ZIMBABWE: Ozias Bvute, Zimbabwe cricket's CEO, has denied rumours of unrest within some of the new franchises recently established as a result of a general restructuring of the domestic game inside the country.

"The entire franchise system is entirely new to Zimbabwe and, as with all things that are new, there is always resistance or unease," he told Cricinfo. "But this is never to say that the change is not good. "We believe in the franchise system and what it will achieve."

Bvute also dismissed suggestions that ZC had closed regional offices and changed the locks. "It's a ZC security policy to change the locks whenever there are staff changes. We are in the process of redeploying staff to the five franchises and there are many movements. This policy was set in place following a string of thefts at the offices. No offices were closed outside the normal requirements of business working hours.

"A circular was sent to all employees informing them that there would be a re-deployment exercise and we regularly update staff about the status of the transition to franchise through the internal company newsletter."

The new five-team first-class competition is scheduled to start at the end of August. The five new franchise heads were appointed by ZC last month.