Muyeye impresses in England

ZIMBABWE-born and England-based youngster, Tawanda Muyeye has continued making a name for himself on the cricket field after earning his maiden The Hundred contract for the forthcoming edition of the tournament.

The 22-year-old right-handed batter who plays for Kent County Cricket Club in England was picked by the Oval Invincibles in the Men’s Vitality Wildcard Draft and will make his debut appearance in the 100-ball cricket competition.

This will be the third edition of The Hundred and will take place from August 1 to 27 2023. Muyeye, who has a career T20 strike rate of 138.80 and three half centuries will join his Kent teammates, Sam Billings and Jordan Cox at the Oval for the hundred-ball tournament.

The Harare-born youngster is one of the exciting talents in the world at the moment and is likely to turn out for England after reports that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will push to have him play for them soon.

According to an English publication, the Daily Mail, Muyeye has been identified as one for the future. He is believed to be one of the players who best fits in England’s Test side and this comes after he notched up his maiden First-Class century where he made 179 runs from 205 balls in Kent’s innings win over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

“However, the ECB have been working on his case in conjunction with Kent’s director of cricket Paul Downton in the hope that they can bring forward that date, after England team director Rob Key and performance director Mo Bobat identified the attacking player as a future international.

“Muyeye is in a group of young batters also including Surrey’s Jamie Smith that the selectors believe suit the Test team’s policy of putting pressure on opposition bowling attacks with assertive stroke play,” the Daily Mail reported.

The Zimbabwean talent came into the spotlight a couple of years back after he was named the Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year for 2019. He joined an elite group of cricketers such as Jonny Bairstow, James Taylor and Jos Buttler who have all won the prestigious awards.

Muyeye made one of only two double-centuries in schools cricket in 2018. He finished with 1,112 runs at an average of 69.50 for the season, the third-most in the country. The Hundred, where he will be playing in August is a league founded and run by the ECB and was first played in 2021 and features eight teams (men and women. The competition is 100 balls per innings and “there are no overs.”

Bowlers can deliver either five or 10 consecutive balls, however, each bowler can bowl a maximum of 20 deliveries per match. There is a 25 ball powerplay for each team and the match is supposed to last two-and-a-half hours. – @brandon_malvin