Zimbabwe need to inspire in dark times

Big Picture

What must a young, upcoming cricketer in Zimbabwe feel right now? He would be told he has to follow in the footsteps of the Flowers and the Streaks. What he sees are the Ervines and the Ballances, who choose to play cricket in another country. He would be told he has to derive inspiration from the exploits of the Zimbabwe side of the 90s. What he sees is a national team struggling to come up with even a single performance that would inspire him. He wants to believe his life can be all about cricket, only cricket. All around him, there are signs that show such a belief is just not sustainable in practice, at least in Zimbabwe.

He hears seniors talk about how difficult it is to provide for their families, he sees the national side threaten to stop playing till they are promised better wages. Two days after the board promises, he sees one of his heroes, fast bowler Kyle Jarvis, all of 24, quit international cricket so that he can play the game for counties and franchises and make some money while his body lasts. He spots a chilling sentence in Jarvis' media statement that thoroughly shakes him up, beliefs and all. "I informed my team-mates yesterday that I would be leaving and they were supportive and fully understood why I was doing this." Half-prepared to give up the game, he looks around for some hope, some sign that everything is not lost for Zimbabwe cricket, where those who choose to stay on support those who choose to leave.

And then Brendan Taylor and his men go down without a fight to Pakistan in the format in which they were supposed to have the best chance of causing an upset. Zimbabwe lost both Twenty20 internationals by considerable margins, their batsmen falling to the Pakistan spinners, who took a combined 4 for 67 and 5 for 75 in the two matches. If they couldn't compete with Pakistan for 40 overs, what chance do they stand over 100 overs?

If they couldn't stop Jarvis from leaving, what chance do they have of preventing others who give up on the country in the future? If this continues to happen, what chance more and more young, upcoming players won't quit either Zimbabwe or cricket much earlier than Jarvis did?

No money from the board, no fight from the players, no inspiration for the followers. Money won't come around for a while, but that should not stop Taylor and his men from putting up a fight. Especially in these dark times, that is the bare minimum the followers of Zimbabwe cricket deserve. We can all do with some inspiration.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWTLW
Zimbabwe LLLLL

Players to watch

As if all the responsibility of being Zimbabwe's leading batsman and captain wasn't enough, Brendan Taylor also dearly needs to rouse his side at this juncture, with both words as a leader and deeds with the bat. That this hasn't been a productive season for him won't help, but form as a constraint fades before the enormity of the task in front of him.

Nasir Jamshed was dropped from the Test side for this tour after just two games against a tough opponent like South Africa. He's spoken about how disappointed he felt, and how he plans to make a come back with good limited-overs performances. He could not do much in the T20s, now comes the format in which he's impressed the most.

Team news

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Rehman and Asad Shafiq are the additions to the Pakistan squad for the ODIs in place of Sohail Tanvir, Zulfiqar Babar and Sohaib Maqsood, although there was a case for keeping the inexperienced batsman Maqsood around the team for the ODI leg.

Pakistan (possible) 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Asad Shafiq/Umar Amin, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Saeed Ajmal, 9 Asad Ali/Abdur Rehman, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Mohammad Irfan

In another unfortunate reminder of how things are, Zimbabwe announced their 18-member ODI squad late on the eve of the first ODI, but it remains to be seen what XI features for the game.

Bangladesh cricketers deny corruption charges in BPL

Paceman Mahbubul Alam and left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain said they would defend themselves against charges of fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a scandal that has already brought down teammate and national hero Mohammad Ashraful.

"I am innocent, I was not involved in any kind of corruption," said Alam, 29, who has played four Tests and four one-day matches for his country.

"I have appointed a lawyer to represent me in the [upcoming] disciplinary panel hearing," Alam told AFP.

Hossain, 31, also confirmed he would contest the charges laid under the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) anti-corruption code, ahead of the deadline later on Tuesday for officially responding to the allegations.

Selim Chowdhury, owner of the Dhaka Gladiators BPL franchise, confirmed that he and his son, co-owner Shihab Chowdhury, have also been charged along with the franchise's Indian CEO Gaurav Rawat.

Selim Chowdhury said they would all plead not guilty at the hearing.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced this month that seven unidentified people had been charged with fixing involving the Dhaka Gladiators, following an investigation by its anti-corruption officials.

Another two were charged with failing to report corruption when they were approached during the 2013 season of the Twenty20 tournament, in a scandal that further shook confidence in the game across South Asia.

