Queens and Harare Sports Clubs to get facelift ahead of World Cup

AS Zimbabwe prepares to host the 2027 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket World Cup, the country’s two traditional stadiums are set to get a face-lift.

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) Board Chairperson, Tavengwa Mukuhlani confirmed the development after am elective Annual General Meeting (AGM) where he was also retained as the country’s cricket boss.

Zimbabwe will co-host the global showpiece alongside South Africa and Namibia. Zimbabwe will be hosting the World Cup for the second time, having co-hosted the 2003 edition with South Africa as well.

The two stadiums, Queens and Harare Sports Club recently proved to be not large enough to accommodate many fans during the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers as some spectators had to be chased away from the venues and ZC took notice of that.

“We are going to refurbish Harare Sports Club and Queens Sports Club ahead of the World Cup. It has served its purpose and what we have seen with the last qualifiers is that the capacity is no longer there and also probably we need to look at the structure, we are two decades down the line, so is it still sufficiently fit to carry the fans.

“So that is happening, the board has already started looking at that, management has been mandated to start the works to make sure that the two stadiums are ready for the World Cup,” said Mukuhlani.

The two stadiums, Harare and Queens Sports Clubs are the two biggest cricket stadiums in the country and are regarded as some of international cricket’s loveliest venues with an old pavilion and surrounded by trees.

Prior to the 2027 World Cup, Zimbabwe will also host the 2026 Under-19 World Cup alongside Namibia and will be looking at having more stadiums suitable to host international matches. At the moment, the other two stadiums that have managed to host international cricket, apart from Queens and Harare Sports Clubs are Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) and Takashinga Cricket Club.

ZC is also hoping to develop more grounds all over the country to reach international level so that they are able to host high level international matches. Mukuhlani added that they are already looking at building a team for 2027.

“We will be sitting with stakeholders to come up with a roadmap to 2027. In that, it is underpinned by our development, what are we doing in schools, clubs, and what are we doing with our First Class? so that when we get to 2027, we have created a base in the selection pool that is able to compete,” said Mukuhlani. – @brandon_malvin