streak Sacked As Zimbabwe Captain

[Craig]

A good article which pretty well emphasises the impression I get that England are in an impossible situation. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

If England do not tour, the full weight of the ICC (yeah) will come crashing down upon them, and the fine will be of Draconian proportions. If England do tour (and that appears to be the situation at present) then they are seen as upholders of an oppressive regime.

It (Zimbabwe) comes down to a simple question, and it is one which many people cannot face. Is it possible for white people to be racially discriminated against?

Zimbabwe 2004 = South Africa 1970.

Yeah Aprathaid in the opposite.

 

[Langeveldt]

Yeah Aprathaid in the opposite.

The only reason is its not seen as apartheid was is because the opressed do not number 35 million.. And Zimbabwe isnt as invested in as South Africa was...

I wish the Zimbabwe team were offered to play and be based in South Africa (and still play international fixtures)..
But that aint going to happen

 

[Loony BoB]

They don't want to play under one so young apparently.

That would be a poor reason - I'm pretty sure Fleming was at one point the youngest captain in cricket history. But yeah, political reasons more than anything. Hmm.

I think it's high time the ICC took a stand against Zimbabwe. Even if they don't, it'd be a surprise if Zimbabwe get any more tours in the future.

Now, what are the rules regarding a player changing country? Just curious if there are any remote possibilities of a workaround being made. You could say that these players are being prejudiced against by the ICC otherwise. ...sort of.

 

[Gaijin-san]

Reportedly, Ray Price, Craig Wishart, Travis Friend and Sean Ervine have all been sacked.

The other players that make up the group of those threatening to quit are:
Grant Flower, Andy Blignaut, Mark Vermeulen, Gary Brent, Barney Rogers, Stuart Carlisle and Trevor Gripper.

Now if this is true it's a complete disaster. They've lost Sean Ervine who is probably their most versatile player without Streak.

If they lose the others they will lose their best bat in Grant Flower; a man capable of doing anything in Blignaut and their big batting hope for the future in Vermeulen.

Well when they said 11 will/may be sacked, it sounded bad; but when you hear some of the names its catastrophic.

 

[Craig]

That would be a poor reason - I'm pretty sure Fleming was at one point the youngest captain in cricket history. But yeah, political reasons more than anything. Hmm.

I think it's high time the ICC took a stand against Zimbabwe. Even if they don't, it'd be a surprise if Zimbabwe get any more tours in the future.

Now, what are the rules regarding a player changing country? Just curious if there are any remote possibilities of a workaround being made. You could say that these players are being prejudiced against by the ICC otherwise. ...sort of.

Four years. Players changed countries in the 1800s and early 1900s about as regularly as Brazil and the All Balcks change coaches (in football and rugby).

 

[luckyeddie]

I'd heard that it was a done deal.

The players concerned (those affected by the meeting with the ZCU and those actually in attendance) had been told (it is alleged) by Vince Hogg that they ought to miss the current round of domestic matches because of the meeting itself, to give them time to hold additional meetings to try to find a way out of the dispute.

Lo and behold, Ozias Bvute, the ZCU guy in charge of 'racial quotas' in the national team and 100% a political appointee on behalf of ZanuPF then told them they had been dismissed because they HAD missed the current round of matches.

A 100% nailed-on Robert Mugabe political stitch-up.

So I'm told.

 

[Lions81]

Maybe what we need is some sort of draft. Let every country, selecting backwards in order of some combined ODI/Test rankings scheme select a player from Zimbabwe to play for their country. So Bangladesh could select Heath Streak, etc. When India comes to pick, we can surprise the world by bringing Henry Olonga out of retirement!

 

[marc71178]

That would be a poor reason - I'm pretty sure Fleming was at one point the youngest captain in cricket history.

Nope, it was the Nawab of Pataudi, followed by Ian Craig, Waqar Younis, Graeme Smith, Javed Miandad, Murray Bisset, Monty Bowden, SRT and Jackie Grant.

In ODI's the list is Waqar, Smith, SRT, Miandad, Moin Khan, Kapil Dev, Alistair Campbell then Fleming (the list complete by Hansie Cronje, Ian Botham and Craig McMillan)

 

[Gaijin-san]

Eddie, I'd heard the same things, but when it comes to reliable sources, I just listen to the most recent news.

 

[luckyeddie]

Eddie, I'd heard the same things, but when it comes to reliable sources, I just listen to the most recent news.

Yup.

I haven't had a dig around for a day or so on this one, and my tame 'nark' hasn't been online to help me either.

 

[Craig]

Maybe what we need is some sort of draft. Let every country, selecting backwards in order of some combined ODI/Test rankings scheme select a player from Zimbabwe to play for their country. So Bangladesh could select Heath Streak, etc. When India comes to pick, we can surprise the world by bringing Henry Olonga out of retirement!

IIRC Olonga suffered a career-ending knee injury and some businessman wanted Olonga to play for Sussex.

Not sure on this.

 

[Loony BoB]

Nope, it was the Nawab of Pataudi, followed by Ian Craig, Waqar Younis, Graeme Smith, Javed Miandad, Murray Bisset, Monty Bowden, SRT and Jackie Grant.

