Bulawayo and Kandy have more in common than you may suspect. They are both their respective countries second cities; they are both the sites of former kingdoms - the Kandyan in Kandy, the Butua in Bulawayo - and electricity has been a subject of discussion in both places. In Kandy, the talk was about why the lights stayed off at the Pallekele International Stadium during the Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia; in Bulawayo, its about how ZESA, the national power authority, managed to keep the lights on this winter after severe load-shedding last year.But there is one thing that is not the same: Zimbabwe, who were bowled out for 164 in the first innings against New Zealand, could not mount the same fightback as Sri Lanka, who were dismissed for 117 against Australia. Why?There are the obvious reasons, which were feared before the series, and have been discussed on each of the three days so far. Zimbabwes players dont get enough game time, not even in first-class cricket, and they dont have a deep enough player pool to fulfill all the requirements of a winning team. They also dont have a financially stable board, or many solid structural plans to back them, but Sri Lanka have managed to rise above that and, on occasion, Zimbabwe have, too.Then, there are the less glaring factors to take into consideration; the ones that the modern age and its instant lifestyle cause us to forget even though they may still be relevant today. Put simply: competing properly in Test cricket takes a bloody long time.Sri Lanka played their first Test 34 years ago, in 1982. Since then, they have competed in 249 matches. Zimbabwe played their first Test ten years after that, in 1992, and have only had 98 matches since then. Of those, Zimbabwe have won 11. In Sri Lankas first 98 Tests, played over a period of 18 years, they won 18.The evidence suggests the so-called smaller Test nations need several decades before they can develop the consistency of bigger ones. Even New Zealand, who first played in 1930, took 45 matches before they won their first Test, only won seven of their 98 Tests, and have only recently begun what is considered a steady improvement.Perhaps, Zimbabwe can be forgiven for how long it is taking them to get things right, but that may not take away from the focus on their personnel. While Sri Lanka seem to find players who become match-winners - Kusal Mendis and Lakshan Sandakan are their latest - Zimbabwe have an oversupply of what seem to be middling cricketers. Perhaps, conditions in Sri Lanka allow for the development of more specialised skills than those in Zimbabwe, where pitches tend to follow a trend of slow, low and unexciting, and produce a glut of batsmen with averages in the 20s, part-time spinners and medium-pacers.Zimbabwe dont have players who bamboozle and blaze, but slowly, they are finding a small selection of those with quiet determination. Look at Brian Chari. With a first-class average of 20.89, he may not come off as an immediate candidate for a Test call-up, but in the absence of regular openers Vusi Sibanda and Tino Mawoyo, and on the back of a 98 against South Africa A, he was selected and then asked to do much more than he would have expected.Chari, who hadnt kept wickets in his two Tests prior to this, had to take over after Regis Chakabva took ill. He had to do it for 166.5 overs, over more than five sessions. He had to stand up to Graeme Cremer, who was turning the ball out of the footmarks. He made a few mistakes and missed a few chances but, for a first-timer, he did an adequate job. And then, just when he thought he could put his feet up, he was called in to bat in the first over, when his senior-most team-mate, Hamilton Masakadza, was dismissed cheaply for the second time. Its hardly surprising Chari could not cope with a Boult inswinger and left a bat-pad gap for the ball to find his off stump, and even less so that Masakadza lauded his effort.A lot of credit to him for the way he has carried himself. He has never kept before, and to have kept the way he did for a day-and-a-half really showed a lot of heart, Masakadza said.Zimbabwe also dont have the old hands like Herath, but if they can hang on to their players with experience, they have some who are willing to take responsibility. Their captain, Graeme Cremer, bowled 35 overs on the second day, including 26 in one spell, and Masakadza himself is an example. He was visibly pained at the post-play press conference when he spoke about his own failure in this match, and its clear his underperformance is weighing on him. My biggest disappointment is the way I got out in the first innings. Its still playing on my mind. I was set and I could have dragged the innings a little deeper. As a senior player, its never easy to take when things go awry, he said.Where Zimbabwe get it wrong is that the energy of youth and the wisdom from their experienced players rarely have the kind of meeting Mendis and Herath had in Kandy. They dont fire as a collective unit. Sometimes, that is because theyre not playing in the same team. Sibanda or Mawoyo, for example, could have been the perfect foil for Chari. Tinashe Panyanagara or Tendai Chatara would have complemented Michael Chinouya. Injuries have been mostly to blame for them missing each other, circumstance and selection may also be the cause.Some curious picks in Zimbabwes squad, which did not seem to be based on first-class numbers or recent form, and a recent change in coach and captain have meant Zimbabwe are unsettled in every way. Compare that to New Zealand, who are set to have Mike Hesson at the helm until 2019, a stint of seven years, and who enjoyed a smooth transition from Brendon McCullum to Kane Williamson, and its clear why the hosts are playing in such helter-skelter fashion and the visitors in entirely the opposite.Zimbabwe almost beat New Zealand at this venue five years ago. That they are being so badly outplayed now is a sign both of how much they have slipped since then and of how much New Zealand have progressed. If Zimbabwe hope to turn Bulawayo into Kandy one day, they have to find a way to close that gap. Deacon Jones Jersey . