zimcricketnews.com

CricInfo reports that this year's National League competition has been postponed at the last minute (confirming rumours reported by brmtaylor.com a few weeks back), citing the refusal of a number of hotels to accept ZC cheques as a major contributing factor. CricInfo's spin on this is that ZC must be in financial trouble, but while I have my doubts on this based on my own understanding of the situation in Zim at the moment, I'm not going to waste time explaining them here. The next question, of course, is where this will leave the Logan Cup and Faithwear series...
CricInfo - Cash-strapped Zimbabwe cancels competition

brmtaylor.com provides the following results from this week's matches in the Vigne Cup:
Uprising (195; Mafuva 51) beat Takashinga 1 (73; Chinyengetere 5/19) by 122 runs
Royals beat Harare Sports Club by forfeit - HSC failed to field a side
Uprising 2 (271; Daniels 66) beat Centurions (187; Hwezha 58)

The mystery over the Chronicle's mention of "Matabeleland Cricket Board" is resolved, via a CricInfo report that ZC has scrapped the 10-province structure and reverted to the four-province structure that was in place before ZC's purge of uncooperative administrators. That means we're back to Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Manicaland and Midlands:

It is now not clear what will happen to the provincial boards of the provinces, but they are increasingly seen as irrelevant. One source said that the way the provinces had been shut down underlined that they were nothing more than "stooges" as they had not even been told before the decision was taken.

It has now emerged that the local boards were not in control of anything happening in their provinces as Ozias Bvute, ZC's controversial managing director, in effect made all meaningful decisions even though he is an unelected employee of the board.

Whatever the political reasons behind the change - and you can bet it wasn't made purely for reasons of playing quality - the reduction to four provinces should help improve the standards of the domestic inter-provincial competitions, which have been heavily criticised since the 10-province structure was introduced.
CricInfo - Zimbabwe scrap provincial structure

The Chronicle reports that the "Matabeleland Cricket Board" will be holding their AGM at Queen's Sports Club tomorrow (Saturday) - I assume they mean Bulawayo Metropolitan Cricket Association, as the Matabeleland board was dissolved and replaced by Bulawayo Metro, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South associations during the ZC shakeup a few years back. Quality reporting from "The Chronic".

There are three slots on the association's Board up for election, replacing outgoing members Victor Mhlanga (now provincial manager), Vumi Moyo (now a national selector) and Crispen Tswarayi (stepped down due to business committments). The AGM will also vote on the region's Cricketer of the Year, with Chris Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Keith Dabengwa, Tafadzwa Ngulube and Bradley Staddon in the frame for the award, while Glenkara Cricket Club is expected to be approved as a new cricket league member.
The Chronicle - Mat Cricket Board to hold AGM

The final match of this year's Faithwear Series was also the most important - a winner-takes-all match between Easterns and Northerns. Easterns won the toss and elected to bat, and after an early wobble with the loss of opener Timycen Maruma with the score on 13, they powered thier way to 249/9 from their 50 overs. Stuart Matsikenyeri claimed another half-ton (55), while Forster Mutizwa and Shingirai Masakadza both score 49. Graeme Cremer's 3/47 was the pick of the Northerns bowling.

In reply, Northerns went to pieces early on, with Tatenda Taibu (7), Tinashe Chimbambo (0) and Regis Chakabva (3) all falling early to leave their side struggling. Ishmael Senzere (36) and Cephas Zhuwawo (41) both made efforts to give their side a fighting chance, but Northerns were clearly missing a number of key players and weren't able to keep the required pace, eventually being bowled out for 157. That gave Easterns a 92-run win, and made sure they retained the Faithwear Series title. Full scorecard below the cut.
Easterns 249/9 (50 overs; Matsikenyeri 55, Cremer 3/47), Northerns 157 (39.4 overs; Zhuwawo 41, Steady Musoso 3/14). Easterns win by 92 runs.

With the title down to a straight fight between Northerns and Easterns in the other Round 5 match, Centrals and Westerns were playing solely for pride. After winning the toss and opting to bowl, Centrals made light work of Westerns' flaky batting attack, bowling them out for 102 inside 31 overs. Keith Dabengwa was the best of a bad bunch, scoring 20, while Solomon Mire did a lot of the work for Centrals, claiming 4/22 from his 9 overs bowled.

Centrals' batting wasn't quite as good as their bowling, but led by opener Solomon Mire's 42, they managed to chase down their target inside 37 overs. Other than Mire there wasn't much to shout about from their innings, with 6 wickets falling along the way (Keegan Meth leading the Westerns attack with 3/12 from 10 overs), but it was enough on the day to secure a 4-wicket win. Full scorecard below the cut.
Westerns 104 (30.2 overs; Dabengwa 20, Mire 4/22), Centrals 105/6 (36.4 overs; Mire 42, Meth 3/12). Centrals win by 4 wickets.

