With seven players unable to play last weekend, Manicaland withdrew from their Logan Cup fixture against Matabeleland. As no suitable replacements were available, the ZCU agreed to their request to have the fixture postponed. Players could have been drawn from the Mutare social leagues but it was considered an unsatisfactory solution for first-class cricket. The match will instead be played this weekend, starting on Friday 12 April.

Whittall and Sims will be away in Namibia with Zimbabwe A - participating in an African ODI tournament - but into the side come Gary Brent, Alistair Campbell and Paul Strang. Unable to get a game for either Mashonaland team, Strang was given special dispensation to play. This will be Manicaland's final game of the season with most players flying to Britain to take up club contracts shortly thereafter.

It was announced yesterday that Manicaland's Kevan Barbour has been selected to the ICC's `emerging panel' of ODI international umpires. He and Harare's Ahmed Esat will be Zimbabwe's representatives. Between them they will do all Zimbabwe's home games and travel to other countries to officiate as neutrals. In a huge career move the 53-year-old Barbour will find himself exploded from the backwaters of Mutare to the eye of an often-unforgiving storm.

Last week Hillcrest College - a private school near Penhalonga 16 kilometres north of Mutare - was the venue for a ZCU-sanctioned national Under-14s tournament. Accommodated and fed at the boys' hostel, two teams from Mashonaland, one from Matabeleland and one from `Country Districts' participated.

Played in fine autumnal weather in front of a small band of vociferous parents, the games proved competitive without throwing up any obvious superstars of the future. What would have pleased the authorities was the quantity and quality of black players coming through. Ranging from `Prince' - a scary left-arm quick who can bat too - to a young leg-spinner with good flight, the signs are good for Zimbabwe cricket circa 2008. And these black kids don't play to lose.

Mutare was stretched to find four experienced umpires for a mid-week tournament like this. Fortunately only one bad decision marred proceedings. A Matabeleland batsman was given out `hit the ball twice' whilst using his bat a second time to protect his stumps. Such injustices are difficult to bear in festival cricket, but assume galactic proportions when delivered in front of national selectors.

After losing an advice-shouting session with the confused umpires, the boy's father, Grant Paterson (ex national batsman of the 80s), repaired to a distant shady tree to cool off. That the umpire happened to be a recent graduate from the CFX Academy came as no surprise - few players know the laws of the game. Academy supremo Dave Houghton should introduce a basic umpiring exam for participants - with a pass being essential for final graduation.

Watching the recent annihilation of South Africa by Australia in the Test and one-day series, it was interesting to hear the views of modern Zimbabwean cricketers. Up to the late eighties most had a soft spot for their southern neighbours. The former Rhodesia used to participate in the Currie Cup and at one stage during the sixties had four players representing the Springboks.

The Cronje era has changed things forever. South Africans are viewed as arrogant, unfriendly and deserving of every reversal. The fact that they avoided the whitewash was greeted with much sorrow.

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