Zimbabwe announce first-class shake-up

Zimbabwe Cricket has almost completed plans to revise the Logan Cup, the country's biggest first-class knockout competition, which will no longer be played at provincial level.

Cricinfo has been told that the Logan Cup will be contested by the National Academy and select sides, which have been given as the Zimbabwe A, Zimbabwe Board XI, Zimbabwe Development, and the Academy. The board are still trying to squeeze the shelved Logan Cup somewhere before end of year.

Cricinfo understands that national team players will be picked for the different select sides. ZC said it wanted to put players in the select sides to remove the crippling loyalty to clubs and provinces which, it claims, has divided Zimbabwe cricket for more than three years.

Also, the disbanding of traditional provinces in Zimbabwe and setting up of new smaller ones has meant that competition will be weak. This does, however, raise questions over the exact role of the new provinces in the national set-up.