The other Round 4 match was also Southerns' final contribution to the series, and with both them and Westerns having seasons they'd rather forget it was a battle to avoid the wooden spoon that was largely decided by the contributions of the two captains. Westerns won the toss and elected to bat, struggling their way to 151 all-out as their batsmen, with the exceptions of captain Keith Dabengwa (39) and Tawanda Mupariwa (27), failing to get settled in the face of a determined Southerns attack. Chamu Chibhabha was the best of the Southerns bowlers, with 2/4 from 5 balls bowled.

Southerns weren't able to take advantage of their opponents weak position, though - where Westerns had two batsmen make what could be called stands, Southerns had only one, with Chamu Chibhabha again making his presence felt with 80 not-out. But his side were crumbling around him (only Clement Rizhibowa reached double-figures) and he was left stranded an agonising 6 runs short of the target, giving Westerns the win and leaving Southerns languishing at the bottom of the table. Full scorecard below the cut.
Westerns 151 (44.5 overs; Dabengwa 39, Chibhabha 2/4), Southerns 145 (47.2 overs; Chibhabha 80*, Dabengwa 3/17). Westerns win by 6 runs.

Round 4 of the Faithwear Series, and first up is the match between Centrals and Easterns. Central won the toss and elected to bat, a were soon off to a flyer after a partnership of 79 between openers Tarisai Mahlunge and Simbarashe Gupo laid the foundations of their innings, with next men in Bothwell Chapungu (who top-scored with 60) and Erick Chauluka also playing well. The middle order didn't offer much in the way of support, though, with Prosper Utseya (3/42) taking 3 quick wickets to stop the Centrals charge. They finished their innings on 237/6.

In reply, Easterns dealt with anything the Centrals attack could throw at them, and raced their way to 197/2, scoring at over 6/over, before rain intervened. Timycen Maruma top-scored with a rapid-fire 83, while Brighton Mugochi took 1/17 for Centrals. With no further play possible, it fell to the Duckworth-Lewis Method to decide the winner, handing Easterns a convincing 79-run victory & leaving them needing to beat Northerns in their final match to claim the title. Full scorecard below the cut.
Centrals 237/6 (50 overs; Chapungu 60, Utseya 3/42), Easterns 197/2 (31.1/31.1 overs; Maruma 83, Mugochi 1/17). Easterns win by 79 runs (D/L Method).

The other Round 3 match, between Northerns and Southerns at Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, was as one-sided as the first. Southerns won the toss and elected to bat, and soon found themselves in trouble as Northerns bowlers Trevor Garwe and Prince Masvaure had themselves a field day - both men claimed three wickets apeice (Garwe 3/19 and Masvaure 3/22) on the way to removing Southerns for just 74, with Innocent Chinyoka the top-scorer with just 17.

Northerns' reply was led by Tatenda Taibu (38), in his first match of the series after returning from the Indian Premiere League. The home side rattled off the required runs for the loss of just two wicket, in 15 overs. Tendai Chisoro took 1/9 for Southerns.

The win leaves Northerns 4 points clear at the top of the table but with one more match played than most of the other sides in the competition - at this point it's still possible for any other side to overhaul them in the remaining 2 rounds. Full scorecard for this match is below the cut.
Southerns 74 (26.5 overs; Chinyoka 17, Garwe 3/19), Northerns 76 (15 overs; Taibu 38, Chisoro 1/19). Northerns win by 8 wickets.

Round Three of the Faithwear Series was the day of crushing defeats. In the first match, at Harare Sports Club, Westerns were the unlucky victims as their opening win in the competition proverd to be a false dawn. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Bulawayo-base side were soon wishing they were elsewhere, as the combined Easterns attack ripped through their batting lineup in under 30 overs. Keith Dabengwa's 26 was the "highlight" of the innings, with Romeo Kasawaya (11) the only other man to reach double figures as their side collapsed to 90 all out. For Easterns, Steady Musoso led the figures with 3/21 while the four other bowlers used all chipped in.

In reply, Easterns weren't inclined to hang around. Prosper Utseya showed he wasn't made to be an opener by falling on the first ball of the innings, but #2 and #3 batsmen Stuart Matsikenyeri (51*) and Hamilton Masakadza (31*) finished the job inside 13 overs as Easterns claimed a 9-wicket win. Chris Mpofu took 1/52 for Westerns. Full scorecard below the cut.
Westerns 90 (28.1 overs; Dabengwa 26, Musoso 3/21), Easterns 92/1 (12.3 overs; Matsikenyeri 51*, Mpofu 1/52). Easterns win by 9 wickets.