We continue our two-part interview with Zimbabwe Cricket Union chief executive Dave Ellman-Brown, turning our attention to the domestic game in Zimbabwe.

One of the difficulties of a chief executive's job is that he cannot be everywhere at once – but Dave Ellman-Brown of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union certainly does his best. He has done a remarkable job on the international front, as Zimbabwe has been able to play much more cricket at the top level since he took over the reins, and he has doubtless been at least partly responsible for getting Zimbabwe a `good deal' in the ICC ten-year plan. He is less involved, but nevertheless very concerned, with the domestic scene, where he appears to be getting less than full support and commitment from some of the provincial associations, most notably Mashonaland.

The Logan Cup, for example, has been very poorly promoted in the capital, Harare, where there are fewer spectators at matches than there are in the small provincial cities of Mutare and Kwekwe, and there has been a complete lack of advertising or, in fact, any effort to accommodate spectators at all. In the first Logan Cup match at Harare Sports Club there was not even a scoreboard operating when the game started, and the third umpire had to find a member of the ground staff just to get the small board operating, with the most basic of information. Spectators appeared to be limited to those sitting in the clubhouse restaurant, and if any were really interested in the cricket they would have had no way of discovering who the batsmen and bowlers were, for a start, nor the individual scores. The attitude of the local authorities seemed clear: "We don't expect any spectator interest in these matches, so why waste our time trying to cater for them?"

"I think it has been very disappointing," agrees Mr Ellman-Brown. "Those responsible for our domestic cricket have got to do something about it, as far as I'm concerned. There seems to be a lack of activity, especially in Mashonaland; other provinces seem to take it more seriously and Mashonaland must look to themselves and make sure they give the support to Logan Cup that it deserves and treat it for the first-class competition it is. It has not received the support it should have received, and I believe Mashonaland know that. The matter has to be sorted out, and as soon as possible."

The timing of the Logan Cup was unfortunate this year, taking place in February and March and being badly affected by an extended rainy season. The Union wanted to include the international players, though, to raise the standard of the competition itself and also because even the international players get very little practice in the longer game outside Test matches. This was the only time of the season when these players were available, and even that was after an extended tour. What are the plans for the timing of the Logan Cup in future years?

"It is really up to the domestic cricket committee to come up with recommendations," says Mr Ellman-Brown. "The clubs and provinces can also come up with suggestions at the annual general meeting. I'm afraid teams are far too lax, both provinces and clubs, to put forward proper proposals for forthcoming seasons at our annual general meetings. They leave it to the boards, and only when they get into a competition do they suddenly realize that it is not to their liking and there is a dispute. They really need to give it some thought up front so that we get their recommendations coming in early, they can be dealt with by the domestic cricket committee, and we can then put forward suitable recommendations for the coming season at the AGM.

"We have had meetings with certain clubs, and we have also recommended that the domestic cricket committee have more meetings with the stakeholders in our first-class competition and also the national league, to find out what they want and decide what is in the best interests of Zimbabwe cricket. This also includes the timing of the competitions.

"During the 1999/2000 season we had a very good programme when we did not in fact have our international players here. It was a competition that received great support from the remainder. This year we have changed it to a time when our international players were here, and immediately we had problems with players who I think basically wanted a bit of a break. Some of them were definitely injured and needed a `rehab' period, so the timing was not ideal. But the stakeholders must work out for themselves when the best time is. We always have to take the weather into account."

Another controversial issue in the last eighteen months has been the standard of pitches at the Zimbabwe cricket headquarters, Harare Sports Club. At the start of the Australian tour eighteen months ago the chief groundsman was unfortunately killed in a road accident and since then there has been a string of complaints from players, especially when in certain international matches the pitch started damp and the opposition won the toss and were able to put Zimbabwe in to bat, with disastrous results for the home side.

