Double Headers

123 Zimbabwe - Late starters between them enforced in terms of player quality, age, or geographical origin? Here is the gist of his reply 99 : “Mashonaland and Mashonaland A both represented the same entity, the Mashonaland Cricket Association. They were largely, but perhaps not quite, the province’s first and second elevens respectively, but Mashonaland A was strengthened by a few (maybe very few) top players like Stuart Carlisle. “All the sides [i.e. Mashonaland, Mashonaland A, Mashonaland Country Districts – hereafter MCD – and the age-group Mashonaland sides] were basically under the umbrella of Mashonaland, although there is (or was) an MCD Association – but I am not sure how autonomous it was. MCD teams were basically for players born, raised or living outside Harare. If there was no separate MCD team, then MCD players were eligible to represent other Mashonaland teams. Some MCD players lived in Harare but had links in the past with Districts, thus enabling MCD to claim them as players to help them form a viable team. As well as MCD being able to claim anybody if they could show a genuine Districts connection, there were some players (like the Campbells) who could have been claimed by MCD but played in the main Mashonaland team, and vice versa. I’m not sure how agreement was reached, but I am not aware of any controversies.” Closer investigation of the distinctions between the various Mashonaland teams bear out John Ward’s statements about the relative standings of the Mashonaland and Mashonaland A sides. For example, in 1997/98 the ‘Mashonaland’ squad included eleven cricketers who had already played Test matches for Zimbabwe, while the ‘Mashonaland A’ squad included none. This balance changed somewhat over the next few years – in 1998/99 the figures were 10-3, in 2000/01 8-5, and in 2001/02 5-6 – but the strongest players (such as Eddo Brandes, Alistair Campbell, Andy Flower, Paul Strang and, when available, Murray Goodwin) were invariably in the ‘Mashonaland’ squad. Stuart Carlisle was probably the strongest ‘regular’ in the A side; as John suggests, it is possible he was placed into that squad to give it a little more beef. The biggest-name player who moved between the sides was Grant Flower, who was in the top squad for the first three of the seasons referred to, but moved to the A squad in 2001/02. The fact that, in 1997/98 at least, the two Mashonaland sides were ‘first and second elevens’ is confirmed by a reference on page 67 of Zimbabwe Cricket Year 1998 , where it is stated that “A close competition [for the Logan Cup] is currently impossible to achieve, as in the past two years the Mashonaland first team [sic] has thrashed all opposition out of sight. It would be more competitive were the top Mashonaland players distributed between two evenly-balanced teams, but the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, afraid of pressure from the ICC, is unwilling to do so.” As for the age-group sides, the apparent age-limits were not adhered to rigidly. In 1993/94 the oldest player in the Mashonaland Under-24 squad (wicket-keeper Blessing Ngondo) turned 24 during the season, which seems fair enough. Ngondo and another player born one day later than 99 Edited from an e-mail dated 10 September 2009.