Cricket: History on Zimbabwe's side

Shane Bond (centre) celebrates the fall of yet another Zimbabwe wicket with team-mate Daniel Vettori. Picture / Reuters

New Zealand cricket fans with long memories will surely be feeling a little uneasy this week as the fallout from Zimbabwe's two-day test match against the Black Caps escalates.

Dismissed twice in the same day - only the second time it has happened in test history - Zimbabwe crashed by an innings and 294 runs at Harare, eclipsing by 40 runs their previous worst performance against Sri Lanka last year.

By the time the rout was complete, calls were again being made for Zimbabwe to be suspended from the International Cricket Council's test programme, at least until they prove to be more competitive.

There were those who believed the troubled African side should simply be dumped from the circuit, and others who supported a mooted two-tiered test programme, in which the top six-ranked sides would play in the first division, and the bottom six in the second.

Under the latter option, the second division would comprise two more ICC associate members, and the bottom four-ranked teams of the present 10 test-playing nations - at present, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, the West Indies and Pakistan.

In a way, the reaction was understandable given Zimbabwe's woeful recent record, and the fact that they are in a near-hopeless decline, with very little chance of making a recovery in the near-future.

In the seven tests played since midway through last season, they have lost five by more than an innings and one against Bangladesh, who up until that point were still searching for their maiden win.

How bad are they? The worst team in the world, according to one of their own newspapers; the first expansion team that have survived the initial experience at the top level, only to deteriorate with time.

So bad, in fact, that even after being bowled out for the second-lowest total in their history, and losing by the biggest margin, the selectors have signalled their intention to make no changes to the second test batting line-up.

Comparisons have been made with fellow test stragglers Bangladesh but the reality is that Zimbabwe's cricket situation is far more perilous, in that it's founded on a failing infrastructure, and on resources that are not sustainable.

The guardians of the game there have fled Robert Mugabe's regime, leaving behind a skeleton crew who haven't enough money to improve the game, and inadequate playing numbers to endure.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, can look ahead with unshakeable optimism given that cricket is almost a religion in that country, and will always command great passion and participation.

They will get better, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see them win a World Cup in our lifetime.

For all that, it must be difficult for New Zealand fans with any sense of history to support the idea of expelling Zimbabwe merely on the grounds of their playing form, and their appalling record over the past year.

Zimbabwe might not be at the top of their game, but they still haven't managed to be bowled out for 26, as did New Zealand in the second test against England at Auckland in 1955.

They've never been beaten by an innings and 324 runs either, as New Zealand managed against Pakistan just three years ago in Lahore, and they have never been dismissed for less than a hundred four times in one series, as did our Class of '58.

It's a fair point that Zimbabwe must be simply awful to be dismissed twice in a day on a flat wicket, and that any side who collapse so badly against moderate opposition deserve more scrutiny.

But if we're going to start chucking out teams on the basis of that sort of record, we should also remember that last weekend's two-dayer was only the 16th shortest test in history in terms of balls bowled, and that New Zealand already stand in seventh place.

The test against Australia at Wellington in 1946 was restricted to a total of just 872 deliveries as Walter Hadlee's side were shot out for 42 (the last eight wickets falling for just five runs) and 54.

We've also been knocked over at Lord's for 42 (1958), 67 (1958), 67 (1978) and 74 (1958), and for less than 100 on no fewer than 21 occasions.

New Zealand were so bad in their fledgling days that it took them 26 years before they tasted test success, and their most famous player, Bert Sutcliffe, never played in a test-winning team.

Even on the one-day circuit, New Zealand have struggled to impress as much as some of their contemporaries, having never won the World Cup despite making the semifinals four times (unlike India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka).

So it might be that Zimbabwe will need all the help they can muster from the ICC in terms of their short- or long-term future, but it's unlikely anyone will start heeding calls for their international exclusion.

Least of all, from New Zealanders.