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The Logan Cup in Harare has finally reached the 20th century, although perhaps not the 21st! For the first time at Harare Sports Club, during the match between Mashonaland and Mashonaland A, the big scoreboard was in full operation, giving details of individual scores, bowling figures and most of the information that had hitherto been available only at international matches.Congratulations to the Mashonaland Cricket Association and Gavin Johnstone-Robertson in particular for organizing that. The players were most appreciative of being kept aware of their statistics, and there were a few spectators who responded positively as well – there would no doubt have been more had the match been properly advertised. The local press is very negligent with regard to Logan Cup cricket, but the local authorities must also bear responsibility for the failure to advertise first-class domestic cricket adequately.But at least a properly functioning scoreboard is a big step forward, and Harare has now caught up with Kwekwe and Mutare. I have no news as to whether Bulawayo has yet reached the 20th century by using their main scoreboard for Logan Cup matches, but last season they did not.In this issue, as the current Zimbabwe season sadly fades away with a whimper, courtesy of the Australian let-down, we have new biographies of Academy players Glenn Goosen and Piet Rinke, and an updated biography of Nyasha Chari. Besides our provincial reports, we include an interview with Grant Flower after his return from India and his double-century against Mashonaland.Mashonaland have again shot into the Logan Cup lead with yet another outright victory, beating Mashonaland A easily by seven wickets, thanks to twin centuries in the match by Andy Flower and a very accommodating declaration that left them 340 to win in a full day’s play on a batting paradise. Midlands, who had hopes of winning the Logan Cup after a fine season, could be excused for feeling bitter at Mashonaland A’s declaration, especially since last season they were similarly helpful to their sister team, forfeiting their entire first innings so as to force a result in a rain-affected match.Mashonaland are undoubtedly the premier province, and the country’s cricketing strength plays here. It is not good for cricket that they should win so easily so often, though, especially as at times they appear over-confident and arrogant. The attitude of other teams, including Mashonaland A, should be to give them nothing and make them fight all the way for their success. Manicaland, still without a win, have been the only team to come close to beating Mashonaland in the past two seasons, and they have done it twice. They too must be unhappy at seeing the other Mashonaland side hand them easy victories.

Bob Woolmer has confirmed his intention to stand down as Warwickshire’s first-team coach at the end of the season.Woolmer does not wish to extend his contract, and will finish his second stint in charge of the Bears in September.The former England batsman said a major reason for his decision was being away from his family and his Cape Town home for six months of each year.He has offered to maintain his links with Edgbaston on a part-time consultancy basis if required.Woolmer re-joined Warwickshire after a five-year stint as coach of the South Africa national team, and took them to promotion to Division One of the County Championship last season.Last month Warwickshire beat Essex in the last-ever final of the Benson and Hedges Cup at Lord’s. It was the club’s first one-day trophy since 1997.

The last day of the Northern Districts-Otago Shell Trophy match descended into a revolving-door farce as bad light and drizzly rain – and Otago’s intention to use up every minute of the day in the search of victory – had the players on and off throughout the afternoon.However, the tone of the last day was set in the first hour. The Northern batsmen showed no inclination to go for runs while the Otago bowlers, Paul Wiseman apart, demonstrated limited ability to make the batsmen work to keep their wickets.A desultory morning session produced just 46 runs from 39 overs with Otago claiming the wickets of Hamish Marshall (four, no shot leg before) and Grant Bradburn (18, hanging the bat) more by the batsmen’s failings than the bowlers’ management. Northern, 61 for three and 22 behind overnight, were 107 for five at lunch, 44 ahead with Matthew Hart and Joseph Yovich demonstrating they were in for the long haul.Rain delayed the start after lunch and then sent the players off early for an extended tea break. In between times, the Otago bowlers failed to make the best use of the new ball, bowling both sides of the wicket as Hart and Yovich kept their bats well clear of anything not on line.The last session was similarly affected by rain, the players driven from the field five overs after the break but not before the Otago side had staged a mid-pitch display of displeasure at umpire Anderson’s rejection of a spirited demand for a caught behind off David Sewell’s bowling.They came back again with 20 overs scheduled to be bowled in what was left of the day but only four more were completed before bad light intervened for the last time, the umpires left lonely figures in the middle before the captains eventually decided to put the match to bed at four minutes past six.Northern were 149 for five when the curtain was drawn to little applause, the total having taken 100 overs. Hart batted 204 minutes and 135 balls for his 31 not out, Yovich 142 and 123 for his 30 not out. The Otago bowling figures, not surprisingly, looked impressively economic, Sewell two for 24 off 24, Scott two for 27 off 14 and Walmsley one for 36 off 16 the wicket-takers. But it was the off spin of Paul Wiseman, none for 23 off 31, that produced figures that reflected appropriate accuracy.Northern played as though they were looking ahead to the final-round match against Wellington, which has turned into a Trophy final – the two sides the only ones left who can take the championship. On the evidence in this match, a much improved all round performance will be necessary to stop Wellington taking the title – and extracting revenge for the two-day drubbing at Northern’s hands at the beginning of the month.

