Clubs season starts with a strike

The season gets underway with a new look after Zimbabwe Cricket introduced changes aimed at boosting the profile of the domestic game.

The lack of competition at club level has been widely blamed for the national side's poor performances, and the board has moved to try to address this. From now on, only the top teams from each region will qualify to play in the national league knock-out tournament. Whereas in the past the club season has started in September, now it won't kick off until April, with local leagues running in the interim.

This new development should mean that the domestic season will run for seven months and include a larger number of players in first-class cricket.

But, embarrassingly, the opening weekend of the Mashonaland Vigne Cup, Zimbabwe's oldest club competition, was scrapped as the clubs sought to highlight their unhappiness with Zimbabwe Cricket's running of the game in general, and what they claim to be its interference with the Mashonaland Cricket Association in particular.

The national league will contain of eight teams, split into two groups of four, with the top teams in each group proceeding to the semi-finals. Mashonaland will have three teams in the national league by virtue of being the biggest cricket-playing province in the country. Matabeleland will field two of their top sides, while Midlands, Manicaland and, for the first time, Masvingo will each have a single representative.