Universals Protest over Academy Players

National squad members were able to make rare appearances for their respective clubs sides after their early exit from the ICC knockout tournament in Nairobi, but will miss almost all of the remainder of the season.

Kwekwe, who were unable to field a side in the first round, were able to include Doug Mariller and John Vaughan-Davies from Alex, Ray Price from Old Hararians, Douglas Hondo from Universals and Travis Friend from Old Georgians, as well as former Test player, captain, coach, administrator and part-time Sky TV commentator Dave Houghton for their clash at home against Alexandra. Batting first, Kwekwe posted a respectable 235 all out, with the 43-year-old Houghton showing up his younger colleagues with the top score of 55. New one-day opener Doug Marillier failed to score but Friend, Savory and Hondo all made useful contributions. Craig Anticevitch took the bowling honours for Alex with 4/40 and Andy Blignaut made a pleasing return with the ball with 1/23 off 8 overs.

As expected, Travis Friend and Douglas Hondo took the new ball and inflicted early damage on the Alex reply, but solid batting from Jason Vaughan-Davies and Andy Blignaut steered Alex to a comfortable five-wicket win with five overs to spare. Blignaut struck 67 to register his second consecutive fifty in the league, and will surely be a contender for further international honours this season.

At Harare Sports Club the home side hosted defending champions Old Hararians in a keenly anticipated clash. Sports Club included Stuart Carlisle in their side, whilst OH were able to call upon Dirk Viljoen and Brian Strang. OH batted first and despite the early loss of Chouhan were able to put together meaningful partnerships in the top order. But the OH middle order collapsed as Brent and Strang both fell cheaply to slow bowler Gavin Johnson-Robertson, the tail was knocked over by Eddo Brandes and the OH effort fizzled disappointingly to 226 all out, after a score of over 250 looked likely at one stage. The 37-year-old Brandes, looking as fit as ever, turned in another valuable performance with 5/33, and perhaps provided the national selectors with food for thought.

226 was a modest total in the circumstances and Sports Club would have fancied their chances, particularly with the in-form Carlisle batting at number 4. Trevor Gripper, who last year scored 60 in his test debut against Australia, and Carlisle both had good starts but were unable to bat through and Sports Club folded to a disappointing 180 all out, giving OH victory by 46 runs..

Manicaland hosted Queens at the neutral venue of Country Club in Harare, home of the CFX Academy. Queens fielded a powerful side which included national captain Heath Streak, the ever-improving Mluleki Nkala and Mpumelo “Pommie” Mbangwa, whilst Test star Guy Whittall turned out for the Mutare side. Queens batted first and compiled a competitive 226/9 in 45 overs with captain and former national player John Rennie hitting 57. As so often happens, most of the top order made starts and reached double figures but failed to bat on for a big score. Mark Burmester was the best Manicaland bowler with 2/31 in his 9 overs.

Manicaland were never likely to reach the target against the internationally experienced bowling quartet of Streak, Nkala, Mbangwa and Rennie, but it was Coulson who turned in the most impressive figures of 4/30. The front line bowlers applied the pressure early on and as the wickets fell, Manicaland started falling behind the required run rate, and were eventually dismissed 58 runs short of their target.

In Bulawayo the struggling MacDonald Club were outclassed by Old Georgians who crushed the home side by eight wickets with an incredible 38 overs to spare. MacDonalds were strengthened by the inclusion of Mark Vermeulen who has been selected for the upcoming one-day international tournament in Sharjah that includes India and Sri Lanka. Vermeulen is likely to make his international debut in Zimbabwe’s first game of that tournament against India, replacing Alistair Campbell who will serve his one match suspension he received during the recent ICC knockout tournament in Kenya. However, Vermeulen did not take the opportunity to gain last-minute match practice and was out for just 4 runs as MacDonalds collapsed to 112 all out.

Old Georgians made short work of the target, hammering the required runs off just 12 overs at a run rate of over 9 runs per over. Gus Mackay followed his 2/14 with an aggressive 50 and Craig Evans bludgeoned an unbeaten 36 to complete the agony for Macs, who will need to improve vastly if they are to be competitive in this competition. Craig Evans turned in another good performance and could make a claim for a return to the national one-day side if his form continues, particularly as the batsmen generally appear to be struggling to find form this season. With eight league matches completed so far this season, no batsman has been able to record a century despite ideal batting conditions. The coaches and selectors must also be concerned at the unacceptably high number of wides conceded by bowlers. A total of 107 wides was bowled out of 325 overs in the four matches this weekend, at an average of one wide every three overs.

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