ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2019

647 Zimbabwe in 2018/19 At the end of the 2019 season Zimbabwe occupied eleventh place in the ICC rankings, behind new boys Afghanistan and ahead only of Ireland. Given the intractability of the problems besetting the country, it is hard to see much prospect of improvement. Indeed, the next move may even be downward because Ireland, although unable in its three Tests so far to muster even a single ranking point, arguably has greater potential for improvement and, with so few matches involved, even a moderate degree of Irish success would be enough to relegate Zimbabwe to bottom place. At any rate, Zimbabwe found itself unsurprisingly one of the three lowest-ranked Test nations and as such it was excluded from the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, due to run from 2019 to 2021. But it retains its status as a Test nation, and can arrange bilateral contests with other ICC members. The perennially cash-strapped Zimbabwe Cricket has made it clear, however, that Test matches are a luxury that it can seldom afford. Nevertheless two Tests took place during the period under review when the national side visited Bangladesh in November. And strange to relate, the Zimbabwe side managed, for a few days at least, to slough off all its troubles and record a rare, but thoroughly well-merited, Test win. It is true, of course, that Bangladesh themselves are a lowly ninth in the Test rankings. But even so, on their own pitches they are very far from being a pushover, as both England and Australia can testify from recent experience. Yet Zimbabwe’s inexperienced spinners got more from a highly responsive Sylhet pitch than their better-known Bangladeshi counterparts, and coupled with resolute batting in both innings this gained Zimbabwe only its twelfth Test win, its first abroad since 2001/02 (also in Bangladesh) and its first anywhere since beating Pakistan in 2013/14. It could hardly last, of course. In the second Test the hosts reasserted themselves, leading off with a formidable 522-7d and eventually prevailing by a hefty 218 runs. But even here, there was tangible consolation for the tourists in the twin centuries scored by Brendan Taylor, the second time he has performed this feat. So the signs were there that given more favourable circumstances, the potential exists for real improvement in the fortunes of the Zimbabwe side. But not to get carried away: high on the list of what might be needed by way of ‘more favourable circumstances’ would be better administration, increased resources and a more active international programme. Readers will be able to draw their own conclusions about how likely it is that these requirements will be fulfilled. The hard truth is that the woes of cricket in Zimbabwe worsened during 2019. Allegations of corruption continued to swirl around the game, and in March former ZC director Enock Ikope was handed a ten-year ban for breaches of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code. In June, the Zimbabwe Sports and Recreation Commission (a governmental body) dismissed the entire Cricket Board and imposed an interim committee to run the sport. This move placed Zimbabwe in breach of the ICC’s rules against governmental interference, so in July the country was formally suspended from ICC membership. This is a severe sanction: it meant that Zimbabwe would cease to receive any financial support from ICC and would be ineligible to take part in any events the ICC organized (although it would still be free to enter into bilateral tour arrangements with ICC members, and any Tests or other international matches would retain their status). Following intense discussions behind the scenes among the ICC, the ZC officials and the SRC, this suspension was lifted in September. It was hoped that this unfortunate episode would at least result in better structures for the running of ZC in the future; but that remains to be seen. Amid all this turmoil, the domestic game labours under much the same difficulties as the national team. In 2018/19 it was very doubtful whether Zimbabwe’s first-class competition, the Logan Cup, would take place at all. But in the end, it went ahead although this season with only four entrants