English all-rounder Darren Stevens became the first among the nine accused to reveal his identity, when he confirmed that he has been charged with failure to report a corrupt approach made to him.

The scandal has already ensnared Ashraful, the former Bangladesh captain, who made a tearful confession to match-fixing on national television in June after being quizzed by the ICC's officials.

He was allegedly involved in fixing a match between the Dhaka Gladiators and the Chittagong Kings.

Local media have reported that the batsman was paid about one million taka (USD 12,800) to lose the match on February 2.

Ashraful, who became the country's youngest Test centurion in 2001 at the age of 17, was also allegedly involved in fixing another match 10 days later against the Barisal Burners, which his team lost by seven wickets, local reports have said.

Across the border in India, the sport is embroiled in separate spot-fixing and betting scandals in the Indian Premier League (IPL), with three cricketers among 39 people charged by police in July.

Morris to step down from ECB role

Hugh Morris will step down as managing director of England cricket to take up the role as chief executive and director of cricket at Glamorgan.

His departure will leave a vacancy near the top of the ECB hierarchy and adds to the debate over Andy Flower's future after weekend reports that he was nearing the end of his time as team director.

Morris, 49, joined the ECB in November 1997 at the end of his playing career with Glamorgan. He was initially the board's technical director and subsequently served as managing director of England Cricket since September 2007. He also served as ECB performance director and as acting chief executive of the board in 2004.

He oversaw one of the most successful periods in English cricket history which has included three consecutive Ashes series victories, rising to No. 1 - albeit briefly - in all formats of the game and securing the World Twenty20 title in 2009. The women's team also found unprecedented success with World Cup, World Twenty20 and Ashes victories. During his time with the ECB, he was also responsible for revamping the board's coaching and science and medicine programmes.

"This has been a remarkable period in the history of cricket in England and Wales and I have been extremely proud to having been able to play a part in it," he said. "In my time at the ECB I have been fortunate to work with some extremely dedicated and talented cricketing people and I thank them and the board for the support they have given me and their contribution to the success of the England teams.

"It has been my privilege to work with Andy Flower, the England team director, during the last four years and congratulate the players on their three Ashes series successes, being the number one ranked team in the world in all three formats of the game, and also winning one ICC global event and being runners-up in another. I am sure they will go on to even greater achievements in the future.

"Under Clare Connor and Charlotte Edwards, the England women have also won the ICC Women's World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 - successes which have brought great credit to ECB and I thank them for their dedication and commitment."

David Collier, the ECB chief executive said: "Hugh has been an influential figure within the ECB since its inception in 1997 and his vision has helped deliver this outstandingly successful period in our cricketing history.

"He will be sadly missed at Lord's by all the ECB staff and at Loughborough where he provided the blueprint for the widely admired National Cricket Performance Centre. We all wish him well on this latest phase of his career with Glamorgan."

Morris, a former left-handed opening batsman, was one of the most consistent and successful batsmen in Glamorgan's history. He will now go back to the county as a senior executive.

"I am now looking forward to a new and exciting challenge with Glamorgan which I will tackle with energy, enthusiasm and relish," Morris said. "I wish the England teams at all levels and the ECB the very best of luck in the coming years and I am sure they will enjoy further success."

Glamorgan chairman Barry O'Brien was thrilled to have Morris returning. "We are delighted to have been able to appoint a person with the calibre of Hugh Morris who has achieved so much as managing director of England Cricket," he said. "He was also one of our most reliable and prolific batsman scoring almost 20,000 first-class runs at an average of more than 40, but in addition to being a very fine player he has demonstrated in his many roles at the ECB that he is also an administrator of the highest ability."

Morris became Glamorgan's youngest ever leader in 1986. He stood down from captaincy at the end of the 1989 season to concentrate on his batting. After scoring 10 centuries and 2276 runs in 1990, he returned to captaincy in 1993 and led Glamorgan to the Sunday League title. After retiring, he took up the post of technical coaching director with the ECB.

He played three Tests for England in 1991, and 314 first class and 274 List-A matches. He scored 19785 first-class runs, including 53 hundreds, at an average of 40.29.

