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Ngoni Dapira Sports Correspondent
MANICALAND’s domestic cricket franchise team, Mountaineers, will not be relocated anywhere, a Zimbabwe Cricket official has said.
The verification comes after local cricket enthusiasts who were concerned about the future of franchise cricket in Manicaland started quizzing the recent moving of all Mountaineers Logan Cup fixtures to Harare.
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.
ZC director for development and domestic cricket, Givemore Makoni, dismissed the speculation and said the Mountain Goats would not be shifting their base.
He added that the decision to move the four-day Logan Cup matches was logistical and temporary until the end of the season.
“The decision to move the Logan Cup was simply strategic to address issues concerning the quality of our wickets following the problem we had with our borehole for the past nine months. The borehole is, however, now up and running so we are confident next season that the Logan Cup fixtures will be back in Mutare. “The viewpoint of relocating was that if franchise cricket must be played in Mutare, then it must be quality cricket and the wicket must be standard. But with the borehole down, the wicket standards had been compromised, especially for the Logan Cup matches,” said Makoni.
He added that the second concern was the high accommodation costs incurred when hosting matches given the large number of Harare based first –class players in the Mountaineers squad.
Makoni said the majority of first class cricketers in Mountaineers were Harare based, while only four players hailed from Mutare namely Tendai Chatara, Donald Tiripano, Kevin Kasuza and Kudzai Sauramba.
He said juniors with no test cricket or international experience constituted the bulk of Mutare based players, but they would only get ZC contracts once they earned their stripes.
Makoni added that some players like Tino Mawoyo in the squad had since relocated to Harare and were considered under Harare based players.
“The bulk of first class cricketers are Harare based which adds to accommodation the costs each time a game is hosted. The Logan Cup which is four days is the most taxing in expenditure.
“This is, however, an issue we are already addressing and we intend to come up with a solution by next season. But otherwise, all said, cricket has to be played in all provinces countrywide, a valid reason alone that explains why we intend to keep the Mountaineers franchise in Mutare,” said the ZC director for development and domestic cricket.
In 2014, ZC abruptly cut the number of franchises from five to four and dissolved the Masvingo franchise, Southern Rocks, as a cost cutting measure.
The cost cutting measures also reduced the number of cricketers on ZC contracts.
It was because of that previous happening that Mountaineers fans began to sound alarms on the relocation development.
Since the inception of domestic franchise cricket in 2009, Mountaineers had been using Mutare Sports Club as their official home venue.
Online Reporter