Rhinos to host Botswana teams

The teams will arrive in the country on April 4 and will play for three con­secutive days until April 7.
Zimbabwean fran­chises hosted SADC junior teams last year.
Matabeleland Tuskers hosted Botswana junior teams in Bulawayo, Mashonaland Eagles hosted a Zam­bian Acad­emy in Bindura and there are plans to have a regional team visit­ing the Mountaineers in Mutare.
Zimbabwe Cricket’s Head of Game Develop­ment and Training, Titus Zvo­muya, said such tours were impor­tant in the development of junior crick­eters.
Two weeks ago Zvo­muya hailed Edward Rainsford and the Mid­West Rhinos for hosting a successful under-19 club tournament in Kadoma.
“It is a very important development in our programme, we want to see franchises playing a pivotal role in as far as the production of players are concerned at that level.
“The more interna­tional teams com­ing to play against our fran­chises the better for the development of our local players,” he said.
He said Zimbabwe Cricket had a big role to play in helping associate nations in developing their payers at various age groups. “We [Zimbabwe] also have to take part as a Test playing nation and make sure that we develop other countries that are associate mem­bers of the ICC because it’s one our major roles as a Test playing coun­try.”
The tournament will get underway in Kwekwe before moving to Kadoma and end in Kwekwe, with ladies play­ing the final match.