By John Ward

With the rain again threatening to disrupt proceedings, the Logan Cup resumes this weekend. The matches are as follows:

Mashonaland v Matabeleland, at Harare Sports Club
CFX Academy v Manicaland, at Alexandra Sports Club
Midlands v Mashonaland A, at Kwekwe Sports Club

As the County Club ground is still unfit for play after so much rain, their match against Manicaland has again been moved to Alexandra Sports Club. [More]

INTERVIEWS

David Ellman-Brown

ZCU chief executive Dave Ellman-Brown has recently returned from a trip to Australia, for business and a holiday. He attended the most recent major ICC meeting, and while he was there Sir Donald Bradman died.

"The attention this event received from the media there was absolutely astronomical," Mr Ellman-Brown says of the death of cricket's most prolific run-scorer in history. "Special editions of newspapers were produced, and 'The Australian' had a whole supplement on Don Bradman. Channel 7 ran a complete history of his life, which they originally produced about ten years ago, which contained very absorbing footage on cricket generally and the observations of Don Bradman on the game; it was outstanding. [More]

BIOGRAPHY

Ian Coulson
Ian Coulson, specialist left-arm spin bowler at the CFX Academy, was born in Bulawayo but has lived all his life on a farm near Esigodeni in Matabeleland. His father is a farmer and his mother a radiographer. His father played cricket while at school but since then only districts cricket in the winter. "He was the main one who taught me to play cricket," says Ian, recalling how they used to play in the family garden when he was small. "He started me out when I was about four or five." [More]

Guy Crixford
One of the most impressive CFX Academy batsmen in the opening matches of the 2000/01 Logan Cup programme was the team's aggressive middle-order batsman Guy Croxford. Guy has a useful cricketing pedigree, as his father played for Umtali (now Mutare) Boys High School primarily as an opening bowler, and his older brother Richard was a wicket-keeper/batsman before a car accident damaged his back and ended his cricket prematurely. "I just took the batting a little bit further," says Guy. "I used to bowl a bit, but now I concentrate more on my batting. I'm a part-time bowler." [More]

Blessing Mahwire
Brighton Watambwa is one of Zimbabwe’s young black pace bowlers who has improved steadily until he made a real impact in the Board XI matches in the UCBSA Bowl Competition during the 2000/01 season. Tall and gangling, he generates a good pace and has developed his skills to the point where he is now able to trouble the top batsmen. [More]

STATISTICS

Logan Cup 2000-01: current log & averages [More]

Paul Strang in Test Cricket[More]

Paul strang in One-Day Internationals [More]

Old Georgians secure Vigne Cup

Club Report by Clive Ruffell

As expected, Old Georgians Cricket Club are the 2000/2001 Vigne Cup champions after the final round of matches was played last weekend. The match between OGs and Harare Sports Club was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to a waterlogged field at HSC, and the five points earned per side resulted in OGs finishing with 75 points and the title. [More]

Matabeleland report
By Derrick Townshend
Matabeleland shows one change in the team to play the Logan Cup leaders Mashonaland in Harare this weekend. National captain Heath Streak makes a welcome return. He will replace the out-of-form Neil van Rensburg who has only scored 48 runs in five innings at an average of 9.60. Streak's inclusion will bolster both the batting and bowling of the side, particularly in the former department. Apart from promising Mark Vermeulen (295 runs, average 59.00) and Mluleki Nkala (116 runs at 58.00), the other batsmen have struggled in the three-day game. The batting has been disappointing with only three players scoring over 100 runs in three matches. [More]

Manicaland Report
by Nigel Fleming
There was no cricket last weekend in Manicaland, there being a gap in the first class programme and Mutare Sports Club still being too wet to risk local club cricket. This coming weekend should see a return to club cricket in Mutare whilst Manicaland travel to Harare on Friday for a three-day game with the C.F.X. Academy XI. The rain is easing up a bit in Mutare, but any more between now and Saturday will waterlog the pitch once more. [More]

Midlands Logan Cup report
by Colin Saunders
This weekend Midlands take on Mashonaland 'A' at the Kwekwe Sports Club. Midlands will have to improve on their batting which let them down in their second innings against Matabeleland in their last Logan Cup outing in Bulawayo, if they are wanting to compete against the much fancied Mash A bowling line-up. Midlands are hoping to be boosted with the bowling services of Travis Friend who has been out with a back injury since returning from Australia with the National side. Brendan Vaughn-Davies has also recovered from a broken arm and will be available for selection. [More]

Midlands Cricket: stepping forward
During the Logan Cup match between Midlands and the CFX Academy at Kwekwe Sports Club, the Midlands chairman Ken Connelly spoke to John Ward about how his committee prepared for the match under very difficult conditions, and about future plans for cricket in the province. [More]

Unbeaten season for Uprising develepment team
Uprising Cricket Club was founded in 1999 as a developmental side drawing players mainly from Chitungwiza, Harare's equivalent of Soweto. They participated in the Mashonaland Vigne Cup Third League in the 1999-2000 season. During the season they played seven league matches, winning four, losing two, with one no result due to rain. They finished in third place in the league.

Encouraged by this result, the club once again participated in the Vigne Cup Third League, as well as the National Fourth League, in the 2000-2001 season. Drawing on a pool of young and enthusiastic players, and playing out of Prince Edward School, the club had an extremely successful season, winning both the Mashonaland and National leagues as well as the National knockout competition. [More]