Planet Morton

ZC have confirmed that Zimbabwe will host a triangular series with Sri Lanka and India after the World Twenty20. The series will be played between 26th May and 14th June, with both Harare Sports Club and Queens Sports Club hosting matches. The tri-series will be followed by a two-match Twenty20 series between Zimbabwe and India. Here's the schedule:

28 May 2010     Zimbabwe v India                Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
20 May 2010     India v Sri Lanka               Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
1 June 2010     Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka            Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
3 June 2010     Zimbabwe v India                Harare Sports Club
5 June 2010     India v Sri Lanka               Harare Sports Club
7 June 2010     Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka            Harare Sports Club
9 June 2010     Final                           Harare Sports Club

12 June 2010    Zimbabwe v India: 1st T20I      Harare Sports Club
12 June 2010    Zimbabwe v India: 2nd T20I      Harare Sports Club

If you could cause someone's death simply by writing their name in a book, what would you do with that power? That's the problem facing Light Yagami, as he comes into possession of a notebook belonging to a god of death. His solution is to go on a one-man crusade against crime, but not everyone's happy with his actions...

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• RT: @ProfBrianCox: #wonders out on DVD /Bluray on April 12th. <- Sold! #

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These matches took place a while back, so I'm not going to dig into the details, but the scorecards are only becoming available now. Posting what I have for the record - full scorecard below the cut.
Tuskers 183 (39.4 overs; Ngulube 40, Bukutu 4/45) & 206/5 decl (32 overs; Vermeulen 121, Sanyika 2/59), Mountaineers 106 (50.1 overs; Kasuza 40, Mamhiyo 4/22) & 21/2 (4.1 overs; Kasuza 7, Mamhiyo 1/8). Match Drawn.

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Elton Chigumbura seems to be headed to English county side Northamptonshire for the coming English season. Test Match Extra reports that Northants are in discussions with the player - the side need to bolster their squad after losing Johan van der Wath and Rhinos' Riki Wessels after changes to the Kolpak qualifying rules. If the deal goes through, Boom Boom would be the county's one registered overseas player for the County Championship and 40-over competitions.

UPDATE: ...and he's signed, according to Northants' website:

Elton Chigumbura joins for the entirety of the 2010 season as a seam bowling all-rounder. The 24-year-old has played in six test matches and over 100 One Day Internationals and T20 matches for Zimbabwe. The seamer has taken over 100 international wickets in all forms of the game, and regularly bowls at 85 miles per hour. Chigumbura has also scored over 2200 runs in One Day internationals, at an average of over 24.

Head coach David Capel said, "We are pleased to confirm that Elton will be joining us for the 2010 season. He is a talented young, athletic cricketer who has already played in over 100 ODI's for Zimbabwe. It is clear through watching him play against the West Indies recently, that he is an energetic, effervescent and enthusiastic cricketer, who is very keen to improve his game. I know that Elton sees this as a massive opportunity, and is looking forward to joining us as soon as possible."

Should be a good chance for Chigumbura to gain some good experience - good luck to him.
Test Match Extra - Sehwag signing a real coup for Northants | Northants Cricket - Double Signing to boost Steelbacks' ranks

Cricket New Zealand are reportedly looking to again reschedule their Future Tours Programme tour of Zimbabwe, originally scheduled for June 2009 before being initially moved to June 2010, citing "security and health" issues. Alternatively, they're prepared to play the series on neutral territory, according to their CEO Justin Vaughan:

"It is clear from our recent discussions that the government's assessment of the security situation in Zimbabwe has not changed from that of a year ago, when the scheduled tour was postponed. We have a possible window for the rescheduling of the tour next year [2011] in May/June. The other option is that we look at playing the scheduled tour in a neutral venue."

Zimbabwe & Zimbabwe XI are already slated to play Ireland and Scotland on neutral ground later this year for Intercontinental Cup matches and ODIs against Ireland, so there's precedent for this. I've already covered my thoughts on CNZ's approach to this issue in a previous article - I'll limit myself here to saying that they seem to have all the backbone of their emblem.
Cricinfo - New Zealand pull out of Zimbabwe tour

West Indies completed their series against Zimbabwe yesterday, taking the series 4-1 - but once again, Zimbabwe's spinners made sure the Windies had to work for their win, even when chasing a well below-par total after Zimbabwe's batting imploded once again. Having won the toss, West Indies put Zimbabwe in to bat, and were immediately in the wickets as Hamilton Masakadza went without scoring. He was the first of a procession of wickets, with Darren Sammy (3/33) leading the carnage - Zimbabwe were down to #6, Charles Coventry (56), before they found someone able to put down some roots, and by then the side's chances of posting a competitive total were long gone. Coventry's departure signalled the beginning of the end, and Zimbabwe were bowled out for 161 on the final ball of the innings.

