Zimbabwe’s upset win should spur England to be good global citizens

An old line relayed to me, credited to a former Australian administrator – possibly apocryphal but perfectly apt – has rattled around my head over the past week as Zimbabwe played their first series in that country for nearly two decades.

The quip goes, when Zimbabwe were granted access to the big kid’s table where Test cricket is permitted in 1992, he supported this for them “in a non-playing sense”. Knock yourselves out lads, just not against the big boys.

Well, the Chevrons made the most of playing in the third and final one-dayer of their series on Saturday, knocking off Aaron Finch’s side after rolling the hosts for 141 in 31 overs. That’s a team of players with barely any name recognition beyond their homeland denying some of the most feted superstars around; their first international victory against Australia in Australia. Special stuff, made possible thanks to a haul of five for 10 from the leg-spinner Ryan Burl, who last year become famous on Twitter for posting a plea for better boots.

Against the backdrop of well-founded existential fears over the future of the global game, this was a feelgood story for those interested in the growth of the sport in a country that has ridden endless bumps since its golden era at the turn of the century. But that was until taking a closer look at what’s ahead. When doing so, it becomes painfully clear the probability of Australia playing Zimbabwe at any time in the future – outside major tournaments – is next to zero. Why? The abolition of the World Cup Super League.

No judgment if that doesn’t mean anything to you – the competition, to the extent it is one, has failed to capture the imagination since its initiation in 2020. But what it has done, quietly and successfully, is