The exodus from Zimbabwe cricket continues unabated with the news that the former national captain Brian Murphy has left the country to take up a post coaching and playing cricket at the University of Cape Town

The cricket community in Harare was shocked by the death in a road accident of Brian Wishart, father of the current Test player Craig, on July 26, 2003

Manicaland coasted to what was in the end a straight-forward ninewicket victory over Midlands at Mutare Sports Club, wrapping up the match before lunch on the fourth and final day

Mashonaland completed their anticipated victory over Matabeleland in mid-afternoon on the fourth and final day of the match

A magnificent maiden century by Raymond Price enabled Midlands, who had looked doomed to an innings defeat after the second day's play, to stage a remarkable fightback against Manicaland

Mashonaland, after conceding a first-innings lead of 19 to Matabeleland, followed this up with their usual trick

After the run-feast on the first day at the Mutare Sports Club, the bowlers had their day on Day Two, with 20 wickets falling compared to four yesterday

As expected, Mashonaland used the third day to recover from a regular first-innings aberration and turn the screws on the hapless Matabeleland team

Grant Flower, who broke his thumb during a Logan Cup match last weekend, has been ruled out of Zimbabwe's forthcoming tour to Australia

Mluleki Nkala cracked an unbeaten century, his second in first-class cricket, and Heath Streak scored his fourth first-class hundred as Matabeleland raced to a commanding total on the third day of their Logan Cup clash against Midlands at Queens

Manicaland's dreams of inflicting a defeat on Mashonaland for the first time in eight years receded during the third day's play, as they allowed Andy Blignaut and Douglas Hondo to add 237 for the eighth-wicket, a new Zimbabwean record

Manicaland 523 (Gripper 234) and 288 for 8 decl

Manicaland, after scoring 523, put themselves into a strong position to inflict the first defeat on Mashonaland in first-class cricket for eight years, reducing them to 186 for 5 at the close of second day with Grant Flower unable to bat

The drain of experienced players from Zimbabwean cricket has continued with the retirement of the former left-hand opener, Gavin Rennie

Trevor Gripper demonstrated his eagerness to tour Australia with a dedicated century, as Manicaland dominated the first day of their match against Mashonaland at the picturesque Mutare Sports Club

Zimbabwe face one of their busiest seasons ever

Part of the job of a national coach today is what is now known in political circles as spin

Zimbabwe suffered an unhappy but rather predictable end to their tour with a seven-wicket loss to South Africa at Southampton

It was too much to expect Zimbabwe to repeat their upset victory of Thursday over England, but at least they put up a very creditable performance against South Africa, going down in the end by 46 runs

It was a major upset, and all thanks to the magnificence of Grant Flower, who finally donned the mantle of his brother Andy to lead Zimbabwe to a totally unexpected victory over England on a deceitful pitch at Trent Bridge