The Zimbabwean Domestic Twenty20, formerly known as the Stanbic Bank Twenty20 and the Metropolitan Bank Twenty20, is the domestic men's Twenty20 cricket competition in Zimbabwe. It was first played in 2006–07 and is organised by Zimbabwe Cricket.
The profile of the tournament grew after the reorganisation of cricket in Zimbabwe ahead of the 2009–10 season.
History A domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament was first contested in the 2006–07 Metropolitan Bank Twenty20 competition. The tournament has previously been known as the Metropolitan Bank Twenty20, the Stanbic Bank Twenty20, and the Domestic Twenty20 Competition.
Teams + Current teams Team City Home ground(s)Mountaineers Mutare, Manicaland Mutare Sports ClubMashonaland Eagles Harare, Mashonaland Harare Sports ClubMid West Rhinos Kwekwe, Midlands Kwekwe Sports Club Matabeleland Tuskers Bulawayo, Matabeleland Queens Sports ClubSouthern Rocks Masvingo Masvingo Sports Club
Former teams Northerns Easterns Southerns Westerns Centrals Durham
Tournament results +SeasonWinnersRunners-upTeams 2006–07Metropolitan Bank Twenty20, Brendan Taylor. Retrieved 18 November 2023 Southerns Easterns5 2007–08Metropolitan Bank Twenty20 2007–08, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Easterns Westerns5 2008–09Metropolitan Bank Twenty20 2009, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Westerns Northerns4 2009–10Stanbic Bank Twenty20 2009–10, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Mountaineers Mashonaland Eagles62010–11Stanbic Bank Twenty20 2010–11, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Mashonaland Eagles Mid West Rhinos5 2011–12Stanbic Bank Twenty20 2011–12, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Mountaineers Mashonaland Eagles5 2012–13Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2012–13, CricInfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.Zimbabwe Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2012–13, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Mountaineers Mashonaland Eagles52013–14Zimbabwe Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2013–14, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Cancelled2014–15 Not held 2015–16Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2016, CricInfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.Zimbabwe Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2015–16, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Mashonaland Eagles Mountaineers42016–17Not held2017–18Not held 2018–19Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2019, CricInfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.Zimbabwe Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2018–19, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Matabeleland Tuskers Mountaineers42020–21Zimbabwe Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2021, CricInfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.Zimbabwe Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2020–21, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Matabeleland TuskersMashonaland Eagles52021–22Zimbabwe Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2022, CricInfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.Provincial Twenty20 Competition 2021–22, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Mashonaland EaglesMountaineers52022–23Zimbabwe Domestic Twenty20 Competition 2023, CricInfo. Retrieved 18 November 2023.Provincial Twenty20 Competition 2022–23, CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 November 2023. Mashonaland EaglesMid West Rhinos62024 Durham Mashonaland Eagles62025 Mid West Rhinos Mashonaland Eagles52025–26 5
Tournament history
2006–07 season Winner: Southerns Runner-up: Easterns Dates: 30 March 2007 – 1 April 2007
The tournament took place in Mutare.2006/07 Metropolitan Bank Twenty20 BRMTaylor. Retrieved 5 December 2011
2007–08 season Winner: Easterns Runner-up: Westerns Dates: 19 March 2008 – 21 March 2008 Official Website: Metropolitan Bank Twenty20 2007/08 at ESPNCricinfo Main Article: 2007–08 Metropolitan Bank Twenty20
The 2008 season was held between 19 and 21 March 2008.
Hamilton Masakadza was named the Man of the Match and the Man of the Tournament.Easterns maintain domestic strangehold ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
After the tournament, Steven Price wrote on Cricinfo from Harare that the poor standards of cricket had blighted Zimbabwe's Twenty20 domestic competition.Poor standards blight Zimbabwe Twenty20 ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
2008–09 season Champions: Westerns Runners-up: Northerns Dates: 13 May 2009 – 16 May 2009 Official Website: Metropolitan Bank Twenty20 2009 on ESPNCricinfo In the final, Western's victory was largely possible due to the efforts of spinner Mbekezeli Mabuza who took enthralling figures of 5/14. After Westerns had been bowled out for 116 mostly by Trevor Garwe (who was also the leading wicket-taker in this tournament) who took 4–23, Mbekezeli, along with Njabulo Ncube (who provided the key strike) dismantled the Northerns batting line-up to bring victory to their team by four runs.Mabuza spins Westerns to Twenty20 victory ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
2009–10 season Winner: Mountaineers Runners-up: Mashonaland Eagles Official Website: 2009/10 Stanbic Bank 20 Series on ESPNCricinfo Main Article: 2009–10 Stanbic Bank 20 Series The tournament was renamed as the Stanbic Bank 20 Series. Stanbic Bank (Uganda) Limited was the new sponsors.Stanbic T20 tourney launched HMetro. Retrieved 6 December 2011 This was after the reorganization of Zimbabwean cricket and as a result, new franchises started taking part in the competition. They are Mashonaland Eagles (formerly Northerns), Southern Rocks (formerly Southerns), Mountaineers (formerly Easterns), Matabeleland Tuskers (formerly Westerns), and Mid West Rhinos (formerly Centrals).Zimbabwe rips up domestic structure and starts again ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011 In addition, the Desert Vipers also participated as a sixth team. Craig Williams captained the team.Desert Vipers Squad, Stanbic Bank 20 Series, 2009/10 ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
