The rain forecast in this column last week regrettably destroyed any chance of this being a match report. Midlands completed their 480-kilometre trip to watch the rain fall for most of the three scheduled days of Logan Cup cricket at Mutare Sports Club. The bulk of their team come from Kwekwe and surrounding districts, although like all teams they have their quota of Academy players to bring them up to first-class strength.

The unfortunate thing was that the damage had been done in the days leading up to the match, which could have been avoided if adequate protection was available. The rain was not hard enough during match days to have precluded play of some description. Manicaland only have one piece of plastic sheet 15x30 metres in size, which is good enough for the pitch but not the complete square. For a ground hosting first-class fixtures it is an embarrassment. India are due to play here in June and one can only be thankful that rain is not normally expected in winter.

There were a few testy exchanges between opposing camps after umpires Kevan Barbour and Kiwi Graham Evans declared the ground unfit for play unless both captains agreed to play in the prevailing conditions. It was slippery around the fringes and slushy in spots on the outfield. Most of the better players – those with national ambitions — were opposed, citing the possibility of injury and impaired performances under adverse conditions, which the selectors in Harare were unlikely to heed or acknowledge.

Manicaland's vice-captain for the day, Mark Burmester, would not be satisfied with this negativity, inquiring volubly why the same players were happy to risk injury playing pick-up soccer on the same field. His well-made point was that both sides had to try for any result possible, this being the only soft game in prospect for either side to progress, was lost on the new professionals.

Midlands felt that if any blame was due it lay with the home side and the groundsman's inability to react to a crisis. Groundsman Jason had left in high dudgeon on the first morning, not to be seen again all weekend, unhappy with the criticism being bandied about and the prospect of players inflicting further damage on his ground. The umpires thereafter took control of the ground, at one stage authorizing the distribution of a tipper truck of river sand – brought in by the father of Manica player Kingsley Went – on the run-ups and fringes. All for nought.

All the downtime afforded me an opportunity to chat to Midlands' captain Douglas Marillier, recently back from the ODI series in New Zealand and Australia. He said in Brisbane one of the net bowlers at the Gabba was ex-St. John's College (Harare) schoolboy Scott Brant, who is playing for the Queensland Under-19 team. "Quicker than anybody in the current Zimbabwe side." What wonderful cricket sides we could have had over the years if everybody had stayed. Scott is reportedly very happy with his career prospects and remuneration and is unlikely to be tempted back.

© Cricinfo