Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo
THE two-day Under-16 development cricket tournament that was hosted by the Bulawayo Metropolitan Cricket Association (BMCA) on Friday and Saturday at Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) was a good show for the growth of grassroots cricket in the city and country as whole.
The tournament saw four teams taking part with one coming from Kwekwe while three were Bulawayo sides. The four teams were BAC High Performance Centre, Kwekwe Development, Emakhandeni High Performance Centre and the Elton Chigumbura Academy.
Renowned development coach and one of the organisers of the tournament, Pollock Mubobo said the festival was good for the youngsters and was impressed with what he saw throughout the two days.
“The good thing is that these are mainly Form Twos and Threes and they learnt a lot from the four games that they played and there was a good final at the end with good scores. When we talk about Zimbabwe Cricket we talk about these tournaments, grassroots, when you get the basics right and we get our base right in terms of grassroots then we will not have any problem. This is why we are trying to groom players from a young age,” said Mubobo. He added that moving from the first day to the final there was a lot of improvement and believes they are doing well and going further with grassroots cricket. As part of their development strategy, Mubobo said more similar tournaments are on the cards with the latest scheduled for later in the month where two teams from Mutare are also expected to grace the fiesta.
The visiting coach from Kwekwe Development, Washington Nzira shared similar sentiments with Mubobo, stating that the tournament was good for his team who have been putting in the work.
“I think it was important because we always want to improve and we have been practicing so just to get time to also test our skills. It was really good for the boys but above all, just to have fun and give the kids a sporting chance. Such a tournament is very important because it gives the kids the opportunity to work on their skills at grassroots level and when they go up, they will become top cricketers, this is a foundation,” said Nzira.
In the final match played BAC emerged 57 runs winners over Kwekwe Development. BAC, batting first, scored 146/4 in 20 overs courtesy of a Nathan Mtuke 47 runs off 56 balls. The young Mtuke was run out with the last ball of their innings. Lwandle Moyo scored 26 runs from 31 balls while Pilate Ndlovu remained undefeated on 13 runs from 12 deliveries. Arnold Manhire and Dale Mlangeni took one wicket each for Kwekwe.
In their defence, BAC managed to take early wickets to restrict their opponents. Mtuke, once again put up a good performance with the ball, taking two wickets for eleven runs in two overs. Christine Mutasa and the skipper, Pollock Mubobo (Junior) also put-up match winning performances with the ball, taking two wickets apiece for 13 and 21 runs respectively in two and three overs. Ndlovu and Barrack Hakufiwi each took one scalp.
Emmanuel Magumise almost single handedly took the match away from BAC with a brilliant knock before Mutasa took a sublime catch to dismiss him on 41 runs from 23 balls as he top scored for Kwekwe. Tinotenda Rwauya scored 12 runs off nine deliveries as they were the only two batters to cross double figures for the visitors. — @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter