By John Ward

It has been a quiet week for Zimbabwe cricket, as the players have finished the easiest part of their long tour and now prepare for the most difficult, the tour of Sri Lanka. They made a dismal start, losing their first two warm-up one-day matches and have a mass of improving to do before the triangular tournament starts on Saturday.

On the international scene, Australia came close to losing their title as ICC Test champions when they could only draw against New Zealand. Had they lost that close final Test match, South Africa would have taken over. That would have been largely Australia's own fault, in one sense. [More]

INTERVIEW

Brian Murphy: imterrupted reign

Zimbabwe captain Brian Murphy is back home at present, recovering from a broken bone in his hand. He hopes to be fit in time for the Test series in Sri Lanka, starting on 27 December. He talks to John Ward about his experiences at the helm so far.

"I first heard that I was to captain the side the day before we went to Sharjah! I don't know Heath Streak's full reasons for resigning, but since I had been appointed vice-captain for the tour I was asked to be captain. Dave Houghton came and asked me, and I just took it as an opportunity to do something for the country, and decided to go with it from there." [More]

NEWS

Club cricket report
by Larry Moyo
OH's reign as the undisputed National First League champions looks set to come to an abrupt end following yet another defeat in Round Six of the 2001-02 season at Mutare Sports Club. On a weekend when wet weather took control, resulting in a couple of low-scoring matches, OH lost by a massive 162 runs. [More]

Manicaland report
by Nigel Fleming
Manicaland secured three easy victories in Mutare last weekend. On Saturday Manicaland Under-16s defeated Midlands Under-16s in a first-ever encounter. Drawn from schools in Gweru, Masvingo and Chiredzi, the visitors tried hard but were well beaten by a local side selected from Mutare Boys High and Hillcrest College. [More]

Matabeleland report
by Derrick Townshend
Bulawayo clubs continued their dismal performances in the National League as three sides lost their matches and in simple terms were completely outplayed. [More]

Midlands report
by Michael Hudgson
Last weekend the Kwekwe first team had a home game against Alexandra Sports Club. The toss was won by Kwekwe and Dave Houghton had no trouble in electing to bat. [More]