adminNgoni Dapira Sports Correspondent
THE recently announced relocation of all Mountaineers Logan Cup fixtures to Harare has raised eyebrows on the future of franchise cricket in Manicaland.
Last week, Zimbabwe Cricket director for development and domestic cricket, Givemore Makoni announced the move which will relocate all the four-day Logan Cup fixtures to Harare commencing this week, with the fixture pitting the Mutare side against Mashonaland Eagles that set off on Tuesday expected to end today (Friday).
Mountaineers will now be only playing the One-Day Pro50 Championship fixtures in Mutare, while the Logan Cup fixtures will be rotated at Country Club, Old Hararians and Takashinga in Harare.
Since the inception of domestic franchise cricket in 2009, Mountaineers had been using Mutare Sports Club as their official home venue.
Although Makoni said the changes were due to maintenance work at the Mutare ground, sources reveal that it is part of Zimbabwe Cricket’s cost cutting measures after taking into consideration that most of the Mountaineers players were Harare based.
“Mountaineers will now play One-Day games in Mutare and Four-Day games in Harare for the rest of the season. We are in the process of upgrading their wickets (Mutare Sports Club). We will review after the season,” said Makoni in an interview with H-Metro last week.
Makoni could not be contacted for further comments on Wednesday by time of going to Press as he was away on official business in South Africa with the national Under-18 cricket side.
Mountaineers coach, Shepherd Makunura, confirmed that the majority of the players in the franchise were Harare based, while only four players hailed from Mutare, namely Tendai Chatara, Donald Tiripano, Kevin Kasuza and Kudzai Sauramba.
Makunura, however, said he hoped that the recent developments would not take away franchise cricket from Manicaland.
“It will be sad if the recent developments result in the permanently relocating of the Manicaland franchise to Harare at end of the season. This will deprive Manicaland of first class cricket and also affect development of the sport in the region, given that upcoming players will not have a franchise to play for and have to go to other provinces for opportunities,” said Makunura.
In 2014, despite initially refuting rumours about cost cutting intentions, ZC cut the number of franchises from five to four and dissolved the Masvingo franchise, Southern Rocks, as cost cutting measures. The cost cutting measures even reduced the number of cricketers on contract.
These are the same fears that Mountaineers fans in Mutare have.
Mountaineers fan, Haris Shonhi, said ZC had always been deceitful in its intentions.
“You will hear ZC announcing at end of the season that the team will be relocated. They operate discretely. We hope this will not be the case as we had been attached to our team,” said Shonhi.
On the other hand, the Pro50 Championship between Mountaineers and the defending champions, Eagles played in Mutare was washed off by the rains last Saturday. Both teams shared the points, with each team getting two-points.
In the other match, Matabeleland Tuskers won their match against MidWest Rhinos by five runs.
Online Reporter