Mountaineers was easily the strongest team in the tournament final, but they were quite shaky in the group stage. Among the 5 matches they played, they won 3 and lost 2. Stronger than them was Mashonaland Eagles, who had finished first in the pool."Stanbic Bank 20 Series 2009/10 Points Table" ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011 Particularly effective against them was Eagle's bowler Ray Price who downed them by 82 runs at Harare taking remarkable figures of 5/12 in just 17 deliveries finishing off the game by the stumping of Natsai Mushangwe.Ray Price downs Mountaineers ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
Mountaineers, however, brought their "A" game to the final. They put their disaster of the previous morning by beating their heavily favored opponents by a massive nine wickets. After bowling out their vaunted opponents for just 105 with Greg Smith taking 3/11 and Prosper Utseya 3/24, they cruised to the target as renowned internationals and former schoolmates Hamilton Masakadza (64*) and Tatenda Taibu (37*) took their team to the inaugural Stanbic Bank 20 Series title.All-round Mountaineers scale Twenty20 peak ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
Despite all this, perhaps the most mind-blowing was Desert Vipers's performance. Coming into the tournament from the minnow cricketing nation of Namibia, nobody had much expectations on Namibia. However, they exceeded all expectations to finish third first in the group stage, then defeating the much more vaunted Matabeleland Tuskers (who won the tournament just a season back in 2008–09 as Westerns) by 31 runs. After the Vipers were restricted to 126/7 (despite Raymond van Schoor scoring 46), with Christopher Mpofu taking 2/26, Tuskers were bowled out for 91 (Tawanda Mupariwa's 31 proved to be the highest score of the innings), with Louis Klazinga taking 2/13 and Dirk Viljoen 2/14.Inspired Vipers take third place ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
There was also another record set during the final. The final at Harare Sports Club between the Mountaineers and Eagles attracted an audience of 7500, which is the biggest attendance ever for a domestic match in living memory. As a result, Zimbabwe Cricket officially expressed its delight at the record turn-outs.Zimbabwe board delighted with record turnout ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
A number of former players and overseas players were contracted by the franchises specifically for the tournament. Anthony Ireland and Ian Harvey appeared for the Southern Rocks, Dougie Marillier for Mash Eagles, Andy Blignaut for Matabeleland Tuskers, Greg Smith for the Mountaineers and Darren Stevens and Ollie Rayner for Kwekwe's MidWest Rhinos.Ollie Rayner heads to Zimbabwe for Twenty20 ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011Ian Harvey hopes use Twenty20 experience ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011 So successful was this edition that a second edition was staged in November that same year.
2010–11 season Champions: Mashonaland Eagles Runners-up: Mid West Rhinos Official Website: 2010/11 Stanbic Bank 20 Series at ESPNCricinfo Main Article: 2010–11 Stanbic Bank 20 Series The tournament was staged in November 2010 following the success of the previous tournament in February. This edition of the tournament started with a bang. In a bid to win the tournament, Southern Rocks signed both former West Indian legend Brian Lara (who holds the record for the highest ever Test cricket score of 400*), and a former English deadly fast bowler named Ryan Sidebottom. This not only raised the standard of cricket played in the tournament, but increased its profile to the rest of the cricketing world.Rocks sign Lara, Sidebottom for T20 ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011 A number of other players were also attracted in the tournament, for example, Netherlands and Essex all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate, Nick Compton, Liam Dawson, Andrew Hall, Paul Horton, and Lou Vincent. Grant Flower also made his comeback to playing competitive matches in Zimbabwe, as captain of Mashonaland Eagles.
Lara's presence was immense, and he scored a half-century on his Twenty20 debut, top-scoring with 65 for the Rocks and then scored a further 34 runs from 2 innings before he left, citing "commitments elsewhere".Player Profile:Brian Lara ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 6 December 2011The top ten shock second comings ESPN. Retrieved 6 December 2011 The Rocks eventually finished third due to brilliant performances by their young opener Sikandar Raza, who was turning into a T20 specialist. Eventual champions Mashonaland Eagles was the strongest by finishing at the top of the pool. The previous year's champions, Mountaineers finished bottom of the lot, thus getting out of contention for the title.Stanbic Bank 20 Series 2010/11 Points table ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
In the 1st Semi-Final, eventual champions Eagles held their nerves to secure a place in the Stanbic Bank 20 Final. After bowling out opponents Matabeleland Tuskers for 70, they themselves were in a position of being bowled out for lower than that, as the last-wicket pair of Ray Price and Douglas Hondo coming in with six still required, and hit the winning runs.Eagles and Rhinos into final ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011
In the third-place playoff, the Tuskers defeated the Rocks by a massive nine-wickets with Charles Coventry leading the way with 67* off 40 balls, and shared a 126-run partnership with Paul Horton who scored a half-century (56*) of his own. Victory was achieved with 10 balls spare.Coventry guides nine-wicket win ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2011