ZIM: Zimbabwe Season 1993/94 - Review

Zimbabwe Season 1993/94

John Ward

After their elevation to Test status in July 1992, Zimbabwe  were
entitled  to  award first-class status to their domestic cricket.
With the arrangements for 1992/93 already made, they arranged  to
organise the Logan Cup as a first-class competition in 1993/94.

Wisely, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union did its best  to  ensure  that
the  standard  of cricket in this competition would be as high as
possible. With  white  emigration  after  independence in   1980,
cricket  in  the  Midlands and Manicaland was very weak and their
club sides were unable to match  even  Harare first-league   club
sides  for  strength.  The country`s cricketing strength lay most
definitely in Harare, making a true inter-provincial  competition
impractical.  ZCU  decided  a minimum of four teams was desirable
for a competition, but no more  until  depth  of  talent  made  a
greater    number  desirable.  The  country`s  farming  community
remained strong, so Mashonaland Country Districts were invited to
form  a  team.  They  would  be  entitled to include any talented
cricketers from Manicaland, Midlands or the Lowveld.  After  some
consideration, the Districts agreed, although availability of top
players would be a problem, as the cricket season is the  busiest
time  of the year for farmers, who can afford to take little time
away from their farms. This, coupled with  the difficulty   urban
cricketers  would  also find in taking a lot of time off work for
the game, has so far restricted the Logan Cup  to  three  matches
per  team,  playing each other once, with a final between the two
teams at the top of the league table.

As most of the leading Mashonaland players played with as well as
against  each other regularly in club cricket, and many Districts
cricketers played for Harare clubs, it was not easy for   players
to feel the degree of team spirit and regional pride desirable in
a truly competitive competition. Matabeleland was  the  exception
and,  although not a very strong side, they played with a greater
sense of identity and purpose than the other  teams.  Mashonaland
Under-24s  consisted  of young players under a determined captain
in Grant Flower who felt they had something to  prove  and  these
two   teams  were  to contest the final. Mashonaland and the Dis-
tricts, on paper perhaps the two strongest teams, did not  shine.
Mashonaland  in their first two matches appeared somewhat lethar-
gic and over-confident, while the  Districts  suffered  from  the
unavailability of players, especially as their pace bowlers, Eddo
Brandes and Iain Butchart, did not play a single match for them.

The final itself was an unsatisfactory  affair,  the  competition
rules  being  that a first innings lead was sufficient to win the
Cup if the match was drawn over three days. The Under-24s, having
taken  a good lead, could not be expected to jeopardise their po-
sition and their second innings was both  boring  and  pointless.
Unfortunately,  it did not persuade ZCU to amend the rules or al-
low a fourth day in the future.

Source :: ACS Publication `Zimbabwe first-class cricket 1993/94`

 Contributed by Peter.Griffiths (pete@cricinfo.com)