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Who's coming back for the upcoming domestic season?

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Might be jumping the gun a bit here but I've seen all over this forum people questioning if X player is coming back and playing in Zim this year so I thought I'd start a thread to see what sort of rumours people may have heard/know about the upcoming season.
ZCF OriginalVeteran

zimfan1 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 8:49 pm
Any idea on the start date?


October 17 has been posted in this thread as a date shared by ZC.
CremerCurrans
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totoro wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:33 am


zimfan1 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 8:49 pm
Any idea on the start date?


October 17 has been posted in this thread as a date shared by ZC.


Havent seen you in a while.
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totoro wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:33 am


zimfan1 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 8:49 pm
Any idea on the start date?


October 17 has been posted in this thread as a date shared by ZC.


Supposedly but I wouldn’t bet on it. Tuskers are playing Botswana that same week so seems unlikely Logan will start that week now.

Confusion as always! An annual tradition!
ZCF OriginalVeteran

ZIMDOGGY wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 5:09 am
Havent seen you in a while.


Moved house a few times, and been busy with work. Still lurk here when I can :D
CremerCurrans
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The madness continues, with the literal director of cricket Masakadza this morning saying the season will start - and I quote - 'hopefully fairly soon'. Nobody has a f***ing clue, even the man himself! Why does this disorganisation continue every f***ing season.

Will it or wont it start next weekend? Which competition? Which format? Which teams, which players, which venues? How can a player, let alone an entire franchise, train and prepare for high quality competitive cricket at such short notice? And then we wonder why the Logan Cup is so low quality. In competent countries squads have pre-season training for months preparing for their first fixture.

Tuskers have had a full pre-season and Eagles have been training occasionally. Rhinos I'm not sure about. Mountaineers have not trained at all yet and Rocks still aren't sure if they are in the competition this year or not. Some of the franchise coaches haven't even got contracts yet.

And then Hammy talks about attracting overseas Zimbos and foreign players. In what f***ing world is he living?
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Someone in the know has suggested the problem is venues. At least four venues - possibly a fifth for training purposes - are being used for the women's world cup qualifiers, and the ICC blockade either side (in terms of ICC gaining control and operation of the grounds) means all of those venues are likely to be unavailable for domestic cricket from around the 7th November to the 7th December.

Thats why ZC are hoping to squeeze in a couple of rounds of Logan Cup before that.

NPL could happen during that month whilst the qualifier is happening, but again getting SRC approval of the Covid measures in place at some of the smaller grounds is proving costly.
ZCF OriginalLegend
Surely we can play the domestic game in Bulawayo or Kwekwe. Heck, we can even use a school like St Georges. They have about 4 fields of a good quality.

It's really not hard to organise a competition.
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zimbos_05 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 10:40 am

Surely we can play the domestic game in Bulawayo or Kwekwe. Heck, we can even use a school like St Georges. They have about 4 fields of a good quality.

It's really not hard to organise a competition.


I'm guessing HSC, OH, QSC and BAC will be used for the women's games (although BAC will need a lot of work before then) - and then possibly either Taka or Kwekwe as a fifth ground. I don't know what state Masvingo or Mutare are in or whether they are capable of being used for domestic cricket at the moment. Doesn't leave many options for First Class games at all really.

I suppose they can be a bit more creative and use alternatives grounds and school grounds for the NPL, which is why we might see that played whilst the qualifiers happen.

I get that venues during the qualifiers are proving to be a difficulty, but really they've had months to prepare, and crucially - communicate - , a fixture list around that. Frustrating.

But yeah this is the problem we have when half of the grounds in the country are lying in ruin. :/
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It has to be a concerted deliberate attempt at being completely and utterly corrupt and useless. This goes well beyond just uselessness, it has to be studied and perfected.

If you took the top off Alwyn Pichanick's head, poured boiling oil into it and stirred the contents with a blender he'd still be cleverer than these c**ts.
ZCF OriginalLegend

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:31 am

I'm guessing HSC, OH, QSC and BAC will be used for the women's games (although BAC will need a lot of work before then) - and then possibly either Taka or Kwekwe as a fifth ground. I don't know what state Masvingo or Mutare are in or whether they are capable of being used for domestic cricket at the moment. Doesn't leave many options for First Class games at all really.

I suppose they can be a bit more creative and use alternatives grounds and school grounds for the NPL, which is why we might see that played whilst the qualifiers happen.

I get that venues during the qualifiers are proving to be a difficulty, but really they've had months to prepare, and crucially - communicate - , a fixture list around that. Frustrating.