The rise & rise of Indian cricket

India’s dominance in world cricket is only growing. From being a financial superpower, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now showing off its supremacy on the cricket field as well.
India U-23’s triumph at the Asian Cricket Council’s Emerging Teams Cup Tournament in Singapore on Sunday has added one more feather to the overcrowded cap of Indian cricket (see box). These performances certainly come as a breath of fresh air at a time when there is turmoil in Indian cricket due to the spot-fixing scandal and allegations of conflict of interest.
It is not that India began to dominate overnight. They had to go through a process. Greg Chappell, who had a torrid time as India’s coach, reportedly said that India has some of the best talent, which has been nurtured well by the country’s board.
He wrote in a column for an Indian sports magazine that a young cricketer in India has access to better equipment than ever before and BCCI is investing in youth more than it ever did.
Chappell wrote that because of the increased number of tournaments, those who get to the national U-19 level have experienced the life of a professional cricketer from the age of 14. And these battle-hardened youngsters are ready for the rigours by the time they play in a youth World Cup.
So what is it that is going right for Indian cricket?
“It is well-known that we have the best junior cricket format among the Test playing nations. The format of the tournaments produce fresh talent and that help us grow,” said Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI’s general manager, game development.
“BCCI has made it compulsory in the last two years for every board to have a proper academy with trainers and physios. This helps in proper development of youngsters and that is reflected in their performance,” he added.
BCCI’s vice president Niranjan Shah seconded Shetty.
“Whatever money we get, we spend on infrastructure and players. From the beginning, we have programmes for juniors and we are spending a lot on them.
“Our age-group and school cricket is quite competitive and that’s why our boys mature so early by the age of 16 unlike England and Australia where they start late. We have a lot of competition at grassroots level. Every two years, we find a new crop of talent as there is an U-19 World Cup every two years,” said Shah.
Shetty revealed that they have special programmes for youngsters. “At the National Cricket Academy, we not only stress on cricket but there are education programmes on topics such as anti-doping, anti-corruption, financial management, personality development and history of the game.
Shah said he believes that playing in the IPL has also helped players gain confidence.
“We have restricted the number of foreign players in a playing XI to four so that local cricketers get to play. It gives them valuable exposure playing alongside the superstars of international cricket,” he said.
The recent spot-fixing controversy, too, has had a big impact on Indian cricket fans and the BCCI admits they were shocked. However, the board believes that this phase too will pass, just like the match-fixing controversy that rocked Indian cricket in 2000.
 “There are some greats of Indian cricket still playing alongside whose pride to play for country are much more than a few people who have gone astray,” Shetty added.
So what’s BCCI’s aim for Indian cricket? “To be the No.1 team. That’s what we play for. In fact, every country plays to be No.1 in Tests or No.1 in ODIs,” said Shetty.

Cricket-mad Harrison Parsons, six, outscores his dad for Abercarn club

A six-year-old boy has become the star of his village cricket team - even outscoring his own dad.

Harrison Parsons, from Abercarn near Newport, plays in the men's league despite being not much bigger than a cricket pad.
The cricket-mad schoolboy was initially drafted in for fun by his father Jeremy but he soon began to shine.
In a recent match Harrison scored 24 runs but his 27-year-old father only managed 15.
Mr Parsons, a father of three, said: "They thought it was a just a bit of fun when I went out to bat with Harrison.
"But he soon proved them wrong, he chalked up more runs than I did.

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He's a remarkable talent, I'd like to say he takes after his dad but he's a lot better than I was at his age”

Jeremy Parsons Father

"I've not been able to live it down since. I've been getting a lot of stick but I'm really proud of him.

"He's a remarkable talent, I'd like to say he takes after his dad but he's a lot better than I was at his age."
Until recently Harrison has been practising his talents in the back garden of the family home.
But after making his debut for the village team he has become a permanent fixture.
His father said: "He's already easily good enough to play with adults, he can hold his own against whoever he comes up against.
"People tend to underestimate him when he walks up to the wicket in a set of pads which are too big for him.

Harrison's love of cricket began at the age of two

"But hopefully he will just get better and better and one day play for England like his hero Joe Root."
Harrison's mother, Beki Parsons, 26, said: "Harrison loved the sport even before he could walk, since he was two, all he has done is play cricket.
"When I had cartoons on for him on the telly, he would get the remote and change it to the sports channels to see the cricket.
"Even in rugby lessons in school, he throws the ball as if to bowl it.
"He was holding a cricket bat as young as I can remember and I guess it helps that we're involved with the village club."
Harrison is the latest in a long family line of cricketers at Abercarn.
Jeremy is the opening batsman, his grandfather Kevin plays for the second team, while his uncle Ieuan is the first team captain.