Zimbabwe Cricket News & Results
Former Zim player Grant Flower has extended his contract with English county side Essex through to the end of the 2008 season. Flower struggled to maintain his place in the county’s Championship side during the past season, but performed well in one-day matches and has been appropriately rewarded.
Flower is on a Kolpak contract, which rules the player out of international play while the contract is in force.
BBC Sport - Flower signs new deal with Essex
ZC have released their calendar of domestic fixtures for the current season, including National League, Logan Cup and Faithwear Cup competitions. I’ve added a new page with the details, which you can find here.
New Zealand v Pakistan: Champions Trophy Group B, 5th Match New Zealand 274/7 (50 overs), Pakistan 223 (46.3 overs). New Zealand win by 52 runs and qualify for semi-finals.
South Africa v Sri Lanka: Champions Trophy Group B, 4th Match South Africa 219/9 (50 overs), Sri Lanka 141 (39.1 overs). South Africa win by 78 runs.
Harare Metropolitan
Alexandra SC (176, 33.3 overs) bt Uprising (151) by 25 runs
Royal (78/2, 14 overs) bt Milennium (76, 34.4 overs) by 8 wickets
Takashinga (420) bt Glenshire (73) by 347 runs
Takashinga 2 (213, 50 overs) bt Old Malvernians (183, 46 overs) by 82 runs
Harare SC bt Mabvuku by 20 runs
Harare Sports Club’s win guarantees them a place in the National League, which starts in two weeks’ time.
Bulawayo Metropolitan
Queen’s SC (269/8, 50 overs) bt Emakhandeni (164, 38.1 overs) by 105 runs
Bulawayo Athletic Club (148/6) bt Metropolitan XI (145, 28.5 overs) by 4 wickets
Manicaland
Titans CC (301) bt Dangamvura (170) by 131 runs
zimcricket.org - Alexandra win
zimcricket.org - Emakhandeni suffers first loss
zimcricket.org - Soma hits first century of Mutare season | Domestic Results Archive 2006/07
CricInfo reports on the aftermath of Herschelle Gibbs evidence to the Indian police, who are continuing their probe into the match-fixing controversy that surrounded the Indian and South African teams a few years back. Gibbs spoke to Indian police last week, and his evidence has prompted the Indians to speak to UK police regarding some matches in the 1999 World Cup, held in England. Their interest seems to be focussed on the matches between Pakistan and Bangladesh, at that time still an Associate side, Pakistan and India, and South Africa and Zimbabwe.
It should be pointed out that no Zimbabwean players are currently under investigation.
CricInfo - Delhi police probe match-fixing in England World Cup
UPDATE: Bob Woolmer, who was South Africa’s coach at the time, has responded to comments about the Zimbabwe win in his column at CricInfo:
Our travel plans [ahead of that game] were poor and we stayed in a hotel miles out of town. The dressing-rooms at Chelmsford are too small for touring teams and the net bowlers were poor at practice. A lot of small things started to conspire against our preparation.
By the time the Zimbabwe game arrived we were all pretty ratty. That, more than any other reason, was why we did not perform to our best. Also, in those days Zimbabwe were a good team and not the complete underdogs they are now. They were quite capable of beating anyone in the tournament. There was no question of any betting or bookie involvement that I knew about.
CricInfo - Cronjegate resurfaces
With the itinerary for the tour of Bangladesh now available (check the Fixtures page for details), Zimbabwe have begun their preparations for what they will no doubt hope will be a successful tour, if they’re to regain the pride lost by Zim’s dismal showing in the Champions Trophy. The players left out of that ill-fated trip have been counting their blessings, as there is now some pressue to make changes to the side. According to Sunday’s Standard:
There is also pressure, sources said, on selectors to wield the axe on some of the players for “under-performance and complacency”. The return of former “rebel” Gary Brent for the last Champions Trophy against Bangladesh, has also been seen as paving the way for more senior players, which will further keep the young team on its toes. The increasing emergence of other players in the first-class and domestic structures will also add to the pressure on the players currently in the national side.
Fair enough. The Sunday News spoke to two of the players now in the frame, Sean Williams and Christopher Mpofu. Mpofu in particular was happy not to have made the Champions Trophy squad:
“It was a blessing in disguise for me to miss the ICC Champions Trophy. I knew my chance was going to come. I am now aiming for the Bangladesh tour and eventually next year’s World Cup. I am working hard on my bowling.”
Coach Kevin Curran, never short of an excuse, blamed the standard of the Indian pitches for a least contributing to Zimbabwe’s woes - and to be honest, based on the performances of other team in the tournament, he probably has a point:
“The wickets we played on were just not ideal for one-day cricket because the ball stays low. We missed Terrence Duffin, he is a solid batsman and his absence opened a big gap in our top order. We also lost a lot of wickets in the first 10 overs of the match and it is difficult to recover from such a situation, one of our top three batsmen should bat through the overs.”
Hopefully ZC will also be speaking to Vusi Sibanda’s Australia club to ensure that the commitment they’d apparently been given over his international availability is honoured.
Zimbabwe Standard - Pressure to wield axe mounts on cricket selectors
Sunday News - Curran to make changes
Harare Metropolitan
Takashinga 1 v Glenshire (Takashinga)
Royal v Millenium (Prince Edward HS)
Mabvuku v Harare Sports Club (Harare SC)
Takashinga 2 v Old Malvernians (Old Hararians)
Manicaland
Mutare Sports Club v Dangamvura (Mutare SC)
Titans v Mutare Cricket Club (Mutare SC)
Manicaland Under-19 v Hillcrest (Hillcrest)
Mashonaland West
Chinhoyi University of Technology v Rimuka (Kadoma)
Chegutu v Kadoma (Jameson HS)
Chegutu High v Pietas (Lomagundi College)
Princeton v Hartley (Chegutu)
Bulawayo Metropolitan
Queens v Emakhandeni (Queens)
Bulawayo Athletic Club v Metropolitan X1 (BAC)
Midlands
Kwekwe v Mbizo (Kwekwe SC)
Gweru v Redcliff (Kwekwe SC)
Australia v England: Champions Trophy Group A, 3rd Match England 169 (45 overs), Australia 170/4 (36.5 overs). Australia win by 6 wickets.
New Zealand v Sri Lanka: Champions Trophy Group B, 3rd Match New Zealand 165 (49.2 overs), Sri Lanka 166/3 (36 overs). Sri Lanka win by 7 wickets.