The Sunday Mail
ZIMBABWE Cricket chairman Tawengwa Mukuhlani has a difficult task ahead of him this year.
During his first four months in office, the country has gone from being a fully fledged Test nation to an unofficial “Senior Associate side”.
The country’s ill-fated tours against Afghanistan have greatly exposed Zimbabwe’s weaknesses.
This past week, the decade long spiral hit an all-time low as the team lost back to back One-Day-Internationals against minnows Afghanistan.
Their 49-run loss during the first ODI on Christmas Day saw the Chevrons recording the lowest total (82) by a Test nation against an Associate side, adding to their already unfancied record of being the first and only Test nation to lose a five-match ODI series to an Associate side.
Both records were recorded against Afghanistan, with the first coming during the Asians’ visit last October.
With that, the Chevrons now find themselves in the company of the Associate sides on the ICC rankings, anchoring all but the Twenty20 log table.
To add salt to injury, the Chevrons look set to continue the trend of going through qualification, together with the Associates.
The prospect of ever returning to the prestigious Champions Trophy is fast disappearing with each passing year.
In The Champions Trophy, the second most important international tournament, only the top eight ranked teams can participate.
Zimbabwe is currently ranked 12th on the ICC ODI rankings.
That said, when the Chevrons complete their current tour against Afghanistan, it goes without say that Tawengwa and his board must take action.
Sport dictates that someone must take the fall at the end of any disastrous year or tour.
It appears pressure has already started to mount and last week, the new chairman held a meeting behind closed doors with the Sports and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane and officials from the Sports and Recreation Commission.
The Chevrons’ poor form and the association’s remedies were discussed.
The chairman pleaded for time and rightly so.
After the Chevrons’ 2015 disaster, indications are that the trio of skipper Elton Chigumbura, head coach Dav Whatmore and his batting coach Andy Waller might take the fall.
The general consensus is that the aforementioned people should do the honourable thing and relinquish their positions.
But while the criticism being levied against the three is justified, it appears no easy quick fix will dig Zimbabwe out the hole it finds itself in.
Zimbabwe Cricket, the players, the board and management and the system as a whole have all contributed to the precarious situation.
Mukuhlani should spend his time correcting the system if he hopes to save his legacy, which already is in tatters.
In as far as the system’s failures are concerned, Zimbabwe Cricket dropped the ball when they appointed Chigumbura as captain.
Why was Brendan Taylor removed from that position in the shorter version of the game?
Had his leadership skills come into question, and if so, why didn’t he lose the captaincy in all formats?
Or was his removal a mere case of a disguised “quota system”?
When Chigumbura was appointed ODI and T20 captain back in 2014, his place in the team was already being question.
He is no longer the all-rounder he once promised to be due to injuries that are preventing him from bowling. His batting is also taking a strain. He should have been right beside his buddies — Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza — when they got the axe last year, if not earlier.
In 2013, he only made 162 runs at an average of 26.83 from 11 matches, and improved to only 392 runs in 16 matches at the end of 2014.
He actually had less than 392 runs when he took over the reins in July 2014 and under normal circumstances, he should have been a nominee for the axe.
Before then, he had made only 94 runs in three matches and had taken over 160 innings and 10 years to make his maiden ODI 100.
Now, that hardly spells top performer, let alone leader.
However, the Zimbabwe Cricket, then under former boss Peter Chingoka, decided to appoint him captain anyway.
And during Chigumbura’s tenure, Zimbabwe Cricket have done themselves a disservice by only backing him to succeed without actually enabling him to do so.
The system has failed to identify, nurture and develop new talent, except for a string of unpolished fringe players coming come in and out of the team with the latest being Wellington Masakadza, Tendai Chisoro, Luke Jongwe, Taurai Muzarabani and most recently Peter Moor.
The lack of a proper developmental system or structure has failed to create new stars. All this can be attributed to a system failure.
The criticism levied against Whatmore and Waller mostly stems from their deplorable record since taking over.
During the 2015 calendar year, the Chevrons played a total of 40 matches, excluding their current tour to Afghanistan, winning a paltry 10 matches.
This translates to a 25 percent success rate. Both have failed to improve the team mental strength and have done far less to help them combat spin.
In as much as Mukuhlani may argue that all these statistics and structural weaknesses happened before his time and he merely inherited a flawed administration, he hasn’t done much to correct them.
During his short term in office, Mukuhlani has been very invisible in terms of active results, instead spending most of time playing personal politics, tearing into former boss Wilson Manase and wasting time on racial battles.
A lot of self-reflection and correction is required for Zimbabwe to return to its former glory on the international scene.
