ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2011

Zimbabwe in 2010/11 Zimbabwe’s efforts to restore its credentials as a Test nation were aided by the ICC’s controversial decision to invite a Zimbabwe team to take part in the Intercontinental Cup, a competition normally intended for associate and affiliate members. The team was officially a Zimbabwe XI, rather than Zimbabwe as such, and leading players were omitted from several matches. Even so, participation in the competition could easily have backfired on Zimbabwe if its players had struggled against teams such as Canada and the Netherlands; but in the event, the team finished a solid third with three wins. Its only ‘defeat’ was the forfeiture of the final game against Scotland, but for which the Zimbabwe XI might have finished second and qualified for the final. For more on this competition, and a final table, see the ‘Rest of the World’ section. Following the qualified success of its players in the Intercontinental Cup, and in the light of slightly improved performances in limited-overs internationals, Zimbabwe plans to end its self-imposed exile from Test cricket during 2011 with home Tests against Bangladesh in August and Pakistan in September. The absence of Tests did not mean that the 2010/11 first-class season entirely lacked international cricket. The scheduled Intercontinental Cup match against Scotland did not take place, being conceded by Zimbabwe after the Scots decided to accept the advice of the UK government not to travel. However, the Irish team (including players from Northern Ireland) fulfilled their Intercontinental fixture, and New Zealand A also visited for three matches against Zimbabwe A. The New Zealanders won the series 2-0 and were clearly superior, but the home team was not disgraced. The principal domestic first-class competition, the Logan Cup, was again played on the same basis as in 2009/10, with each of the five sides playing the others thrice. This unusual format at least had the merit, given the limited number of teams and small pool of players, of generating as much exposure as possible to the longer version of the game. The top two teams in the league qualified for a final to decide the Logan Cup champions. The unusually wet weather affecting much of southern Africa in 2010/11 took its toll of the Logan Cup; only one match was completely washed out but play in several others was drastically curtailed. But despite the weather interference, there could be no possible doubt about the winners at the league stage: Mountaineers (i.e. Manicaland) won seven of their twelve matches and were unbeaten. Second place was closely contested between Matabeleland Tuskers and Mid West Rhinos, each of whom won four matches and lost two; the other sides, Southern Rocks and the defending champions Mashonaland Eagles, were both winless. Eventually Matabeleland edged out Mid West for second place in the league and the right to meet Mountaineers in the final. This proved to be an excellent, closely contested match that was turned by the medium-pace bowling of K.O.Meth, who returned match figures of 13-109 (besides scoring a vital 65 in the second innings) to secure victory for Matabeleland by the narrow margin of 18 runs. This was a desperately disappointing result for Mountaineers after such a strong showing at the league stage, but it demonstrated once again the paramount importance, in competitions decided by a final rather than by league position alone, of producing a match-winning performance when the pressure is on. Indeed, advocates of the use of finals would argue that this is a key merit of this system. Notwithstanding defeat in the final, the Logan Cup as a whole was a triumph for Mountaineers’ fast-medium bowler, T.L.Chatara. Only 19 at the start of the season, he took 55 wickets in the competition at only 17.72. Perhaps even more remarkable, however, was the achievement of K.O.Meth who, aided by his performance in the final, finished with 54 wickets at the outstanding 621