Zimbabwe Cricket to introduce fifth domestic franchise side

Zimbabwe Cricket will re-introduce a fifth domestic franchise side, according to former captain Alistair Campbell.

This was revealed during a pitch made for the 2019 class of his Alistair Campbell High Performance Programme.

He said:

In consultation with Zimbabwe Cricket in so far as dealing with their vision is concerned, well, both sides have decided that there will be a fifth side in Zimbabwe’s domestic cricket competition this year. And that fifth side will be made up of players from ACHPP. The participants in ACHPP will take part in First Class cricket in Zimbabwe this next season. Not only First Class, List A and the T20 cup.

They will also be fielding a team in the Harare Club League according to their website.

Former Zimbabwe bowler Gary Brent is mentioned as the head coach, Keegan Cooke in strength and conditioning, Neil Manthorpe in as far as media training and life skills with Dr Matt Mbanga dealing with leadership. Other sports are Joel Muzeya as Manager and much-traveled fielding coach Ryan Maron as a specialist

The last time we had a fifth side was the season before last when Tatenda Taibu’s Rising Stars Academy won the Pro50 Championship. That was discontinued for the 2018-2019 season as Rising Stars Academy was not able to take another class in.

Zimbabwe Cricket were not available to provide us with any details on the new side.