Logan Cup postponed amid more confusion

To underline the confusion inside Zimbabwe Cricket, the Logan Cup, the country's first-class competition which was scheduled to start on Wednesday, has been postponed.

The ZC operations office, which had already postponed the country's Twenty20 and one-day competitions, released Logan Cup fixtures last Wednesday, only to be forced into an embarrassing about turn after consultations at the weekend with Robin Brown, the national coach.

As a result, the inter-provincial Twenty20 event will now be staged first as Zimbabwe prepare to take part in the South African Standard Bank Twenty20 tournament. The domestic competition will take place in Harare next week. Brown argued that there were no specialised Twenty20 players and such a tournament would allow the selectors to assess the talent available.

It does again raise issues about the lack of communication within the board, and why the cricket operations department scheduled the Logan Cup at short notice without consulting with anyone on the coaching or selection side.

The inter-provincial Twenty20 tournament was initially due to be held at the beginning of February, only to be cancelled at the last minute.

The Logan Cup will now run from April 17 to May 20 and will be followed by the Faithwear Cup from May 27 to June 2. The postponement of these tournaments will impact on those players who had been hoping to play club cricket in Europe.