But yeah this is the problem we have when half of the grounds in the country are lying in ruin. :/


Honestly, you should be preparing for each season a year in advance. Once Zim were announced as hosts, you would then be able to look at your calendar and go, "ok, we need to move these domestic games" This way your dates stay the same and your only concern is grounds. It's Zim domestic. They don't need to play on the best of the best. The pitches at St Georges, St Johns, Hellenic, even PE are good enough for these guys. Some of those private schools have some lush outfields.

Of course the easy alternative would have been the CFX academy, but we all know that after the fire ZC did not bother to rebuild it or keep it up.

I've organised bigger events with more people and less time. I could probably arrange this league within 1 or 2 weeks.
Legend
I think the NPL is the only thing that makes sense because I don't think the COVID regulations will be that strict. I don't think you 100% need a bubble. Also I don't think it's possible to organize a bubble at schools when they are open which limits the amounts of options.

If they want the Logan Cup to start it will need to be in a bubble so I can only think of Mutare and Masvingo as the only viable options. If the grounds are even in shape. 300km apart too.
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zimbos_05 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:09 am

Honestly, you should be preparing for each season a year in advance. Once Zim were announced as hosts, you would then be able to look at your calendar and go, "ok, we need to move these domestic games" This way your dates stay the same and your only concern is grounds. It's Zim domestic. They don't need to play on the best of the best. The pitches at St Georges, St Johns, Hellenic, even PE are good enough for these guys. Some of those private schools have some lush outfields.

Of course the easy alternative would have been the CFX academy, but we all know that after the fire ZC did not bother to rebuild it or keep it up.

I've organised bigger events with more people and less time. I could probably arrange this league within 1 or 2 weeks.


Agree.

Side note though, PE’s grounds aren’t what they were. Couldn’t play first class there now. Sad
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Zimbos_05 I think it was you who posted years ago that you used to be involved with Universal back in the day? You should see it now - a soccer pitch and some trashy wedding venue. Sad :( there’s a lot of places like that now.

I might do a thread auditing all the current and former grounds to try and get an overall picture of what state they are all in. Googly will know more about Harare grounds than I.
ZCF OriginalLegend

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 7:47 am

Zimbos_05 I think it was you who posted years ago that you used to be involved with Universal back in the day? You should see it now - a soccer pitch and some trashy wedding venue. Sad :( there’s a lot of places like that now.

I might do a thread auditing all the current and former grounds to try and get an overall picture of what state they are all in. Googly will know more about Harare grounds than I.


Yeah it was me. I'm well aware of Universals. Once my family left, the people who took control of the club got rid of the tennis courts and turned it into a putt putt. The wedding venue was always a plan from well before I left, but the problem was that the people who took over around 03/04 were in it for themselves. So they never developed that venue as they should have.

The wife of one of the guys also prohibited sport to be played on the fields. She said it would destroy her flowers. So the cricket and night time 5-a-side soccer league died down.

At one point, Universals had the Flowers, Houghton, Streak and co all playing there. The Indian and Pakistan cricket teams would come train there too, not any more.

It's truly sad because we produced Davis Cup players, International standard cricketers, and were sending teams on national and international tours in Soccer, Cricket, Tennis, and Hockey on a regular basis. My uncle won Africa Games and International Hockey titles. My father went on tours for badminton and table tennis. Myself and my cousins did tours for Soccer, Tennis, and Cricket. Some of us represented Mashonaland and Zim. It was all possible because of the set up and system that was in place. I remember doing coaching session with Fabisch, Houghton, Black brothers, Flowers.

You'd be lucky to find a ball there now. It no longer exists. It's so terribly sad.
ZCF Hall of Famer
There is a very long list of sports we excelled at internationally. Everything has been destroyed, and it's not over, there's still a few bricks left on top of each other.

The object is to have one Cockerell crowing from a dungheap and then it will be complete.
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Rocks are definitely returning at least. So they seem to be sticking with 5 franchises.

Looking more and more likely that Franchise will start before NPL as all five franchises are now in training together.
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Andre Odendaal appears to have moved back permanently to Zim. So presumably will be with Rocks again. Rocks trained in Harare today but not sure of who was there.

Yvmnaidu will be pleased. How long until 'andrewoodendallee good player in zim team zim should play him and play like ipl team win matches brandondicklop andreew odendalle bradevans'
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Starting on Friday?
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zimfan1 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 8:06 pm

Starting on Friday?


Definitely this weekend apparently, not sure on the exact start day but Friday makes sense. Rhinos/Eagles/Rocks/Mountaineers playing. Tuskers are hosting Botswana.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer

secretzimbo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 7:03 pm

Eagles have a sponsorship deal and are now known as Alliance Health Eagles. $19k per year. Not much but its a step in the right direction in terms of sponsorship in the first class set up.


That definitely sounds encouraging. I remember Lays had some sponsorship deal with the Rhinos a few years ago. But we haven't heard of many such similar stories of late. Looks like a step in the right direction for sure.
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