Online Reporter
Brandon Moyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
FOR the second year running, Zimbabwe Women High Performance Centre (HPC) fell at the last hurdle of the Kwibuka Women’s T20 Tournament after losing this year’s final to Tanzania at Gahanga Cricket Stadium in Kigali, Rwanda, on Saturday.
Despite the defeat, head coach Steve Mangongo was pleased with how his charges fared, noting that they are on the right path as the tournament afforded them the opportunity to test where the programme stands.
The veteran gaffer believes that performances displayed by some of the players is crucial for widening the player pool for the national team.
“We are on the right path, the business of the High Performance Programme is to identify genuine talent and up-skill them as a conveyor belt to feed our national team. So in the Kwibuka Tournament, we were given the perfect opportunity to assess our High Performance Programme,” Mangongo told Zimpapers Sports Hub.
“Passionate Munorwei, an 18-year-old, was the fastest bowler of the tournament. Players who were in High Performance for remedial work, Christabel Chatonzwa finished in the top four run scorers in the tournament, Nyasha Gwanzura has reinvented herself as a destructive opening batter and Loreen Tshuma hit the most sixes in the tournament. Chiedza Dhururu was solid and gave key partnerships during the tournament. I was pleased with these batters’ progress in competitive environments.
“Mitchel Mavunga bowled with good pace and control. These players, I believe, have now sorted their game and will offer stiff competition for places to the current regular national women’s players. We need competition in our national team.”
Mangongo said losing the final was disappointing and they need to work on their game awareness going forward.
“We also saw good leadership by captain Nomvelo Sibanda, ably rallying her team in key moments, especially the five run-outs in semi-finals vs Uganda. As a team we were disappointed not to win the Kwibuka trophy. We are a Test nation and we should have standards that whatever team we are put against, especially associate teams, we should be able to win trophies at that level.
“Going forward, we need to keep working on game awareness, which can only be learnt by playing under the pressure cooker against other international sides. Winning culture is a habit and an acquired skill, there are certain processes which our players need to master like batting deeper individually not cameo knocks and tight fielding to create pressure. These processes are only learnt in games,” said Mangongo.
In the final, Zimbabwe Women HPC were sent in to field first and managed to restrict their opponents to 99/6 in 20 overs before going on to succumb to 67 all out in 19.4 overs, losing the match by 32 runs.