In ODI's the list is Waqar, Smith, SRT, Miandad, Moin Khan, Kapil Dev, Alistair Campbell then Fleming (the list complete by Hansie Cronje, Ian Botham and Craig McMillan)

Ah, it must have been New Zealand cricket history, then. My bad. All the same, those names go to show that youth means little when it comes to how well a captain can/will perform.

 

[Langeveldt]

Can someone tell me why the ICC hasnt even acknowledged that there is a massive problem, let alone done something about it?
And why is nobody complaining?
thank you.

 

[Loony BoB]

Can someone tell me why the ICC hasnt even acknowledged that there is a massive problem, let alone done something about it?
And why is nobody complaining?
thank you.

Money quite possibly has something to do with it, somewhere along the lines.

 

[Lions81]

Money quite possibly has something to do with it, somewhere along the lines.

I think it may have more to do with the fact that no one really feels bad for these white Zimbabwe cricketers. Their lives are a million times better and more comfortable than the average Zimbabwean. They sound so whiny, "Oh we can't play cricket for our country!" Well "our country" it may be, but only because some two generations prior to their birth, the natives were being enslaved and ravaged by colonial powers.

Zimbabwe is a case where the colonizers thought, "Hey, why don't I just stick around for a bit", and I can't imagine the natives are too fond of that line of thinking, not to put too find a point on it. So you're not gonna hear a peep from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or the West Indies on this matter.

 

[Jamee999]

Maybe what we need is some sort of draft. Let every country, selecting backwards in order of some combined ODI/Test rankings scheme select a player from Zimbabwe to play for their country. So Bangladesh could select Heath Streak, etc. When India comes to pick, we can surprise the world by bringing Henry Olonga out of retirement!

That'd be fun or we could put the world on a level playing field by shoving all the players into the pool and having a big draft so Hayden is off to Bangaladesh,Lara staying in the West Indies and Pakistan getting Muraltaharan(sp.)but throwing out Zimbabwe.

 

[luckyeddie]

I think it may have more to do with the fact that no one really feels bad for these white Zimbabwe cricketers. Their lives are a million times better and more comfortable than the average Zimbabwean. They sound so whiny, "Oh we can't play cricket for our country!" Well "our country" it may be, but only because some two generations prior to their birth, the natives were being enslaved and ravaged by colonial powers.

Zimbabwe is a case where the colonizers thought, "Hey, why don't I just stick around for a bit", and I can't imagine the natives are too fond of that line of thinking, not to put too find a point on it. So you're not gonna hear a peep from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or the West Indies on this matter.

OK, so it's official - two wrongs DO make a right.
Should I have played my white supremacist card in 1970 when I took part in marches against the South Africa tour? Of course not.
If we're not going to hear a peep from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or the West Indies, well bloody shame on them.
It's wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong - and the colour makes not a jot of difference.

 

[Loony BoB]

I don't give a crap what people did some two generations ago - it shouldn't have anything to do with the cricket team, and I think everyone here knows it. If there were eleven black cricket players in Scotland and they were all notably and obviously better at playing cricket than every white person, I'd want those eleven starting the group, because they're good at cricket and they live in that country. What are they supposed to do? I don't see Americans running around going "Oh no! Many generations ago, people (not us) colonized this country unfairly! Quick, change the basketball players!" My grandfather was born in the UK but that doesn't mean I'm British. I'm a New Zealander. Why? I was born in New Zealand, that's why. I don't think Heath Streak moved to Zimbabwe halfway through his life with the sinister thoughts of somehow forcing the ethnic culture to have one less representative in their cricket team. If they were evicted from their country because they live on land that does not belong to them, so be it. But if they aren't being evicted, if they own the land they live on, if they're better than the rest of the people in the country at playing cricket, let them play their cricket. If they're so racist against today's generation because of what another generation did, why play a game created by white people? On a sidenote, I remember a black man who once stood up to Mugabe. Does that mean he doesn't like blacks? Politics. Yeesh.

...er... sorry for that little rant. *cough* Anyway, uh, yeah, it's money. Every test playing cricket team is a franchise, and I'm pretty sure the ICC draws money from them all. It's very rare that politics rules over money. Usually money rules over politics. Often, money owns politics.

 

[Loony BoB]

That'd be fun or we could put the world on a level playing field by shoving all the players into the pool and having a big draft so Hayden is off to Bangaladesh,Lara staying in the West Indies and Pakistan getting Muraltaharan(sp.)but throwing out Zimbabwe.

And we'd have at least three Australian teams!

 

[Lions81]

That'd be fun or we could put the world on a level playing field by shoving all the players into the pool and having a big draft so Hayden is off to Bangaladesh,Lara staying in the West Indies and Pakistan getting Muraltaharan(sp.)but throwing out Zimbabwe.

That would be really fun, and maybe we should start a thread and just imagine what it would be like and actually play out such a draft.

And I were Bangladesh, I'm taking Akhtar or Muralitharan with that first pick. In today's game, there seem to be so many great batsmen compared to bowlers, that you'd figure it'd be all bowlers in the first round! In fact, let me actually start the thread!