HARARE, Aug 27: Zimbabwe Cricket has announced a revised domestic cricket structure that will see five national select sides play in a national first-class competition beginning next season.

The competition will retain the Logan Cup name, but that the traditional provinces — Mashonaland, Matabeleland etc — will no longer compete.

Instead, five new sides — the national team, Zimbabwe ‘A’, a Board XI, Zimbabwe Development and the National Academy — will take part.

At a meeting on Friday, ZC said the objective of the new national league format was “to create a professional, well organised and competitive domestic league that is free from individual politics”.

“It is against this background that a workshop on structure development is required before the onset of the 2006-07 season.”

ZC came under intense fire after it failed to stage the Logan Cup in 2005-06. At the time a spokesman insisted that it had merely been postponed and that the seasons had been rejigged.
—Agencies