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Brandon Moyo, [email protected]

IT has been a week since the Chevrons did the unthinkable and betrayed the nation when they failed to qualify for next year’s T20 World Cup.

It was a week of shame, humiliation and disgrace, a period which saw many disgruntled cricket stakeholders calling for an overhaul of the team and the coaching department.

As expected, rumours started making rounds just a day after Zimbabwe’s last match against Kenya in which they won but had no effect as Uganda and Namibia had already progressed. No one could stomach that and people demanded action to be taken.

Rumours emerged that head coach Dave Houghton and the director of cricket, Hamilton Masakadza had been sacked after the embarrassment but it appears it was not true as Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has not announced any changes.

Houghton is in charge of the Chevrons team that is playing against Ireland at Harare Sports Club.

In all honesty, Houghton should not be spared in all of this, if heads have to roll, his name is supposed to be on the list. After all, he is the one in charge of what has turned out to be the darkest days in the country’s rich cricket history.

During his tenure, the Chevrons have had a tough game against an associate team, the Netherlands, lost a series against Namibia, a defeat at the hands of Scotland and the worst of them all, a defeat against Uganda. In any normal set-up such performance results in the firing of the coach.

Well, maybe things are not so normal at ZC. Why is the board quiet when the sport is going down the drain like this? What are they doing to save the game?

Is the board clean in on this mess? Why are they not saying or doing anything about the debacle that the game finds itself in, or maybe they are a part of the problem and the rot.

Firing and hiring coaches has proved ineffective. Maybe the problem is bigger than coaches and players.

For how long are we going to continue like this without finding a solution?

Afghanistan has improved right in front of us, the Netherlands are going up right in front of us and even Namibia now enjoys a better track record compared to us. Going down the drain when all these other “small” teams are improving is just an embarrassment.

What we need is to cut the head of the snake and not just the tail. The ZC board should be held accountable for all this mess as that is where things are falling apart, they are a bigger part of the rot. Their administration of the game is paying no dividends.

They are failing to regulate the game that millions around the country so much love. They have failed to protect and promote the interests of the game. The board is shooting themselves in the foot and go out to look for a sacrificial lamb.

Why are teams coming to Zimbabwe and beating us? Why is only one city hosting games? Are there no other cricket grounds in the country? Why are they allowing a national under-19 coach to go and play somewhere else when his team is preparing for the World Cup? What happened to the academies? Why do they continue picking the same names over and over again?

What should one do to deserve a national call-up; play for or be a Takashinga boy? Why is there Takashinga in all national team set-ups?

How can the players grow when they play at the same venue all the time? Queens Sports Club has become foreign to the national teams because all cricket takes place in Harare.

It is not just at senior level but at age group level as well. There is a lot of neglect and nepotism. Yes, they dropped a number of players for the

Ireland series but that is not enough, it doesn’t solve the problem.

For how long will we continue like this, no accountability of any sort? Enough is enough. It’s time to fix our game. We cannot continue like this. We need a serious overhaul of the entire system.

The ZC board should be held accountable for all the mess the sport is in and if they love and respect the game, they should resign to allow a new vision, a new Zimbabwe Cricket.

The game needs to move forward. We deserve better. We deserve respect and we deserve a board that has the game at heart. — @brandon_malvin