zimcricketnews.com

CricInfo has a report on the experiences of 4 Zimbabwean players who are currently undergoing coaching at Australia's Centre of Excellence, under an arrangement between ZC and Cricket Australia. The four players are batsmen Friday Kasteni and Regis Chakabva, and upcoming pace bowlers Tendai Chisoro and Prosper Tsvanhu. Two Zim coaches, national side assistant Walter Chawaguta and U19 coach Shepherd Makunura, are also participating in the program. The idea is that exposure to Australian coaching techniques - which certainly don't do their cricketers any harm - will improve the performances of the Zimbabwean players, and you can read more about their experiences over at CricInfo.

Not all Zimbabwean players are so lucky, though, and there is word that a number of local players have been refused permission to play overseas during the Zimbabwean "off season" - or at the very least, until the Logan Cup has been completed. ZC apparently feels that the presence of the top local players is required to ensure a decent standard of competition in the domestic first-class tournament, but with Tatenda Taibu having been cleared to travel to India for the IPL (and looking like he'll possibly not play a match there), there's resentment that other players aren't being afforded an equal opportunity to improve their game. An un-named player quoted by CricInfo said:

"The guys do not want to do anything that jeopardises their contracts with ZC, but ZC must realise that the guys will not gain anything from playing in the Logan Cup. Club cricket in England is far better than our first-class game. Surely other upcoming players should be happy to get the opportunity to play in the Logan Cup. Perhaps ZC fear for the standards ... we do not have a large player base."

You can see the point of both sides of the argument, to be fair - yes there are players in Zim who would welcome the chance to play in the Logan Cup, but they're not going to get any advantage from it unless the top local players are also there...
CricInfo - Friday at work | Players blocked from leaving Zimbabwe