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. Aqib Talib Jersey . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. http://www.cheapramsjerseysonline.com/?tag=john-kelly-jersey-online . The players spoke Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season. John Johnson Jersey . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. Torry Holt Jersey .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. ST. PAUL, Minn. -- With the new franchises prospects on the ice in front of them at the teams first rookie camp, Minnesota Wild general manager Doug Risebrough sat down next to director of hockey operations Tom Lynn and asked for an initial assessment.The good news was veteran coach Jacques Lemaire looked energized in his return to the NHL bench for the 2000-01 season.The bad?Well, hes got the best shot out there, Lynn quipped to Risebrough.Such was the state of a first-year team, pieced together with experienced players the rest of the league didnt need and newbies with largely unfulfilled potential. The Wild that season had plenty of Casey Stengel moments, Lynns label in reference to the manager of the 1962 New York Mets. They lost 120 games in their Major League Baseball debut.The Wilds first edition wasnt that bad, but they finished 14th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference. That was one spot behind the Columbus Blue Jackets, who with the Wild were the last clubs to enter the league until the recent award of a franchise to Las Vegas.Next year, that yet-unnamed team will build a roster from scratch, just like the Wild and Blue Jackets did 17 years before them. Not only will Las Vegas be the first addition to the NHL in 17 years, but it will become only the third new club since then in any of the countrys four most prominent professional sports leagues. Houston joined the NFL in 2002, and the NBA added Charlotte in 2004.Las Vegas will have some advantages over Columbus and Minnesota, which followed Nashville (1998) and Atlanta (1999) in the previous wave. The salary cap floor, for one, has risen to $54 million. Columbus general manager Doug MacLean had a $17 million payroll to work with on his first roster in the pre-cap era.The advent of analytics has given front offices more tools with which to evaluate players. Theres a higher caliber of prospects reaching the league now, too, fueled by elite skills camps and national development programs.Youre not going to have someone slip through the cracks where youre going to be rolling your eyes and going, `Oh, howd he end up in camp? said Lynn, who was promoted to assistant general manager after two seasons with the Wild and held that role for nearly seven years. Hes now a player agent. Rather than avoiding potholes, your fight will be to avoid mediocrity.The Blue Jackets and Wild also had to fight with each other. With two teams starting simultaneously, the expansion draft poool was further diluted.ddddddddddddThere were very few players you really wanted, MacLean said, adding: It was a fun process to go through, but at the end of the day you get your list and you say, `Oh, this is it? This is it for $80 million?Thats what the fee was for those teams to join the league. The price tag for Las Vegas is $500 million. Thus, MacLean said, its only fair that the new franchise will start with a stronger talent base.Columbus grabbed left wing Geoff Sanderson, a 30-goal scorer that first season, but netted little else from the expansion draft. In a nontraditional hockey market like Columbus, Blue Jackets brass felt pressure to win faster. They didnt make the playoffs until their eighth season, though, and have only qualified twice.Minnesota, fueled by a states rich history of high school and college programs and pickup games on frozen ponds, took a different tack. Patience was expected from a passionate fan base that lost the North Stars to Dallas in 1993. Complementing top draft picks Marian Gaborik and Nick Schultz, Risebrough focused on hard workers who would respond to Lemaires stern, wise leadership.Having good character players was of the highest importance, Lynn recalled, more important than their physical skills.Darby Hendrickson, a native of Minnesota, had finished his sixth NHL season with Vancouver when he found out the Wild picked him. Fishing by himself at his lake home up north, he had some initial hesitations. The pressure of playing at home was one. The rather dim outlook was another.You dont know with expansion if youre going to be, like, losing every game, said Hendrickson, whos now an assistant coach for the Wild.Hendrickson, fellow center Jim Dowd and defenseman Filip Kuba were among the players fetched in that expansion draft. By year three, they were part of a resilient team that reached the Western Conference finals.Even in that uphill first season, highlights werent hard to come by. The Wild beat Dallas 6-0 in their first matchup against the states old team. The first exhibition game brought a goosebump-inducing standing ovation that still resonates with Hendrickson.I was just like, `Here we go, Hendrickson said, and you knew that the state was going to be behind hockey being back.---AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in Washington contributed to this report. 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