England’s Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough must now be among the most devastating opening partnerships in world cricket.After the innings defeat of Pakistan, the pair could be entitled to put their feet up after uprooting 16 batsmen between them.The visitors simply had no answer to the different styles of the two pacemen. Caddick, tall and angular with an action that owes not a little to Sir Richard Hadlee, found bounce and movement off the wicket, while Gough, pitching the ball up further than his opening partner, was more reliant on speed and swing.The Yorkshireman, who took his 200th wicket during the game, was delighted to pick up his first five-wicket return at headquarters and so get his name on the Lord’s honours board.”The main one was to get up on the board. I knew I had only one ballto do it because Caddy was on at the other end, and I’m sure he would havestopped me again.”That five means more to me than 200 wickets – that’s on the board and thereforever. I’d have got the 200 at some stage.”I expected us to bowl them out, whether we made them follow on I didn’tknow. Once we made them follow on it was a case of just keeping going, but ithelps when you knock the first two over early.”It was a great atmosphere. Lately we’ve started to play well at Lord’s andthe crowd have got behind us.”We are playing well, we are on top of our game and we got the result. Soonenough we’ll be playing the best side in the world in Australia.”What the public wants is to see us compete with Australia. The people willbe happy if they see England fighting in a competitive close series.”Caddick added: “The two of us use the new ball well because we capitalise ontaking early wickets, that helps. You’ve got to make the most of it and it seemsthat in the last 18 months, myself and Darren have made the most of the new ballcombination.”This win was very crucial for us; the batters did their job in getting 391after being put in, and the bowlers had to do ours, and in the end we did oursas well.”Central contracts have allowed us to have the rest periods we need. If wecan keep on this roller-coaster and keep going I think it’s a better learning curve than losing and trying to come back from it. We’ve done the job and the basics well in this Test.”Captain Nasser Hussain could only watch the drama from the dressing room balcony where he was nursing his fractured thumb but he was quick to pay tribute to his pacemen’s heroics.He said: “A lot of things went our way today; the catching was phenomenal,Caddick’s spell, Gough’s spell.”Gough and Caddick are a pleasure to captain and their attitude is great.”But Hussain threw in a word of caution. “Pakistan at Old Trafford will be a different side, the wicket there will suit them more than it suited them here. They will be a real contest.”The aim for us now is those five days because we want to win five series ina row.”

