adminRicky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
MAGWEGWE High School will be out to defend their Edgars Shield T20 boys’ title when they battle it out with at least six schools at a Tigers Cricket Academy organised tournament set for Magwegwe Primary in Bulawayo this weekend.
The schools’ cricket tournament starts today and ends on Sunday.
Tawanda Muchechete, founder and chief executive officer of Tigers Cricket Academy which was formed in 2013 said four teams, defending champions Magwegwe, Lobengula, Sizane and Mzilikazi have confirmed participation and are waiting for four others.
Schools which are expected to make late registrations this morning are Ihlathi, Founders, Hamilton and Gifford.
Muchechete said today’s tournament is part of his academy’s plans to identify and develop talent with the hope of producing future stars.
“Tigers Cricket Academy aims to take young people off the streets, fight crime, promote and introduce the sport in the high-density suburbs. We also intend to promote cricket talent at grassroots level by identifying, grooming, and see it filtering into our senior team, provincial teams,
Zimbabwe cricket franchise structure and national teams at various age groups.
“We identify natural talent at a tender age and expose players to modern coaching techniques and introduce cricket to non-cricket playing schools.
We are mainly concentrating on identifying and empowering talent from western township schools, grooming all-round cricketers. We want to prove to the world that neglected youngsters can contribute to the success of the country at cricket. We have realised talent is abundant and we only need to exploit it fully,” said Muchechete.
He said aspiring cricketers from the western suburbs should draw inspiration from national team pace bowler, Christopher Mpofu who rose from the dusty Magwegwe streets to become a core member of the national team.
Meanwhile, Muchechete said they have lined up individual prizes for the Best Player of the Tournament, Best Bowler, Best Batsman, Best Fielder and the Best Wicketkeeper. Winners of individual accolades will get a miniature trophy and $10.
The winners of the tournament will get a shield.
Online Reporter