Things that went wrong in Zimbabwe’s failed T20 World Cup qualifier

Zimbabwe Cricket T20 Qualifier Namibia ICC — Zimbabwe Cricket T20 Qualifier Namibia PIC: ICC

Zimbabwe have suffered the embarrassment of being the only full-member nation to miss out on the T20 Cricket World Cup next year.

In effect to call it an embarrassment is not quite the word.

With respect to the associate countries, Zimbabwe could not have been handed a seemingly easier path to the global showcase, but will miss again after only getting to one edition since 2015.

Much will be said in the corridors by cricket fans, but what went wrong will be a question many will ask.

We have a few things we saw, even as we were present in Namibia:

Selection

The two names many were surprised to see on the list were Nick Welch and Carl Mumba. They both traveled for the horror tour of Namibia at the end of October. They struggled. Head coach Dave Houghton had said that the tour was meant to check out the conditions before the tournament. If these two had troubles, what was going to change a few weeks later?

Player pool not trusted?

A couple of players were coming from injury and it seems the selection policy for Zimbabwe is that instead of options, we have players who are simply in until someone walks back into the team after an injury. There are of course special talents who are an exception.

Captaincy decisions

We can talk about the Namibia match bigly, but the Uganda one was a bit odd. The Cranes had used Dinesh Nakrani effectively on a difficult wicket, bowling 22 off-cutters in his 24 balls. Then they loaded the innings with spinners taking pace off the pitch. And then Zimbabwe decided to go with 12 overs of pace and the second most most frugal of the bowlers on the day, Wellington Masakadza going at an economy of 3.50 was only given two overs.

Wessly Madhevere

There was an uncomfortable scene when against Uganda, Wessly Madhevere stood up to bat after Wellington Masakadza had been sent in up the order. That in itself was an odd decision, but arguments may be made that they were looking for a left-right combination. But then as he stood up from the dugout, Madhevere was sent back to sit down and Clive Madande sent his stead. What does it say when one of your best young talents in the format is not trusted to do a job and less skilled batsmen are sent in ahead of him?

Arrogance

Before the tournament, some in and around the team made statements like:

The only way we will not qualify is if the rain is a factor
The only team we are worried about is Namibia

That may have been the attitude and captain Sikandar Raza alluded to that when he said that his side tended to bring themselves to a lower team’s level when they played weaker sides. Perhaps the players took it for granted that they could just pitch up and win.

Thinking this was a done deal is the reason 2018 and 2023 Cricket World Cup did not happen.

And now the T20 Cricket World Cup.

What now?

Questions will naturally be asked about Houghton’s position.

When the Zimbabwe Cricket Board retained him this month, they said, “Placing emphasis on the importance of qualification for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, the Board retained Dave Houghton as Zimbabwe Senior Men’s National Team Head Coach.”

That should imply that some sort of gymnastics will be necessary to maintain his position.

With Ireland in less than a week, this will be completed.

On the captaincy, it would not make sense to change after one series. What was clear is that the added responsibility did not affect Raza. But what begs a question is that even under the circumstances, there is no remotely obvious choice to take the helm if one does not choose from Craig Ervine, Sean Williams or Raza.

Lastly, this is not case of a great reset. Zimbabwe has made big advancements in the game over the last couple of years.

What needs to be asked is what needs to be done to get over the line. How do Zimbabwe stop becoming the stepping stone for certain teams to get to the next level? It happened with Bangladesh, then Afghanistan. Now it is Namibia and Uganda. And Ireland are giving the bombasitc side-eye.

A lot of the goodwill created could quickly evaporate if the sporting results do not reflect the investment made in the game.