De Grandhomme’s Black Caps debut serves to highlight Zimbabwe’s plight

Spiral of decline

To New Zealand then, where, in the best demonstration of hirsute fast-bowling juju since Mitchell Johnson last skittled England, mustachioed all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme has just routed Pakistan in his very first Test.

Actually, fast-bowling is a stretch. De Grandhomme bowls what might be described as right-arm Kiwi orthodox, medium-pace wibble wobble. He took six for 41 in the first innings in Christchurch, the first Black Caps debutant to take half-a-dozen wickets since Alex Moir took six for 155 against England way back in 1951. Moir is best remembered now as one of the few men to bowl two consecutive overs in Test cricket. Likewise, De Grandhomme will always have his ‘tache, even after our other memories of him fade away.

It was only supposed to be temporary, though before he shaves it off De Grandhomme would do well to think on the story of Samson. De Grandhomme is 30 now, and has been around the New Zealand scene some while. He played a solitary one-day game back in 2012, and a handful of T20 internationals that same season, but his match figures in this Test, seven for 64, were his best yet. Back before all that, he was playing in Zimbabwe. Born and raised in Harare, he was part of the side that beat Australia at the U19 World Cup in 2004, the most fondly remembered of 13 games he played for Zimbabwe’s junior teams.

Zimbabwe’s Test team have just finished a home series of their own, in which they were absolutely battered by Sri Lanka, by 225 runs in the first Test and 257 in the second. One of De Grandhomme’s old U19 teammates, Graeme Cremer, scored a century, and another, Craig Ervine, made 70. Time was when De Grandhomme’s father, Laurence, imagined that his boy would one day be playing for Zimbabwe’s senior team along with them. Zimbabwean journalist Dean du Plessis (who has an extraordinary story of his own) wrote last week that Laurence once told him his boy was “set for a big future and will hopefully do Zimbabwe proud in a few years’ time”.

It didn’t work out that way. After he’d finished school, De Grandhomme was approached by a scout who persuaded him to move to New Zealand and play there instead. He became one Zimbabwe’s many expatriate professionals, and eventually qualified for New Zealand’s national team through residency. He’s one of dozens who got away from Zimbabwe. This piece could equally well have been about Gary Ballance, who played for Zimbabwe’s U19 team but is now on tour with England. Or Hilton Cartwright, who was born in Harare and has just been picked for Australia’s ODI squad.

There are a host more in county cricket. Kyle Jarvis, who took 51 championship wickets for Lancashire this year, Sean Ervine who scored 1,050 runs for Hampshire, and Brendan Taylor, who made 759 for Notts. Those are only the ones you know. There are plenty more you likely don’t. Nick Welch, 18, spent the summer opening the batting for Sussex’s second XI. Ed Byrom, 19, did likewise for Somerset’s seconds. Ryan Higgins, 21, is making his way in Middlesex’s middle order. Adam Rouse, 24, has been keeping wicket for Kent. All born in Zimbabwe. Some only grew into the players they’ve become because they played, trained, and learned here, others were already successful when they switched.

Each has their own story about how and why they came to leave Zimbabwe. Some, like Sean Ervine, are old enough now to have been part the group of 15 rebels who quit after a dispute with the Zimbabwe Board in 2004. Others, like Cartwright, belonged to farming families who moved during the white flight. Cartwright says he can’t remember much about his life in Harare, only that he always used to think: “I’m going to play for Zimbabwe.” Some took up scholarships at foreign private schools, others contracts with clubs or counties. The only common thread is that they all felt they were better off playing outside Zimbabwe.

In the meantime, Zimbabwean cricket has been in a spiral of decline. Which is, of course, the very reason many of those same players chose to leave for overseas. In the late 90s a Zimbabwe team built around the batting of Andy Flower and Murray Goodwin and the all-round talents of Neil Johnson and Heath Streak won Tests against India at home and Pakistan away, then finished fifth in the Super Six of the World Cup. It wasn’t so many years ago, but is beginning to feel like a very long time indeed.

There are many reasons for the collapse of Zimbabwean cricket, chief among them the wider condition of the country – it’s estimated that around 45,000 teachers also left in the 2000s – and the chronic maladministration of the game by the ZCU. The journalists Liam Brickhill and Tristan Holme have done a good job of reporting on it all, and their work is the first place to start if you want a better understanding of the situation. The point here is that it is increasingly clear that the situation in Zimbabwe is only one little part of a far bigger problem.

You could see it when Fiji’s rugby union team came to play England at Twickenham last Saturday, and again when the Springboks were there the weekend before. That same day, there were 10 Fijian players starting for other countries around the world, and, though accurate numbers are hard to come by, many more who were unavailable because they were bound to professional contracts at clubs. A similar thing is true for both Tonga and Samoa. This is a consequence of globalised sport. Free movement, our flexible sense of nationality, has led to a talent drain, and in some countries playing resources are running precariously low.

Our willingness to accommodate players from all parts is something we should cherish and defend, but the flip side of it is that as our sport grows stronger, someone else’s is growing weaker. The problem can only be fixed from the inside those countries, by incentivising players to stay. And word is that Zimbabwe, who have appointed Streak as head coach and Tatenda Taibu as convenor of selectors and development officer, are at last moving in the right direction again. But it is worth asking, too, exactly what we are doing to help. New Zealand have toured Zimbabwe twice in the last five years, and hosted them once in between. England, for all our cricket has been enriched by their talent, have had nothing much to do with them since 2004.