adminNgoni Dapira Sports Correspondent
MUTARE’s domestic cricket franchise, Mountaineers, said they were more than ready to defend their Twenty20 title in the Zimbabwe Cricket domestic T20 tournament final slated for today (Friday) in Bulawayo.
The Mountain Goats secured a place in the final on Wednesday after consecutive wins against MidWest Rhinos and Matabeleland Tuskers on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
The domestic T20 tournament that started on Tuesday had been last played in the 2012-13 season.
Mountaineers have the most T20 trophies, having won the competition thrice followed by rivals, Eagles that won the tournament once.
Mountaineers coach, Shepherd Makunura on Wednesday said that he was confident they would deliver in the final as the side was improving with each game.
“I have strong opening batsmen like Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda who are both in top form at the moment. I am confident we will defend our T20 title,” said Makunura.
The newly appointed Zimbabwe national team captain, Hamilton Masakadza, currently sitting on number eight on the ICC’s T20 batting rankings, throughout the tournament stamped his authority on the field demonstrating why he is the country’s best batsman in the short format game.
Makunura added that the tournament had also been good exposure for a lot of upcoming players who were eyeing for a chance to be selected in the national squad for the ICC World T20 being hosted by India next month from March 8 to April 3.
ZC director for development and domestic cricket, Givemore Makoni, added that the tournament was being used to scout for the pool of players to be called up for training for the approaching ICC World T20, giving budding players an opportunity to prove themselves to selectors.
“A lot of criticism has been on poor scouting to tap potential talent. The T20 domestic tournament gave domestic players equal opportunity to prove their mettle in front of selectors and all the coaches,” said Makoni.
The idea of the tournament comes on the backdrop of poor performance by the Chevrons in Afghanistan and in Bangladesh, which saw the national side being heavily criticised ahead of the international tournament next month.
Online Reporter