Maposa ecstatic about his performance

THE prospect of making a name in a tournament that has many stars is a daunting task for anyone let alone a rookie finding his feet in the gentleman’s game, yet Tinotenda Maposa had the cricketing world on his feet following the inaugural Zim Cyber City Zim Afro T10 tournament.

Maposa (19), announced himself on the big stage scooping the Emerging Player of the Tournament to punctuate his fine displays for the Harare Hurricanes in the recently ended Zim Afro T10 tournament.

It seemed like the perfectly orchestrated introduction to the cricket scene with the young prodigy not taking any time to acclimatise to the big stage bagging three wickets in the tournament.

His finest moment for the Harare Hurricanes came in the first game of the tournament managing to claim two wickets in quick succession.

His first wicket came from a full toss ball which Ashton Turner tried to cleverly play leading to the simplest of catches by the wicket keeper former India international Robin Uthappa.

Buoyed by his first wicket, his second wicket was the most impressive one, sending the middle stump flying bowling out Ryan Burl for a duck. He went on to grab his third wicket later in the tournament against the Durban Qalandars.

Tinotenda hasn’t had much time to process what has just unfolded in his career, his week has been nothing but a bliss, the limelight overwhelmingly hovering over him.

“This has been a really hectic week for me, my phone hasn’t stopped buzzing and my family is really happy for me. I have been getting loads of friend requests on my Instagram and Facebook as people are trying to really get to know me now,” says Tinotenda.

Like quite a few other rookie players, Tinotenda got picked for the T10 tournament after impressing in the walk in trials conducted a week before.

Every young talent from the cricketing scene in the country dreamt of the opportunity to be part of the Zim Afro T10 tournament and he managed to earn one of the five slots availed to players aged between 18-25 years.

It was in those walk-in trials that Tinotenda sent his warning shots teaming up with his older brother Tawanda Maposa to propel Bulawayo’s development side to glory at Takashinga Cricket Club.

“It was an amazing feeling to be selected as one of the five youngsters to make it to the tournament, it was actually my dream to play in the Zim AfroT10 and as such it was a dream come true,” Tinotenda said.

The breakthrough of Tino represents an extra ordinary story of passion, the sort of family tale that is inspiring in its own way. Coming from Luveve suburb, cricket isn’t a sport many a kid play on the L-Street, it is a less popular sport if anything.

However, cricket happens to be the most popular sport in the Maposa household with Tino’s older brother and younger sister playing cricket which creates the impression the sport runs in the family.

“The cricket dream I can say we took it from our older brother Tafadzwa even though he didn’t pursue it to a professional career. My other brother Panashe pursued it to professional level and I took it from him.

Despite not having a cricketing past, our father has been supportive enough to know about his children’s own love for the game and now my young sister has picked up the sport,” said Tino.

He said his sister is in the national Under-19 team and also plays for the provincial team.

To those following developmental cricket quite closely, the Maposa children’s involvement in the gentleman’s game, brings into memory some of the country’s yesteryear sports stars like the Ndlovu brothers, the Black brothers or more closely to the cricket fanatics the “Flower Power” of Grant Flower and Andy Flower.

Tinotenda’s performances didn’t go unnoticed by his Matabeleland Tuskers club assistant coach, Thabo Mboyi, who was keeping a close eye on him during the T10 tournament.

“I followed every game he played and it was no surprise to me the way he displayed his talent, it was just a matter of time for him to be exposed and show everyone what he is capable of,“ said Mboyi.

“He’s most definitely going far considering that he comes from a well-mannered family and he’s a hard working lad always looking to improve his game and the more he plays such games at a higher level the more he becomes the future of cricket in Zimbabwe.”

The experience gave the rookie the exposure he needs to excel in future as such rubbing shoulders with some of the game’s biggest names might be just what the doctor ordered for him.

“This was really a big deal for me, the elite players like Eion Morgan, Robin Uthappa and others actually taught me quite a few stuffs and that’s something that will help me because they are really experienced,” Tinotenda said.

The Zim Afro T10 tournament in its infancy may have given birth to a future Chevrons star.