Domestic Season Start Dates Announced

[maehara]

Latest ZC press release - doesn't tell us much we didn't already know, but still...

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) on Friday announced the date for the beginning of the highly anticipated 2010/11 domestic season for the three competitions - the Logan Cup, limited overs and the Twenty20 series.

The season gets going to an early start on the 6th of September and a lot of changes have been made by the five franchises in terms of the next season team structures.

Mutare based Mountaineers won both the Stanbic Twenty20 series and Faithwear-MetBank Series while Mash Eagles took the Logan Cup to Harare. The Mutare giants are the only franchise to retain their coach, national team assistant coach Stephen Mangongo while the remaining franchises have new names heading their technical departments.

MidWest Rhinos appointed former Australian test-pace sensation, Jason Gillespie, as head coach and he is expected to raise the standard of the team's performance in the coming season especially the bowling department. Southern Rocks hope to transform their fortunes in the next season by signing former England player, Monte Lynch - as head coach for the coming season.

MashEagles and The Matabeleland Tuskers have resorted to acquiring the services of experienced former players who also form part of the current national team management. The eagles signed former national team player Grant Flower as head coach. While the Tuskers confirmed living legend Dave Houghton as head coach assisted by Heath Streak as the bowling coach.

Teams are set to announce their final squads and the new player shuffle between franchises will in all probability finish the season in a different light as compared to the preceding results.

[sloandog]

I'm really looking forward to this season on the basis that we're giving the younger players and chance to showcase their talents. Guys like Moor, Mutizwa, Nathan Waller, Tendai Chitara and Kyle Jarvis to name a few, will add an extra tinge of excitement to the season.

However I would have liked to see Mark Vermuelan in a franchise side. He worked so hard to get back into the Zimbabwean set up, now he's back to square one......Such a sad story

[eugene]

This coming season should be very exciting. It is a shame that Mark Vermeulen seems to be without a team, although his form of late has not been particularly good. That, coupled with the fact that he still has some personal problems means he is not the most attractive player to a franchise at the moment.

[sloandog]

This coming season should be very exciting. It is a shame that Mark Vermeulen seems to be without a team, although his form of late has not been particularly good. That, coupled with the fact that he still has some personal problems means he is not the most attractive player to a franchise at the moment.

But he has so much talent, It's so sad he's without a franchise

[eugene]

Vermeulen is a frustrating player to follow, he does have a lot of talent, and his passion for the game is unrivalled. But throughout his career he has lacked any consistency. When has he ever put two or more good performances together? Certainly at the international level I dont recall too many instances. I think he is a lot better batsmen than many others playing domestically but I can see why he is without a team.

[Robin]

But he has so much talent, It's so sad he's without a franchise

Do we know that he definitely hasn't got a franchise yet? All we know is that he isn't with the Tuskers. (unlikely to be with the Rocks or the Mountaineers after their recent press releases)

If he does start without a contract and continues to play club cricket he will surely find a franchise before the end of the season when a team struggles for runs and form.

If he does not, he only has himself to blame, he has had that many final chances and at the age of 31/32, and with no recent form, he isn't going to be the greatest loss to Zim Cricket

[sloandog]

All that hard work for nothing ay

[brmtaylor.com admin]

I do hope Vermeulen is able to find a franchise. He was 8 runs short of the fairy tale, had he got them who knows where he would be now.

I know he is talented enough to play all forms of the game, but I feel his best chance of playing at the top level is to carve a niche as a First Class specialist. He has a few things going in his favour;
1) He has one of the best batting averages in the country and this is especially important given that he has sustained it over 12 years - most of those runs coming in a previous era where the cricket was of a higher standard.
2) He has a respectable Test average considering that he played no Tests against Bangladesh,
3) He has scored Test half centuries against Australia and England and a century against a West Indies team which surely could not be worse than their current team. He is one of a handful of Zimbabweans (still playing) with a Test century, it has to count for something.

It is surely in Zimbabwe Cricket's best interest to ensure Mark Vermeluen is playing domestic cricket. I don't want to start World War 3 here, but going back to what I said a while ago about fielding players with Test experience when Zimbabwe return... both Matsikenyeri and Vermeulen have 8 Tests under their belt. If both players come off a strong domestic season then who do you select? I believe the choice is simple. History would suggest that Vermeulen is more likely to put in a solid - or even match winning - contribution.

But for this hypothetical to have a chance of eventuating - bearing in mind it is in ZC's best interest to do what they can to get as many people competing for the limited available positions in the Test team - Vermeulen needs to play cricket for a franchise.

[eugene]

Thats the way the sporting world is sometimes - a lot of hard work for nothing.

[eugene]

But he has so much talent, It's so sad he's without a franchise

Do we know that he definitely hasn't got a franchise yet? All we know is that he isn't with the Tuskers. (unlikely to be with the Rocks or the Mountaineers after their recent press releases)

If he does start without a contract and continues to play club cricket he will surely find a franchise before the end of the season when a team struggles for runs and form.

If he does not, he only has himself to blame, he has had that many final chances and at the age of 31/32, and with no recent form, he isn't going to be the greatest loss to Zim Cricket

You would think he might have a few more years of cricket left in him but if he isn't really cemented his place in any side by now he probably never will.