That left the West Indies with what should have been a fairly straightforward chase, on paper, and the opening pair of Adrian Barath (16) and Chris Gayle (63) led the charge, with the Windies putting on 96 runs in 15.2 overs befoew Gayle finally departed. Zimbabwe's bowlers clearly weren't going to simply lie down, though, and when Gayle, Deonarine (3) and the Bravo brothers (14 & 0) fell in quick succession there was a glimmer of light for Zimbabwe. With Gayle's early onslaught having reduced the required rate to just over 2/over, though, Zimbabwe really needed to bowl the Windies out to secure a win - but the arrival of Kieron Pollard (36 from 22 balls) signalled the end of Zimbabwe's defiance, and the winning runs were knocked off in the 28th over.

Now, if that match report sounds vaguely familiar, it is: it's a copy'n'paste of what I wrote for the 4th ODI, with a few names & scores changed. In broad strokes, though, both the 4th and 5th matches followed the same, depressing script, and that's possible the most damning indictment of Zimbabwe's performance in yesterday's match: nothing appears to have been learnt. If Zimbabwe are truly planning to return to Test cricket before the end of this year, as David Houghton has indicated, then some serious soul-searching is required as to what went wrong with this series after Zimbabwe's stellar start. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 161 (50 overs; Coventry 56, Sammy 3/33), West Indies 165/6 (27.4 overs; Gayle 63, Utseya 2/41). West Indies win by 6 wickets.

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The Sunday Mail confirms that Douglas Hondo has been installed as player / coach of the Mashonaland Eagles following the early departure of Chris Silverwood. This puts to rest speculation that former national coach Walter Chawaguta would get the nod. Hondo takes on the post in a 'caretaker' role, as Silverwood is expected to return for the 2010/11 domestic season once his English county duties are out of the way, as confirmed by Eagles CEO Hugo Ribatika:

"We currently have a four-year contract with Chris Silverwood, which both parties are committed to honouring. That said, he has since been offered a coaching job by his former county side, Sussex, which he will lead during our off-season and later return when we begin ours later in August. In the meantime, he will continue to juggle between the two jobs. The experience and exposure he gets is going to benefit us. In the meantime, Hondo will take charge of the team for the remaining fixtures, which include the Logan Cup finals and one-day semi-finals."

Hondo takes charge of the side just in time for their appearance in the Logan Cup final.
Sunday Mail - Hondo takes charge

These matches took place a while back, so I'm not going to dig into the details, but the scorecards are only becoming available now. Posting what I have for the record - full scorecard below the cut.
Mountaineers 304/8 decl (75 overs; Ncube 99, Mushayi 3/41), Rocks 146/0 (40 overs; Maunze 68*, Kondo 67*). Match Drawn.

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These matches took place a while back, so I'm not going to dig into the details, but the scorecards are only becoming available now. Posting what I have for the record - full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 201/9 decl (67 overs; Mahunge 72, Tichana 5/54) & 152/6 (56 overs; Mahunga 76, Tichana 3/60), Eagles 243/8 decl (74 overs; Chinjoka 69, Madziya 2/38). Match Drawn.

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These matches took place a while back, so I'm not going to dig into the details, but the scorecards are only becoming available now. Posting what I have for the record - full scorecard below the cut.
Mountaineers 219 (71.2 overs; Nyauchi 41*, Munede 3/32) & 176 (57.3 overs; Maparura 54, Zhuwawo 3/24), Eagles 227 (63.5 overs; Manyumwa 53, Mujaji 4/56) & 131/5 (28 overs; Chinyoka 58*, Nyauchi 3/30). Match Drawn.

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I suspect this is accidental, so make the most of it while you can, but it appears that FUNimation's YouTube streams of both Baka & Test and Dance in the Vampire Bund are currently open to UK users - a notable change from the usual story there. Now's your change to legitimately see what all the Vampire Bund fuss is about, or confirm whether it really is true that everyone's gay for Hideyoshi. For ease of reference, here are direct links to the relevant channels: Baka & Test | Dance in the Vampire Bund. Enjoy.

MVM take a trip back to 1995 by bringing us the first UK release of the Slayers TV series. Now, very few long-time anime fans will deny that Slayers is a classic, but not all classics survive the passage of time with their appeal intact. Is this one of the few..?

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• Now that the missus is done with Dancing on Ice, #nowwatching #wonder of the Solar System. #

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• At Ikea, where Emi and her handpainting is featuring in their Easter advertising. o_O #fb #
• ...misses looking up and seeing the Southern Cross. After 22 years, I may be getting 'homesick'... #fb #

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