Logan Cup 2019/20 - Round 1: Eagles v Rhinos & Mountaineers v Tuskers

[CrimsonAvenger]

Match pages at Cricinfo:

Eagles v Rhinos: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/879 ... up-2019-20

Mountaineers v Tuskers: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/879 ... up-2019-20

[jaybro]

Rain delays both matches

Not living in Zimbabwe obviously I have no idea how much rain they’ve been getting, but it seems to always rain there, at least when there’s cricket on.

The last international series played in Zimbabwe

UAE 2019 - Games 2 & 3 shortened by rain

Pakistan & Aus 2018 - No rain

CWCQ 2018 - Rain forces Zimbabwe to chase D/L adjusted total

West Indies 2017 - Day 1 2nd Test effected by rain

Afghanistan 2017 - Games 2 & 5 shortened by rain

Sri Lanka & West Indies 2016 - Game 5 v Windies ended by rain

[Mueddie28]

Why so much rain ...i thought they was a drought going on..

[foreignfield]

I think the English, when taking their summer game abroad, just stuck with the concept, regardless of the fact that a dry winter day in Harare is, on average, a better place to play cricket than Chester-le-Street in the middle of an English summer.

Historically Rhodesia simply played according to the SA cricket calendar. But I remember that there was also cricket played in the rural areas (Mashonaland Country Districts?) during the winter when the farmers had time off.

[tawac]

It has been a very dry season in Zimbabwe no rains at all. Its only starting to rain now which is very very late. Guessing it only rains when the cricket is on.

[jaybro]

Disappointing opening day for many reasons, the weather of course was the biggest dampener, although I feel a tad rude complaining as Tawac said it's been a dry season in Zimbabwe. The rain obviously didn't help the quality of the pitches with the images on twitter showing a green deck at HSC.

The batsman may have also been a rusty with low scores at both games, the Goats are 7-90 odd whilst the Rhinos are 4-44, the Rhinos are in for a long season looking at their squad and they weren't helped by the omissions of Ryan Burl & Peter Moor. If you've got Neville Madziva batting 5 & Tendai Chisoro batting 6 you're going to be in trouble.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing Craig Ervine & Sean Williams put some runs on for the Tuskers and the Eagles have a few good batsmen as well who might be able to put some runs on.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Wellington has already impressed once in a while in his international stint with his batting temperament. Has played an excellent innings by the looks of it today. 66* as I type and a century stand with William Mashinge from the precarious position they were in yesterday. Another case of bowler getting better with the bat, like Mutombodzi, Maruma, Tiripano?

[Jemisi]

Yeah jaybro, madziva at 5 is a very long tail

[Googly]

This is how the rainy season works-
We used to get one or two showers traditionally end of August over Harare Agricultural show, then maybe one or two further showers until the start of the official rains, which used to be around the second week of November. There has been a slight shift in the pattern, with rains now starting just after mid November.
It’s then supposed to rain until about mid February fairly consistently and then it peters out. We get the odd March or even April shower thereafter.
Everyone is crying drought and the begging bowls are out, but the rains are only a couple of weeks late. We had a below average season last year and it’s cumulative.
You’re going to get rain interruptions in any longer format 90% of the time if you play in December and January.
You might be lucky in a 50 over game.
The rainfall pattern throughout Southern Africa is getting less and the season is shorter. We get these downpours that cause flooding, exacerbated by the wholesale shocking destruction of wetlands and deforestation.

The best time to play cricket here is from the end of February through to June. The fields will still be green and there’s less rain around and the decks are good.

You won’t see many runs being scored in November, December, January because the pitches are usually bowler friendly, under prepared and the outfields are usually knee high in grass..and most of the batsmen are pretty shit.

[Googly]

You can also play with no fear of rain after winter from August through to November, but the outfields are rock hard unless the grounds have plenty water and that’s becoming a very scarce commodity here. No water and no electricity to pump it.
I’ve always advocated winter cricket here, and they talk about it every year, but that’s all they do. It would make a lot of sense. It has its downside in that it doesn’t tie in with the Northern hemisphere cricket and wouldn’t back to back with the South African season, but we don’t send age group sides there much anymore so that’s less of a factor.