It’s amazing what a win or two can do to perk up even the most downhearted player or supporter. In Zimbabwe, the drubbing handed out to … er … the mighty Kenyans has caused the state-run mouthpiece, the Herald to launch into the kind of rhetoric last heard in Norway in 1981 when England were defeated at football and the local TV commentator went into his famous “Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating” rant.

“As expected, the Australians and the British have acted like perfect fools in placing sanctions on people like Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute,” boomed the lead editorial in the Zim$500,000,000 an issue paper. “They think by doing so, they can permanently cripple the game and isolate Zimbabwe by excluding the nation from Test cricket.

“Those who thought that Zimbabwean cricket would collapse because whites decided to play politics with the game have another think coming! Keep it up, Chingoka! Prove the detractors wrong!”