A second square has been constructed and club and Logan Cup matches have been played on it, but there have been many low-scoring games. Last year Midlands were bowled out for 31 on it against Mashonaland, a new record low total for Zimbabwe cricket that was beaten last weekend when Matabeleland scraped a mere 19 in their Logan Cup fixture. From all accounts the pitch was not totally to blame, but certainly batsmen do not score heavily at the ground and many have taken a strong dislike to playing there at all.

"I have heard there has been some criticism," agrees Mr Ellman-Brown. "The pitches do not seem to be producing the runs that one would expect, especially on the new pitches. Certainly when it comes to touring sides we will play on the old table. I think the new table has taken an awful long time to settle down, and I can't accept that. The Country Club pitch, relaid at the same time, is playing a lot better, which is interesting. I am equally as concerned about the state of these pitches as others are."

Another controversial matter this season has been the use of players among the provinces. The minor provinces, already strengthened by past Academy players, are keen to strengthen their teams further by enticing some of the top players from Mashonaland, which has a glut of talent. The regulations state, though, that a player must play for the province in which he plays his club cricket, although they can be relaxed, as they have been done in the case of Craig Wishart, the one player Mashonaland agreed to release to Midlands. The ease with which Mashonaland have won the Logan Cup this season adds weight to the argument of the other provinces, in their view, as they feel a more evenly balanced tournament is desirable.

Mr Ellman-Brown is very firmly in favour of these regulations continuing to apply. "I sympathize with Mashonaland totally," he says. "Why should other provinces take their players? They have two teams to fill, and I'm very happy that they should fill those teams. We have a situation whereby players who went to the academy sign a contract whereby we push them into various provinces, and they should play for those provinces while they are contracted to us. I agree with that, although we have had a few problems there with certain players, and we have taken steps to ensure that these players should play where we put them. This is essential if we are to work on the idea of strengthening Manicaland and Midlands, and eventually Masvingo.

"That is the best for Zimbabwe cricket. I know there has been a move by certain on the weaker provinces to entice Mashonaland players to come and play for them, and I feel that is totally wrong. What Mashonaland did was to say `We have now a basic squad of 30 players, but you may ask anybody not in that squad if they want to come and play for you.' There are a couple of top players playing for other provinces who Mashonaland were happy to release. So there has been a problem there this season, and I hope the domestic committee will look at it sensibly for the coming season and ensure we don't have similar problems.

"The rules are quite clear: if you play your cricket in Mashonaland, you play for Mashonaland. We have had cases where people should have played for other provinces and have been enticed back into their clubs in Mashonaland, which I feel is very unfair."

Another problem that has been evident in both Logan Cup and club cricket is that of `sledging'. Mashonaland, and Mashonaland clubs, have again been the main culprits. Mr Ellman-Brown is uncompromising in his position on this issue. "There is no place for it in our cricket and we will not tolerate this behaviour," he says. It is one domestic issue that he is prepared to tackle personally, and there can be no doubt that the guilty players will be called to account in future.

There is a groundswell among the international and Logan Cup players in the country in favour of less limited-over cricket and more of the longer version. The international players realize that they cannot perform at their best in Test cricket when they have so little practice and, in the case of the younger players, experience in the three-day game. Dave Houghton is one who is earnestly promoting the cause of `proper' cricket, emphasizing the difficulty of teaching Test players as well as Academy students how to build an innings, and bowlers how to bowl a batsman out instead of merely restricting his scoring.

In addition the 50-over club cricket that is the staple diet of players in this country means that promising young players coming into the teams – Sean Ervine is one example – are placed well down the batting order where they often do not bat at all, or else are required either to remedy a crisis or to hit out at everything in the dying overs of the innings. Mr Houghton, together with Academy director Gwynne Jones, are in favour of a double round of Logan Cup matches in future, giving each team ten three- or preferably four-day fixtures. Another idea is to differentiate between the national league and the provincial club competitions, in Mashonaland's case the latter being the Vigne Cup. One could retain its present structure, while the other could become a two-day competition.

