Series thread: Faithwear series

[brmtaylor.com admin]

So now the off-season officially begins

[maehara]

Yup. Next match in September, assuming the planned series against Kenya goes ahead. I'll have to nip along to one of the Ireland v Kenya ODIs in August (to be played about 200 metres from my office window) to size up the opposition.

It's going to be a looong three months...

[andy24]

i think Zimbabwe needs to create a better domestic set up.
they should get rid of one of the teams. the should invite country's like kenya and Uganda to send a team. they need to schedule the games beter, so players can travel overseas afterwards.
If possible maybe an under 21 side should be put in the Loagan cup.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

If possible maybe an under 21 side should be put in the Loagan cup.

They already have 5 of them, why add another one?

Seriously though, you are right. There are too many teams, too many for such a small pool of players. They should return to having Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Midlands and Manicaland. There was a discussion on this not too long ago - having true provincial setups allows for greater support among fans. In fairness to ZC though, I heard that the reformatting of the domestic structure was a government order, because playing in the name of Mashonaland and Matabeleland (or more to the point, Mashonaland Country Districts and Matabeleland Country Districts - which still play rugby I believe) was seen to be what white people do. Especially in the case of the country districts, which were predominantly white teams. (unfortunately I can't find the link where I read that)

Centrals and Southerns are on paper the two weakest sides. Despite Westerns poor showing this year, on paper they are one of the stronger sides (guess whose fault it is that they didn't persevere with Matthew Williams, Freedom Takarusenga, John Nyumbu...).

So Centrals and Southerns could be merged to become Southerns, so you essentially have the old structure again (Northerns for Mashonaland, Westerns for Matabeleland, Easterns for Manicaland, Southerns for Midlands). Then invite Namibia over for a few matches. No point bringing in Uganda or Kenya A, they are easybeats. Namibia on the otherhand are very strong competition, really only Northerns and Easterns would have a chance.

I think timing should also be adjusted as you say. Zimbabwe don't get many international tours, so it's not like that is a huge obstacle. It would probably be possible to switch the National League season with the Logan Cup season. It has the added benefit of, if an international tour does slightly overlap, the provincial players get to have a hit against the best in tour matches, which of recent times have been Zimbabwe Select vs Touring team. Northerns vs Indians, Easterns vs Pakistanis, etc would be good.

[zulu]

I aggree that 1 team should be axed its goto be southerns for me, and i definatly think that kenya, Uganda or Namibia should replace that team it would just make more things interesting.