Cricket traditionally acts as a magnet, attracting rain from all quarters during play and often a day or two in advance as well. Last weekend, remarkably, Bulawayo and even Harare remained dry while large areas of the rest of the country enjoyed floods.

This enabled all three Logan Cup matches to be played without interruption, and all three brought results, although the Bulawayo result only came about courtesy of a serious Midlands collapse after a magnificent batting performance first time round. All credit to Matabeleland for their unexpected victory after taking such a hammering on the first day, although not quite in the class of India's great victory over Australia.

Derrick Townshend reports on the Bulawayo match, while the match reports of Mashonaland A's victory over the CFX Academy are to be found here. We also have reports on the most exciting match, Mashonaland's narrow victory over Manicaland, from Gary Brent and Nigel Fleming.

It is disturbing to read Nigel's comments on the Mashonaland team's attitude during the Manicaland second innings when the match was in the balance. Zimbabwe have a reputation throughout the cricket world for fair play, and the references to the `war zone' and the home province's `verbal machinery' suggest that some of the Mashonaland players do not conform to this code - when faced with less experienced teams, at least. Mashonaland earned themselves a bad reputation in last season's Logan Cup for this sort of behaviour and, with the Test players back, they clearly haven't cleaned up their act.

The Academy authorities were very concerned about reports of `verbals' from their team during the match against Midlands, and their team appeared to be much better against Mashonaland A without losing their enthusiasm. Authorities and players alike deserve credit. But does anybody from Mashonaland care about their team's reputation? Unfortunately their third successive win seems to have assured them of the Logan Cup this season, although nobody can yet produce a points table to prove this. Does anyone in Mashonaland apart from the players really care about this, either? Judging by the absence of crowds and the absence of any effort to draw them in, the team might as well not bother playing anyway. On the field, verbals; off the field, apathy. Mashonaland cricket does not seem in a very happy state, apart from the privilege of having most of the best players in the country.

Hopefully the situation is not beyond repair, if the administrators in the country show the same concern as Dave Houghton and Gwynne Jones at the Academy do. If the umpires are prepared to have a quiet word with the captains and players early on, most will probably respond as they are not yet hardened `sledgers', as are some other leading cricketers in the world. But something must be done before this approach becomes widespread and Zimbabwe lose their fine reputation for player attitude and behaviour in world cricket.

THE BOARD XI

The Logan Cup takes a break this weekend with the Zimbabwe Board XI down in Cape Town to take on Western Province B in the UCBSA Bowl finals. A remarkable victory from the jaws of defeat won them the one-day title, but the latest news appears something similar may be required to win the four-day match. It remains disappointing that what is almost a national second team (eight players with full international experience) should find difficulty in beating the second teams of South African provinces, if they win at all. But win they will probably have to do if Zimbabwe is to convince the South African authorities that the team deserves a place in their top league.

UMPIRING CRISIS

After the recent events in the two Tests played so far between Sri Lanka and England, even the ICC must be beginning to realize that something must be done about the standard of umpiring in world cricket. There seems to be something of a vicious circle in operation at the moment. More aggressive player attitudes have led to increased pressure on the umpires, which leads to more umpiring errors, which in turn leads to aggravation between the teams and more aggressive appealing.

Tentative steps have been taken to curb the excesses of player behaviour, but it is clearly a case of too little, too late. Now a sledgehammer is needed if that problem is to be eradicated, and a sledgehammer would bring accusations of Gestapo tactics from many quarters. The ICC just acted far too late - about 30 years too late - on this one. It is out of control in the international arena, and it appears to be starting to go that way too in Zimbabwe unless our authorities act quickly and decisively.

Now there are plans to streamline the international umpires panel, but television continues to show that even the best umpires can make crucial errors that add to the tensions of international cricket. This column has in the past supported the sensible use of technology to help with decisions, which will certainly reduce but never eliminate error. But it all helps. It is a tragedy for the game, though, that it is the player attitudes that have got out of hand and turn problems into crises. On the other hand, it is hard to visualize the ICC acting on any matter before it reaches crisis point.

Zimbabwe can sympathize with England over their experiences with umpires in Sri Lanka. Three years ago, through magnificent cricket, the Zimbabwe team had Sri Lanka, needing 326 to win, on their knees at 137 for five with the last two recognized batsmen together. Then one umpiring decision after another went against Zimbabwe. Apparently plumb lbws were given not out, and it was impossible to get a positive decision for catches at the wicket or even in the slips. Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga managed to keep their stumps intact, and so were able to take their team to `victory' without losing a further wicket.

It is by no means subjective to say that Zimbabwe would almost certainly have won that match were it not for those umpiring decisions. This was the position taken by neutral reporter Geoffrey Dean of the Daily Telegraph in England. Dave Houghton has the evidence on video camera which he sent to the ICC, who predictably did nothing. Both umpires were reappointed to the international panel the following season. Hopefully there are some Sri Lankan players who carry on their consciences their tainted `victory', but the effect on the relationships between Zimbabwean and Sri Lankan players remains. Injustice was done, it was proved to be done -- but nothing was done.

Now that it is England rather than Zimbabwe who are on the receiving end, there is much more commotion about this sort of thing. Some teams in international cricket are still much more equal than others. Perhaps in the fullness of time the ICC will come up with workable solutions that make international cricket a fairer game and a more pleasant one for both players and spectators.

At present, the true spirit of cricket is all but dead at international level and this new cynical `war zone' approach is seeping down to lower levels of the game. From what I have heard, it has penetrated all levels of the game in Australia, to give one example, but Jody Burgess from that country tells me that there is now a strong backlash from a great many people in Australia and steps are being taken to sort it out. Too late as usual for it to be anything other than a monumental task. Changing attitudes must be done before they harden. It must be done in Zimbabwe now.

THIS WEEK

We include interviews with three players who have been out of the limelight recently but are fighting their way back into contention for international honours. Gary Brent and Trevor Gripper were both frequent players in the national side last year, but a decline in form led to their disappearance. Tatenda Taibu has not lost his form but has chosen to remain at school rather than accept the place offered him at the CFX Academy, and so has not had the chance to press for the place in the national side that is likely to be his soon anyway.

We continue our series of biographies of Academy players with Andre Neethling and Justin Lewis. In addition pace bowler Brighton Watambwa is enjoying a most successful season and we have compiled his biography for the first time. On the statistical side, we examine Grant Flower's one-day international career in depth.

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