Double Headers

127 lasted for three seasons; surprisingly, Northerns won the cup in only one of these seasons, with Easterns the winners in the other two. With only one side from Mashonaland participating in the competition between 2002/03 and 2008/09, there was clearly no scope for any further double-heading during this period. For 2009/10 five franchise sides replaced the five ‘compass-based’ sides. Their boundaries were based on the new political subdivisions of the country, which had replaced the former five-province set-up, and thus they did not correspond directly with those of the previous sides. Each of the five franchises is linked to two of the ten cities or administrative provinces into which Zimbabwe is now divided. Three of them relate in whole or in part to provinces which were formerly part of Mashonaland: the Mashonaland Eagles cover the city of Harare and the province of Mashonaland Central; the Mid West Rhinos cover the provinces of Midlands and Mashonaland West; and the Mountaineers cover the provinces of Manicaland and Mashonaland East. 101 But matches between these franchises are not matches between two sides from the same cricketing or administrative entity, and so – at least, for as long as these franchise arrangements survive unaltered – it seems as though the brief age of the double-header in Zimbabwe is now behind us. 101 The other franchises are the Matabeleland Tuskers (Bulawayo andMatabeleland North) and the Southern Rocks (Masvingo and Matabeleland South). Zimbabwe - Late starters