By John Ward

So the long tour is over. Since the Zimbabwean cricket team left for Sharjah in mid-October, they have progressed to India, New Zealand and Australia in turn. They played three Test matches, losing one and drawing the other two; of no fewer than 20 one-day internationals, four were won and 16 lost. [More]

COMMENT

Final thoughts on Zimbabwe in Australia

Zim v West Indies, 2 February, by John Ward

It was the old feeling so familiar to Zimbabwe cricket followers, the sickening feeling of seeing the team they support crumple under pressure and steadily drag defeat, kicking and screaming, out of the jaws of victory. Spirited performances against Australia had given Zimbabwe the chance to claw their way back to the Carlton and United finals; superb bowling and fielding gave them the advantage in the crucial match against West Indies, only for the batsmen, with a couple of exceptions, to shrivel up when they found the pressure on themselves again. [More]

NEWS

ZCU Development Programme
Report by Dawson Mutsekwa

The committee under the chairmanship of Justice Ahmed Ebrahim consists of representatives from each province, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and the CFX Academy. It meets every six weeks and each member forwards a copy of his report to the ZCU one week before the due date of the meeting. [More]

Board XI in double victory over North West B
The Zimbabwe Board XI, aiming for a place in South Africa's premier competitions next year, moved closer to their goal with victories over North West B in both the three-day and the one-day matches in the UCBSA Bowl competition last weekend. John Ward spoke to coach Trevor Penney about his team's successes, achieved at Harare South Country Club. [More]

STATISTICS

Zimbabwe official ODI records [More]

Zimbabwe player averages: Carlton Series [More]

FIXTURES

Amended Logan Cup Competion fixture list [More]

LETTERS

Sportsmen v Businessmen
I had the opportunity to watch Zim v Aus at the one-day SCG match recently. Having recently arrived in Australia I was determined to remain neutral out of deference to my ex-Zim, now Australian host. However, watching the repeated bad sportsmanship of a number of the players (not just Warne) contrasted by the dignity, defiance, humour and sheer humanness of the Zimbabwe team, I was forced to reveal my true colours - RED, RED and more RED.

This visit has left me proud to be even vaguely associated with the Zim team - not a bunch of white farmers as some idiot reporter said (I'm sure Nkala and Madondo would be pleased about that!), but a bunch of talented Davids facing a well-trained, well-funded and contemptuous Goliath. The condescending, patronizing and uninformed grilling I get every time someone realizes I'm Zimbabwean is worth it every time one of our guys hits a boundary. I know it's all about money these days but sometimes I wonder why they don't have a sportsmanship award, we'd win it every time.
C O'Connor (Australia) [Letters Page]

Club Cricket Report by Clive Ruffell

With the National First League due to be settled next weekend between OH and Queens, the focus of the remaining Mashonaland clubs returned to the Vigne Cup last weekend. Old Georgians and Alexandra have been the most successful Vigne Cup campaigners this season and were placed in first and second positions on the log respectively. Most sides were missing players who were selected to represent the Zimbabwe Board XI, but were compensated to some extent by the return of Academy players assigned to regional teams for the National First League.[More]

Mashonaland Logan Cup Report
Mashonaland are playing two teams in the Logan Cup this season, an innovation after many good players were omitted from last year's competition, while in addition the national players are available this year. CricInfo spoke to the acting convener of the Mashonaland selectors, Max Ebrahim, for information on the two teams. 'Babu' Meman, the convener, is currently managing the Zimbabwe team on tour. Other provincial selectors are Iain Butchart, Kevin Duers and Stephen Mangongo. [More]

Matabeleland Logan Cup Report
By Derrick Townshend
Matabeleland have named a well-balanced side for its opening Logan Cup match against Mashonaland 'A' at Alexandra Sports Club, Harare, on 16, 17 and 18 February. Matabeleland will be led by national captain Heath Streak, with three other test players, Mbangwa, Nkala and Rennie, complementing a strong pace attack. [More]

Manicaland Report
By Nigel Fleming
Manicaland, under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, are gearing most of their energies these days towards development. Our player base is small, but would be non-existent if the province's white players were to up and leave tomorrow. Accordingly, our coaches, mindful of the threats facing the game, have embarked on a charm offensive in the public schools, in an effort to bring more black players into the fold. Very few of the teachers in these public schools are cricket-minded, so it amounts to taking over the whole process. The old infrastructure - nets, grounds with turf pitches, rollers and pavilions - are still there from the colonial days but are used for anything but cricket nowadays. Unfortunately, with 20 years of non-use, only cricket fanatics would recognize them for what they were originally intended. [More]

SCHOOLS

St George's College [More]

Victoria High School [More]

Plumtree School Report [More]

Petra High School [More]

Picture of the Week