adminLovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
THE Midlands Cricket Board needs at least $250,000 to rehabilitate Gweru Sports Club, a senior sports administrator has said.
It has been in a deplorable state due to years of neglect and this has left the Midlands capital with no cricket pitch.This has forced Midlands Cricket League sides, Gweru Cricket Club and Mkoba Cricket Club to play their home games away at alternative venues such as Kwekwe Queens Sports Club or Kwekwe Sports Club.
MCB chairman Fred Kapuya said his board has embarked on a fundraising drive so that the cricket pitch can be rehabilitated.
He said: “Plans are underway to rehabilitate the Gweru Sports Club pitch which has been lying idle for the past decade or so. We have lined up fundraising activities for the project. We are also hoping that Zimbabwe Cricket will soon secure funding and once that happens the cricket field will be allocated funds under the provincial grants.
“We feel as a board we are not doing enough to promote and nurture cricket talent in Gweru which is the hub of the province. Kwekwe and Redcliff have all along been churning good cricket players because they have the facilities. We now want to see Gweru doing the same,” he said.
Kapuya said the project is expected to take about six months if adequate funding is secured.
MCB once embarked on the rehabilitation exercise of the pitch in 2007 but was forced to abandon the project due to the hyper inflationary environment at the time.
Online Reporter