Graeme Smith says the supposedly leaked Australian game plan “dossier” and references in the media to their strategies for South Africa have served to “touch the motivation springs a little more” in his own side.The document purported to contain an analysis of each of South Africa’s likely Test XI and was published in local media on Thursday. Instead of an explosive summary, it was a predictable assessment which bordered on the amateur and seems to have caused more amusement than angst in the South African camp.”There was nothing really new in that,” Smith said. “I haven’t read it myself, I heard a few lines and it is nothing that we didn’t expect. All of us have played enough against Australia and we know what it’s going to take to be victorious here. Our preparation has been really good and intelligent. Certainly the stuff that happens in the papers and maybe things Mickey [Arthur, Australia’s coach] has said have only added motivation for us.”With theories sprouting over whether the dossier is an official team document, something planted to throw South Africa off kilter or a media ruse, Michael Clarke hinted at the last option. He denied the existence of an actual booklet of information and even said some of the contents were never part of Australia’s planning.”We as a team don’t have an official dossier as such. We look at footage, we talk about opposition players, we study opposition strengths and weaknesses as a bowling group and a batting group, that’s generally what we do as a team,” he said. “There was some stuff in there that is quite common knowledge about the South African team and there was some other stuff in there that we certainly haven’t spoken about.”James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, took a similar view. “I looked at it and there are things in there that I thought, ‘well, everyone knows that,’ and there were things that I thought, ‘well, I would do the complete opposite to that,” he said. “There are some fun and games in all of that and listening to Graeme, he seems pretty unfussed by all that.”For his part, Arthur later tweeted an unequivocal message: “Just to make one thing clear-there is no secret dossier and there never was! #mediahype”Irrespective of its legitimacy, Clarke does not think the leak will have a significant bearing on the series. “Both teams would have read the papers – that’s for sure,” he said. “The most important thing for me, and I’ve said it for a long time now, it’s not about what you say, it’s about what you do. That’s the Australian team’s attitude at the moment. It’s about making sure tomorrow we turn up. Enough’s been said, there’s been plenty of talk in the media and it’s been built up beautifully, with two very strong cricket teams. Now it’s about what we do.”Smith agreed. “It doesn’t really make a difference [whether that is their strategy or not],” Smith said. “We have prepared for what we going to expect over the next few days. Tactically, we are doing our work anyway. The most important thing for us was maximising our preparation.”One of the things both teams have been preparing for is chin music with bouncers certain to fly on a spicy Gabba pitch. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you see plenty of short stuff, that’s for sure,” Clarke said. “The young quicks know what they have to do. I’ve made it very clear that they need to keep the same aggression they had against India last summer. We understand there’s a line that you can’t cross, but we’ll be pushing that line.”The dossier indicated Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy would be targets of the short ball but Smith was more sedate in his reaction. “When you’ve got fast bowlers on either side, it’s always going to be a topic of discussion, especially at venues like the Wanderers or the Gabba,” he said.Amla was also the subject of a psychological examination by Australia which may be surprising given his reputation as one of the tougher characters in cricket who rarely gets ruffled. Johan Botha, a former team-mate of Amla’s who now captains South Australia, said it is unlikely Australia will be able to change that.”He (Amla) is pretty relaxed and I don’t think it will affect him at all,” Botha said in Adelaide. “He has played against Australia now a few times – he has played against all the other top teams in the world. And he is the type of guy who it doesn’t affect him if you say something or if you don’t. He just goes out there and watches the ball and grinds out big scores. They (Australia) can do what they want (but) you have got to put the ball in the right area and put him under pressure. Hashim will just go about his game as he has always done.”Mental weakness overall though, has cost South Africa on previous occasions so the strategy in itself would not be entirely misplaced but Smith believes the team have gotten over their problems in that department and will not be rattled by mind games.”Our Test side has proven that, especially away from home. You play in other people’s backyards, in front of their crowds and you have different sorts of pressure. You have to be able to stand up at key times,” he said. “When good teams play each other there are small margins and you need to be able to handle those small margins better. Our goal is to match up again. I don’t expect to see us too emotional about things. If we can be focused and clinical, I will be happy.”Already South Africa have given the cold shoulder to attempts by Australia to rile them up. When Arthur mentioned during his media engagements this week that Australia’s seven left-handers will look to capitalise on the statistics that Dale Steyn has been less successful against southpaws than right-handed batsmen, Gary Kirsten shrugged it off with a smile. “Let’s just say it will provide us with good motivation.”Talking down the world’s top-ranked bowler did not last long in the Australian camp and Arthur soon backtracked to say he only meant that because Steyn bowls to fewer left-handers, the numbers are skewed the other way. Ricky Ponting then said Australia will look to “negate Steyn because then we will go a long way to winning.”Again, Smith did not feed the machine with anything more about what he expects form his go-to man on this pitch. “I’m looking forward to Dale taking 10 wickets and looking forward to Vernon taking 10 wickets,” he said non-committal fashion. “You can bowl the speed of light but how effective can you be. Dale has proven that he can do both and hopefully he can show that in this Test match.Rather, Smith’s focus is on making sure South Africa stick to their much talked about processes and follow their own plans. He said they have devised many tactics but they are unlikely to find their way into the public domain. “We try to keep it in the guys’ heads as much as possible so dossiers aren’t left lying around.”

North Zone, who need a win to make sure of winning the Duleep Trophy irrespective of the results of matches to be played in the final round, took the first step on Thursday when they rattled up 391 for four wickets off 90 overs on the opening day of the match against Central Zone at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds in New Delhi.Openers Vijay Dahiya and Vikram Rathour laid the foundation for the imposing score by putting on 188 runs off 44 overs. Put into bat, Dahiya and Rathour batted with a degree of comfort and also scored runs at a good rate. Both however fell within the space of nine runs. First Rathour was out for 94. In a three hour stay, the North Zone captain faced 130 balls and hit 19 boundaries.Then Dahiya fell for 81. In a stay of 200 minutes, he faced 153 balls and hit 15 of them to the ropes.Yuvraj Singh dominated a third wicket partnership of 38 runs off 8.5 overs with Dinesh Mongia. Yuvraj Singh scored 34 of the runs before he was bowled by Rahul Kanwat. He faced 42 balls and hit eight fours. The good work was then carried on by Mongia and Virender Shewag who added 78 runs for the fourth wicket off 12.5 overs. The in form Shewag hit 43 off 48 balls with eight hits tothe fence.There was still no respite for the Central Zone bowlers as Mongia and Reetinder Sodhi added 87 runs off 21.1 overs for the unbroken fifth wicket. At close, Mongia was batting with 78 off 123 balls with 12 boundary hits while Sodhi was unbeaten with 34 off 68 balls with five hits to the ropes. The Central Zonebowlers toiled hard without much reward on a good batting track.