"Two-day cricket has been talked about for many years," recalls Mr Ellman-Brown concerning the latter suggestion. "It has never been a popular suggestion in the past, and we have never played cricket over two days here as I know it happens in certain other countries. I don't know if I go along with that reasoning, but again I say that if people come up with these ideas, it is important they put those ideas to the domestic cricket committee. That committee must then look and see how much support there is for different formats of the competitions. If they come up with a convincing argument and the bulk of the players want the change, then I'm quite sure the boards will look at it and decide that this is in the best interests of Zimbabwe cricket.

"At the end of the day, I believe that whatever we do must be in the best interests of Zimbabwe cricket. That's number one. It should not be a matter of some individuals' personal desire, but in the best interests of Zimbabwe cricket. Let's get some suggestions coming forward. We have to look at the availability of grounds, and we also have a friendly cricket league on Saturday afternoons which is an important aspect of the game – many ex-cricketers play in that because they enjoy it and we don't want to affect that. So there are a lot of factors to be taken into account.

"But again, there is a forum for it: players or individuals know the format. They must speak to the clubs, the clubs to the provinces and the provinces can take it up with the domestic cricket committee. Then we can look at it from an overall point of view." Hopefully the apathy that exists in certain areas of Zimbabwe cricket will be overcome and the domestic administrators may be willing to look at set-up, which apart from the Logan Cup remains the same as it did before Test status, and be willing to change where necessary in the interests of the game.

A recent press report has stated that the CFX Academy is in the future to become a regional training centre for cricketers throughout Africa. "We've had the new development officer for the ICC here last week," says Mr Ellman-Brown. "He came to have a look at our facilities, and especially the CFX Academy. My report back is that he was very impressed with what he saw. I think that's excellent, because if we can produce a facility here whereby we can encourage youngsters from other countries in Africa and feed them into our Academy, it will give the Academy more work. We can then probably bring in expert coaches and be able to run courses – and not only for Africa, but England as well, as the timing will be right for them, out of their season. The facilities are here, and we must use them."

Relationships between players and administrators have been strained, to say the least, at times during the past year or two, but Mr Ellman-Brown believes that the situation has now improved. "We have a happy situation with our players at the moment and I think that's important," he says. "I hope we can go forward without any acrimony this year. I certainly don't want to repeat the year 2000 again."

Racial issues are unfortunately never far from the surface in Africa, and there are those on one side who feel they are being disadvantaged and discriminated against, and those on the other who feel angry in the belief that offence is often taken where none is intended and that there are some who push the racial issue for their own political ends or because they have chips on their shoulders about the past. The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has recently issued a press statement concerning a `think tank' they have set up to tackle the matter.

"We are taking this issue very seriously," says Mr Ellman-Brown. "We are in the process of putting together a task force to look at the aspects of racism in Zimbabwe, but mainly to see that where there is perceived racism or real racism we will try to eliminate it. We have very peculiar situations in Zimbabwe and in South Africa. We have to look at our total population and be as fair as we can, in all aspects of the game, whereby we get representation from the various groups, and also to ensure that the system is there for the various groups to come through, so that they are not lost or forgotten somewhere.

"It is very important, whether it is in junior cricket, coaching, development cricket or whatever: the system must be there that with all the youngsters coming through, particularly our young black Zimbabweans, the talent is found, it is nurtured and it is put through our various programmes so we can capitalize on that talent and make sure that it eventually sees its way through to the national side.

"There has been a lot of unhappiness in certain areas, particularly on selection, which is an area about which a lot has been said, and I think we have to look at ourselves and make sure that what we are doing is totally transparent in our endeavour to spread the game as widely as we can in Zimbabwe. There are a few groups of people who are unhappy with the speed at which our young black cricketers have come through and we have to look at that aspect and make sure we are not found wanting. This task force will be put together and it has our mandate to come up with a recommendation by 1 May."

© Cricinfo