As Jarvis says goodbye

The Herald

By Robson Sharuko

20 August 2013

KYLE Jarvis became the latest high-profile cricketer to turn his back on Zimbabwe and sign for an English county side saying the pay dispute was the last straw that convinced him to take his talents elsewhere.Craig Ervine rejected a winter contract to play club cricket in England and reports indicate that the big-hitting Charles Coventry could also be on his way there too.

The 24-year-old Jarvis had turned himself into the pace spearhead of the Zimbabwe cricket team, taking 30 wickets in eights Tests, at an average of 31.73 and 27 wickets in 21 One-Day Internationals.

“I have held off a few opportunities over the last few months but my decision was made about a week ago when the pay disputes arose and I felt my time to leave had come,” Jarvis said in a statement released at the weekend.

“I really hope the fans and public can understand my reasons for leaving as job security is the main factor.”

Jarvis is abandoning a Test career for a five-month county cricket season, from April to September, for the next three years, and will also be globe-trotting around the world playing in the Twenty20 matches.

The financial situation at ZC, with its liabilities exceeding its assets by US$8,36 million, hasn’t made life easy for the organisation and its employees and was highlighted by Jarvis as not providing him with the security he needs to continue working in such an environment.

The ZC are battling, against massive odds, to push their books back into the black and the latest financial reports, as highlighted by their chairman Peter Chingoka, shows that they brought down their losses by about US$4,2 million last year.

ZC will record losses of about US$1 million in each of the three tours by Bangladesh, Pakistan, who arrived in Harare yesterday, and Sri Lanka and that will chew whatever they might have made during the recent tour of India. But, against such a tough operational background, ZC have certainly moved mountains just to keep the franchises, which they bankroll, functional and also keeping the game alive by hosting tours, which are expensive but necessary for the game’s development.

It’s not like they are the only ones in such a predicament.

Sri Lanka players, who will be the last to tour here this year, spent months without being paid last year as their board, Sri Lanka Cricket, faced serious financial challenges as its losses slipped past the US$69 million mark.

As late as March this year, Sri Lanka Cricket froze 23 of their top players from international cricket, because of a stalemate over contract terms, while in the previous year the players had played for four months of international cricket without contracts because of a dispute with their mother body.

New Zealand Cricket projected a loss of US$8 million for the past year but a strong financial performance, helped in no small part by an eight-year sponsorship and media deal, saw the losses contained to just about US$2 million.

Jarvis has chosen to commit himself to Lancashire County Cricket, for the next three years, but while he is unlikely to plunge into pay disputes with his new employers, their financial books should tell him a story that Zimbabwe Cricket are not alone in their battle for financial health in a tough operating environment.

Lancashire reported losses, which chairman Michael Cairns described as “substantial”, of £1,5 million (about US$2,34 million) for the year 2012, with the impact of the redevelopment of Old Trafford cricket ground, which came with lengthy and costly legal battles, weighing down on their finances.

It was the fourth successive financial year that Lancashire had recorded a significant loss in their statements.

“The loss is again substantial,” Cairns told the Manchester Evening News. “However, as forecasted last year, it is broadly in line with our expectations.

“Over the past four years we have suffered more than our fair share of unanticipated hurdles and costly interruptions to our development project.

“While this is often the case with multi-faceted construction programmes, it’s reasonable to say that some of our challenges have been far from the norm.

“In addition, the serious fall off in paid attendances in all forms of domestic cricket, and most recently the T20 international, has all impacted significantly on the club’s finances.”

The return of the Ashes to Old Trafford this year is expected to help improve the club’s finances in a very big way and when they present their financial reports for this year, there could be significant improvements in the state of their finances.

But haven’t the ZC also suffered from investing a substantial amount in the upgrading of Harare Sports Club and converting it into such a grand cricket ground and are now battling to balance the books because of that big investment?

Haven’t the ZC also suffered, just like Lancashire, from a “serious fall in paid attendances in all forms of domestic cricket, and most recently the T20 international, has all impacted significantly on the club’s finances?”

Haven’t the ZC put themselves precisely on the same rehabilitation programme, just like Lancashire and New Zealand Cricket, to move their finances into the black zone in time with Chingoka revealing that they cut costs by US$4,2 million in just one year alone in 2012?

If our players are going to earn US$1 500 for a Twenty20 tie, US$3 000 for an ODI and US$5 000 for a Test match, which takes the earnings, for one who plays in all matches against Pakistan to US$22 000, in just one month, is such an international career worth being sacrificed for a five-month, per year, county adventure?

Or are there some darker forces, than we are being made to see right now, who are pulling the strings and have plunged into Zimbabwe Cricket once again to cause mayhem?

The reaction of the outgoing Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, to Jarvis’ withdrawal from the squad and retirement from international cricket will give weight to those who believe there are bigger forces at play than we see.

“I’m saddened by the decision of @KyleJarv89 to pursue a county cricket career but understand his reasons. I wish him well,” Coltart posted on his Facebook page.

“My prayer is that this is not the last we have seen of @KyleJarv89 in red.

“When we sort out cricket and Zimbabwe, he’ll be back.”

Does Coltart give away something in the last sentence? Is this all tied to some grand political project?

The fact that Coltart says “he’ll be back”, with so much confidence, once they “sort out cricket and Zimbabwe,” will give weight to the conspiracy theories that there is more to what is happening in the game than what meets the eye. Time, of course, is always the best judge.