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Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter
THE first bowl at the Heath Streak Academy in Bulawayo is set for December 14 with contractors working round the clock to makes sure that the facility is ready for the holiday cricket lessons. A visit to the facility yesterday showed that work was in progress with both Streak and Joseph Rego, the chief executive officer of the Heath Streak Consultancy, Sports Development and Financing, disclosing that registration for the opening session is now on. They revealed that the facility should be fully functional at the end of January.
“The cricket side of things gets underway on December 14. We have been receiving lots of inquiries since our launch as to when the doors will be opened. Our opening comes at the right time during the school holidays and we hope more cricket enthusiasts will take up the opportunity to be part of this historic cricket movement,” said Rego.
The Heath Streak Academy is stationed at McDonald Club, along Fourth Avenue extension.
The facility is undergoing a major facelift to meet the celebrated former national team captain’s vision and dream of establishing a world class multi-sports facility in Bulawayo that identifies and nurtures talent.
Upon completion, the facility, which is modelled along the South African High Performance Centre in Pretoria, will have a gym, two cricket grounds, a 25m swimming pool and an indoor sports centre that will be used for hockey and five-a-side soccer.
Speaking during a tour of the venue, Streak said they would source sponsorship for the underprivileged to have access to top class coaching.
Heath Streak Academy’s coaching staff includes former Matabeleland Tuskers captain Gavin Ewing, spin bowler John Nyumbu, all-rounder Keith Dabengwa, ex-national team pace bowler Tawanda Mupariwa and Goodwill Mamhiyo who are all Level Two Cricket Coaching Certificate holders. Save for Ewing who has retired from playing the sport after guiding Matabeleland Tuskers to their third consecutive Logan Cup last season, the quartet of Nyumbu, Dabengwa, Mupariwa and Mamhiyo are still active players.
“We have put a proposal to a major sponsor to extend help beyond the academy. We want to go into the rural areas and western suburbs schools to get youngsters to play the sport.
I understand that it is very expensive to revive cricket facilities in those areas where there are a lot of youngsters who want to play the sport and for that reason, we will look for a sponsor who will pay for their use of the facility,” said Streak.
The former national team skipper dreams of setting up junior teams that will compete at the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province Schools Cricket League next year.
Most of the players that will not be playing for their schools subscribed at the Heath Streak Academy will feature for the academy in schools’ cricket league. Streak said he will also select some of the players from the western areas for his teams.
“What we want is to produce players who will manage to break into the Matabeleland Tuskers squad and even go on to be members of the national team. We also understand that not all the players that we are going to train will play top-flight cricket but most of them will play for the love of the sport,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bulawayo businessman Elifasi Mashaba was unveiled as a new member of the Heath Streak Cricket Academy board joining Raj Modi, Streak and Rego.
“I am very excited and greatly honoured to be part of this successful name in the form of Heath Streak who has done well for Bulawayo and the country. I am looking forward to a fruitful working relationship with these great minds,” said Mashaba.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu