This Week in Zimbabwe (#5)
Posted by brmtaylor.com admin on May 02, 2009The fifth round of the Logan Cup came to a close this week.
Logan Cup round 5
Easterns cruised to another win, defeating Centrals by an innings and 9 runs. Bernard Mlambo, the opening batsman, starred for Easterns with a maiden First Class century worth 158 runs. Prosper Utseya bowled outstandingly with 11 wickets for the match, including 7/56 in the second innings. It was once again Malcolm Waller trying to drag Centrals up, with 85 in the first innings. Back from suspension, Chamu Chibhabha scored 82 in vain.
Westerns let Northerns off the hook with a poor bowling performance in the second innings. After building a first innings lead thanks to timely centuries from Charles Coventry (106, his first First Class hundred) and Sean Williams (102, his third century), they threw their advantage away by allowing Northerns to successfully chase 308 runs. Prince Masvaure scored 90 for Northerns, while Trevor Garwe down the order saw the team home with an unbeaten 56. Graeme Cremer and Elton Chigumbura were the best bowlers, with 5/53 (first innings) and 5/71 (second innings) respectively.
Indian tour to Zimbabwe in doubt
After an initial ambiguous press release claiming that India would not be touring Zimbabwe, the BCCI quickly clarified their position. They stated that they still intend to tour Zimbabwe, but only if Zimbabwe Cricket can find a third team for the proposed tri-series - presumably because a bi-lateral series against Zimbabwe would not be profitable for the BCCI at the moment.
Even so, the series is still in doubt as it remains to be seen who the third team will be. South Africa are still no certainty, and it is hard to see how an associate team like Kenya - the most probable backup - could be a more attractive option to the Indian board.