The second day’s play of the four-day match between Bangladesh A and the West Indies’ Sagicor High Performance Centre has been suspended due to a daylong strike in Dhaka on Sunday. “We have made this decision [to postpone] after discussing with both teams. There is a political programme tomorrow [Sunday], so the local police will not be available for security cover,” BCB’s acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said.The first day’s play ended with the West Indies side on 13 for no loss after they bundled out Bangladesh A for 199 runs in the first innings in Mirpur. Left-arm fast bowler Sheldon Cotterrell was the most successful bowler with four wickets while Mominul Haque was the top-scorer with 50 off 80 balls.

Former West Indies offspinner, Lance Gibbs, believes that the West Indies need to build their current team around Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies batsman, if Test success is to come into the frame once more, as November’s India tour looms.Gibbs indicated that Chanderpaul’s experience and talent are the right ingredients to nourish younger batsmen such as Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo in the subcontinent. “Chanderpaul is one of our premier batsmen – the premier [one] actually,” Gibbs said. “We need to bat around him and mature these inexperienced players in his presence. That maturity is not there right now but, as with many teams, we all have our ups and downs, but now we need to turn that proverbial corner which everyone always speaks of, every time we do well.”He backed Darren Sammy as Test skipper but noted that for Dwayne Bravo to continue the strides of West Indies’ T20 world title last year, and in hopes of improving their results in the 50-over game, Bravo needs to improve as limited-overs skipper. “Dwayne tries to do too much. He needs to focus on certain areas and not try to do so much. We saw his death bowling exposed in the CPL, but I have faith in him as much as I know Sammy will deliver in India. The squad’s a good mix. Hungry and young too.”With the likes of Kirk Edwards and Narsingh Deonarine impressing during the present A team tour in India, Gibbs reiterated that there was a good blend of youth and experience in the Sammy-led 15-man squad, which also faces New Zealand in a hectic run-in to end 2013.”We haven’t played Tests in a while but the state of our cricket and Test team isn’t too bad. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were good to practice against in the last year, and we did improve. Each nation goes through these motions in the sport and we as a team need to move from strength to strength. Let’s play good cricket and get the fundamentals right. You can see a team like England and say they’re the best, but it’s only in the past few years they’ve stepped up so I’m confident in the Windies.”When asked if T20 cricket had hampered the progress and development of the region’s youngsters, and even star players such as Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, he said that players should play all disciplines. With the aforementioned players still to make Test waves in recent months, Gibbs added that he didn’t think the lore of Tests or romance of ODI cricket had dissipated. “It’s an evolution of the game. Test cricket is the ultimate, but we have to roll with the times for the sake of the crowds. T20 has given exciting cricket as seen in the IPL and CPL, but remember, Test cricket stands on its own.””We all start off in the Caribbean playing 10, 20 or 40-overs, then we develop our 50-over game, our county cricket and as first-class players. Things change and we can’t look back, only forward. Players make a living from this now and back in the day, footballers, cricketers, boxers and such were barely making money but now, all kinds of sports are lucrative once you have the talent.”He indicated that once the talismans of the sport gave back to the game, things would bode well. He referenced the CPL’s youngsters rubbing shoulders with various West Indies and international stars, which acted as a nursery to their learning and growth earlier this year. “CPL had stars from Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand come over so I think we’re well-prepped for what’s to come ahead.”West Indies will play two Tests and three ODIs, with the first Test match set to start on November 6.

