The danger is not just internal. While Zimbabwe battles time, the rest of the world is moving faster. The gap between Full Members – at least those lower on the rung – and Associate nations has shrunk to razor-thin margins, driven by the global explosion of franchise cricket.
This closing gap means that after 2027, Zimbabwe risk being leapfrogged by nations like Namibia or the Netherlands, who now benefit from the same finishing schools as the elites.
“And of course with the help of franchise cricket as well, a lot of those Associate cricketers do find all those franchise gigs here and there as well and they take those lessons and learnings back home. Thanks to all those factors, T20 cricket has been brought a lot closer.”
To avoid this fate, Zimbabwe roughly have 20 months to set their transition in motion; essentially, start nurturing new talent now, or face irrelevance later.
“Development and growth is a very important stage of any youngster. I just hope – and if it’s up to me – I’ll sit down with the board as well and plan a way forward rather than rush them in. Because now there is a gap of three senior guys and now you might want to just chuck a youngster in. It doesn’t work like that, in my books anyway, there’s not many examples that you can look at.
“Before national, there are A-tours, there’s academy tours as well. I just hope that we can put them on the right track and hopefully the path is clear for them. And if somebody is really exceptional, then of course he can skip a stage here or two.”
Zimbabwe’s current standing – hovering at the bottom of the ICC rankings – is a reflection of this struggle.
“Every time we play against the Test nations, they’re right above us and they’re above us for a reason,” Raza said. “If you look at last year, we weren’t winning consistently but we were winning pretty much against every nation. We went to the tri-series, managed a win there. We had home series against all the Asian countries that came to our country. We managed to find a win there as well.”
All this means that the next 20 months are a countdown to a home World Cup, but also to the next generation. The veterans, meanwhile, will be seeking to ensure that when they walk off the field for the last time, the house they built is in good hands.
“So while you say that we’re neither here nor there, in my heart I do feel that we’re on the right track. All we need to do is find a bit more consistency and then I think you would be saying we’re here and not just there.”
Zimbabwe are indeed on track. But with the Associate world breathing down their necks, they cannot afford to stop running.
