The end of a proud history

Zimbabwe domestic cricket has always been proud of its history and achievements. From a small, but intact and soundly administered provincial structure, Zimbabwe has been able to pull together players to form a fairly competitive Test side.

Just like in any other cricket playing nation, provincial colours in Zimbabwe was something players wore with pride and honour. From the school game, having a Mashonaland or Matabeleland cricket tag sawn on the back of your school blazer was something to swank about. At adult level, the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe's sole domestic first-class competition, was the apex of provincial representation in Zimbabwe cricket. Again, like anywhere else where cricket is played at the highest level, pride, passion and the spirit of competitiveness were important elements learned by players at provincial level and carried into the international arena.

What made the Logan Cup much the more momentous was the decentralisation of cricket strength in Zimbabwe. Mashonaland incorporating the capital Harare, as the biggest province in Zimbabwe, naturally had the largest pool of players in the country. Because of a rich cricket background in smaller towns and rural farming areas, the other provinces also had good cricketers and local clubs.

The second biggest province, Matabeleland, produced some of Zimbabwe's best players in history. In the Test years, players such as Heath Streak, Adam Huckle, Henry Olonga, John Rennie and Pommie Mbangwa were some of the national team players who gave the Matabeleland province a standing in Zimbabwe cricket.

Though Mashonaland has dominated the Logan Cup, the provincial rivalry between them and Matabeleland was one of the talking points, and indeed the major highlights of Zimbabwe cricket.

Cricinfo has reported that Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), which in recent months dismantled the traditional provinces in Zimbabwe to form new and smaller provincial boards, has almost finalised plans to do away with the provinces on the playing side as well.

Cricinfo was told this week that ZC is revising the Logan Cup to turn it into a national select sides competition. Gone are the Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Midlands and Manicaland sides in a turn of events which has left Zimbabwe cricket deprived of its soul and distinctiveness.

Even if the Logan Cup was going to continue as a provincial competition, it was, all the same, never going to be the same again. The Mashonaland and Matabeleland provinces are no longer existent. Harare and Bulawayo Metropolitan provinces were formed out of the ashes of the two former dominant provinces, while the outline areas will be covered by regional associations such as Mashonaland West and Matabeleland North.

Still, if the Logan Cup was to continue on provincial level, it would have made a mockery of first-class cricket, as most of the provinces out of the ten formed by ZC are still far from achieving first-class status. They don't have substantive leadership yet, and they are still scrambling for positions. They are just local boards with no authority, made up of people with dubious cricket backgrounds.

So, in order to mask these shortcomings, doing away with the old system and creating new teams altogether appears the only solution ZC could resort to. The new provinces have been rendered powerless and redundant. They are not first-class provinces, they cannot challenge the national board and they will soon have constitutions made for them by people who want to control them and make sure they do not question anything.