ScorecardOwais Shah made valuable runs for Essex•Getty Images

It is not often that the first day of a four-day game begins and ends under floodlights. But Owais Shah didn’t seem to mind as he landed some telling blows for Essex on day where the September sun was second best.The artificial lights, which were restarted as the players walked off at 4:21pm, allowed us a prompt start yet failed to salvage the 19 overs left in the day, which Kent probably edged on points.Thanks to Shah, and Gautam Gambhir who has returned from India, the visitors lost only two wickets in the first session: a morning fraught with danger but navigated by experience.Inserted by Geraint Jones – standing in for James Tredwell, who is away on international duty – the combination of a chilly morning, a spicy track and artificial lighting was always likely to assist Kent’s bowlers.The third ball of the day popped on Jaik Mickleburgh for a simple catch to Daniel Bell-Drummond at forward short-leg. Eleven overs later, Darren Stevens nipped one away from Greg Smith, who nicked the ball to Adam Riley in the slips with only 19 on the board. But despite some probing spells – Mark Davies’ opening seven overs, which included five maidens and the wicket of Mickleburgh, went for just three runs – Shah and Gambhir left the ball with ease.There were a couple of missed opportunities. Jones made up good ground to give him an outside chance of clinging to a top-edge from Shah, on 7 at the time, but was unable to make up the ground fully with an impressive dive. An over later, Gambhir was out of the frame when crossed wires had him skipping out of his crease for a run that Shah had no intention of making. The throw from point was off target by a whisker if the reaction of the fielders was anything to go by.When Gambhir failed to make his hard work count, dropping his back knee to dispatch a beautiful looking drive off Charlie Shreck into the hands Brendan Nash at cover-point, something stirred within Shah.Having not scored a post-lunch run up to that point, he freed his arms to put the pressure on Kent’s bowlers, most notably Davies; a trio of fours in the 52nd over – one square, one over mid-on and one straight – taking the score past 100. He then brought up his fifty off 118 balls (his first of the season), with a sumptuous late-cut off the same bowler that contained all the elegances associated with the stroke, but with the added oomph that Shah generates from his dexterous wrists.Ben Foakes came to the crease at 117 for 4 – after Ryan ten Doeschate was lbw attempting to sweep to Riley’s very first ball – to assist Shah, as they scored at exactly three an over to ensure they made the most of the best batting conditions of the day. The morning of day two will be another test, but Shah, with over four hours at the crease under his belt, has shown he has enough game to thrive on this pitch. Foakes certainly has enough about him to do the same, and their survival could see some quick, valuable runs added before 110 overs are through.

Brendan Taylor has called upon his side’s senior players, particularly the batsmen, to “front up” and shoulder the responsibility in the final two matches of the series against India. Though their fielding has hardly been flawless, in all three games so far Zimbabwe’s batting, as a unit, has been the major disappointment.”We’re not trying to complicate things,” Taylor said before a nets session in Bulawayo. “We don’t want to dwell on things too much. We don’t want to put the players under too much pressure, but the fact is that we do need to turn up and put in better results.”Our bowlers haven’t done much wrong. They’ve been in good form and if we’d held our catches they would have had a lot more reward. They’ve been doing the right things. I think the batters need to back them up a little better, and certainly in the field we could be sharper.”Taylor himself hasn’t been blameless in Zimbabwe’s poor showing. With just 35 runs in three innings, he hasn’t given his team the runs they need. As Zimbabwe’s premier batsman and a vital cog in the middle order, totals are built around him and chases rely on his input.Taylor may fancy his chances of finding some form at Queens Sports Club, where he’s second only to Grant Flower in terms of runs scored. In 23 innings at the ground, Taylor has 799 runs at an average of 38.04 with a century and six fifties.”It has always been a very good batting surface and it has been harsh on the bowlers,” Taylor agreed, “but during the winter period, the morning session is crucial and bowlers have to try and capitalise then. You have to be batting at your best to get through that. I don’t want to take anything for granted, but if you do give yourself a good opportunity and give yourself a bit of time out there it certainly does get easier and you can certainly reap the rewards.”Time in the middle isn’t something any of Zimbabwe’s batsmen have had too much of recently. The team spent 10 weeks in a training camp to prepare for India’s visit, with a three-day game against Australia A their only serious match practice. Lack of fixtures is, of course, a perennial problem for Zimbabwe, and Taylor suggested that the current series and visits from Pakistan and Sri Lanka later this year represented vital opportunities for exposure and experience.”That’s something we’ve been crying out for for a long time and fortunately we’ve got India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a three-four month period, so that’s fantastic,” he said. “But we need to be touring more, we need to be playing a lot more.”We can’t ask for a better period than the one we have right now and we need to make sure that we turn up as individuals and as a team because the world’s watching, and we need to show the world that we’re a good enough side – and we are. But it’s time for individuals to step up. The senior players, the most experienced players, need to front up and make it happen.Despite the 3-0 scoreline, Taylor insisted that getting his troops motivated for the final two matches wouldn’t be a problem. “We know we’re up against a good side and we probably are expected to lose, but we know if we play our best cricket we can win.”We should have won the second one-dayer and we let that slip. We’re very lucky to have the job that we have, so motivation is not an issue. The guys are still working hard and trying to cover all bases pretty well. Tomorrow is just a new day and we’ll be up for it more than ever.”