Rebel clubs plan first-class tournament

Mashonaland's disaffiliated clubs met last week to map the way forward for a new breakaway national league that will lead to a cricket association opposed to Zimbabwe Cricket. Five clubs attended the meeting, with a sixth, Takashinga, whose position on the league was not clear earlier this week, reported to have come out in support of the independent league.

The club members who attended the meeting said the league was aiming to introduce three or four-day first-class competition, backed with a Twenty-20 competition. "The league will not be about officials, it will be about players," he said. "The league will do everything to sustain the standards of Zimbabwean cricket. Basically we need to improve cricket from a players' point view."

This leaves ZC in a difficult position as it now has little support among the country's major clubs, who provide the bulk of players in the domestic leagues. The hemorrhaging of cricketers in recent years has led to a major reduction in standards in the first-class competitions, and it seems unlikely that without the support of these clubs ZC could run either the Logan Cup or the Faithwear Cup.

Local sources claim that Zimbabwe Cricket's interim board called for a meeting to try to persuade the clubs to rejoin the Mashonaland Cricket Association, but the talks stumbled when they were asked to reapply in writing and confirm their recognition of the MCA. Only two clubs - Takashinga and Old Hararians - are believed to have attended the meeting. One club official described the request as "desperation by the ZC interim board to seek legitimacy."

One member of the technical committee was subsequently reported to have asked a Takashinga official to accept the "olive branch" without the other clubs. One observer claimed that such a move by Takashinga would have enabled the authorities to claim that this was a racially-motivated split by the other five.

Cricinfo asked Zimbabwe Cricket to comment but no response has been received.