JUST IN: Zim duo in women’s global cricket development side

Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter

TWO members of the Zimbabwean national women’s cricket team, Chipo Tiripano and Modester Mupachikwa have been chosen into the Women’s Global Development Squad that will play in the run-up to the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia.

Mupachikwa and Tiripano, who left the country on Tuesday and have arrived in Australia took up two of the 12 international places availed by the International Cricket Council to high-performing players from outside the ICC Women’s Championship.

The 26-year old Tiripano is the Zimbabwe women’s national team captain. She is a left-handed top-order batter who has played 15 One Day and 25 Twenty20 matches on the international stage, scoring four and five half-centuries in the respective formats.

A talented wicket-keeper who also bats, the 21-year-old Mupachikwa has featured in 15 One Day matches for Zimbabwe, scoring four half-centuries since making her international debut against Japan in 2011. She also has four fifties to her name in her 19 T20 games with the national side.

Zimbabwe Cricket acting managing director Givemore Makoni has hailed the selection of the two players for the WGDS programme, which will consist of a minimum of five T20 matches against Women’s Big Bash League clubs from 19-23 November in Sydney, Australia.

“We are pleased to have two of our key players taking part in the global development initiative which will provide them with invaluable experience as they will get to play with and against some of the game’s best players in the run-up to one of the world’s biggest tournaments,” Makoni said.

The ICC says the WGDS programme will give participating players and coaches the chance to learn from each other, test their skills against world-class teams and experience new training environments and cultures.

Women’s Global Development Squad

Chipo Tiripano, Modester Mupachikwa (both Zimbabwe), Nannapat Koncharoenkrai, Nattakan Chantham, Nattaya Boochatham (all Thailand), Ravini Oa, Veru Frank, Kaia Arua (all PNG), Sterre Kalis (Netherlands), Priyanaz Chatterji (Scotland), Selina Solman (Vanuatu), Mikayla Hinkley (local selection, Australia).

Head Coach, Steven Knox