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Sports Reporter
The Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket team leaves for Cape Town this morning to take part in the Cricket South Africa’s Franchise Cubs Week to be held in Stellenbosch.
The team, which resumed camp on Monday, will be captained by Malcom Lake who is making his third appearance at the tournament.
Team manager, Nick Singo, said they were happy with the preparations as they were looking beyond the South Africa tournament as they focus on the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup scheduled for next month.
The technical side is happy with the 15-member squad in camp that includes players like Cuthbert Musoko, Luke Jongwe, Mkhululi Nyathi and Gaylord Gumbie.
The four have played cricket at franchise level before.
“I think we have done enough preparations because we have been in camp even during the Christmas holidays.
“These guys put in a lot of hard work and the good thing is that we haven’t had any injuries during the preparations. I just hope our efforts will be rewarded,” said Singo.
The five-day tournament, which provides probably the last international platform to help them fine-tune ahead of next month’s ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, will get underway tomorrow.
It will feature the best from the South African franchise youth teams as well as the national Under-17 side.
Singo said they were expecting tough competition from the franchise teams which include Bizhub Highveld Lions, Sunfoil Dolphins, Unlimited Titans, Chevrolet Knights, Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras and the Chevrolet Warriors.
“These teams are run professionally. They play lots of cricket week in and week out so this makes the tournament very competitive.
“Since it forms part of our preparations for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, it’s good for us because we will get a chance to play against some of the players that will be representing South Africa at the tournament,” said Singo.
The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup will start on February 14, 2014, and Singo said they have done their best under the circumstances to give the players the best possible preparations for the tournament.
Zimbabwe were placed in Group C where they will clash with neighbours South Africa, West Indies and Canada.
The team, which is under the guidance of Walter Chawaguta, has been busy in recent months preparing for the tournament as they hope for an improved show at the biggest stage.
They toured India in September last year where they played in a quadrangular tournament that involved big guns Australia, South Africa and hosts as part of the preparations.
Zim Under-19 Squad:
Malcolm Lake (Captain), Luke Jongwe, Dylan Nel, Stephen Kanhukamwe, Kieran Geyle, Joylord Gumbie, Charles Kunje, Patrick Mambo, Cuthbert Musoko, Hebert Chikomba, Alexander Bell, Ryan Burl, Tarisai Musakanda, Dylan Hondo, Mkhululi Nyathi
Online Reporter