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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Cricket talent hunt is set to kick-off in Bulawayo today with five outstanding players set to land dream contracts for the inaugural Zim Afro T10 League set for this month in Harare.
Former Zimbabwe national team captain Elton Chigumbura is coordinating the programme which ZC have put in place in collaboration with tournament organisers T10 Global Sports and one of the participating franchises, Durban Qalandars.
Chigumbura, who is also coach of the Zimbabwe Emerging men’s team — consisting mainly under-23 players — told The Herald yesterday that the talent search will take place in Harare, Bulawayo and Kwekwe with a target of 60 players.
The final selection event will be held at Takashinga Sports Club next week, where the five successful candidates will be unveiled.
“We will conduct the talent search in three cities, that is Bulawayo, Harare and Kwekwe. So the players can attend the trials in the city nearest to them.
“The programme is starting tomorrow (today) at Bulawayo Athletic Club. We will be there for two days between 9am and 5pm.
“We will then move to Kwekwe on Sunday, at Kwekwe Sports Club. The trials are open to all aspiring cricketers between the ages of 18 to under-25,” said Chigumbura.
“The programme will conclude in Harare at Takashinga Cricket Club on Monday and Tuesday. At the end of the trials a squad of 60 players will be selected.
“They will be placed in four teams that will feature in competitive games from Wednesday to Friday next week. Afterwards, the best five players will be selected and drafted into the Zim Afro T10 teams.
“This is a big opportunity for the young and upcoming players. It’s huge because those selected will end up rubbing shoulders with some international players that are coming for the T10 League.
“It’s a chance for the players to showcase their talent and also to get a big contract, just like those guys that have been drafted in the Zim Afro T10 participating teams,” said Chigumbura. This ground-breaking player development program is meant to discover and nurture emerging local cricketing talent as well as identifying promising players who have the potential to become future stars of the game.
The trials will provide a unique platform for aspiring cricketers in Zimbabwe to showcase their skills and compete for a chance to feature in the inaugural Zim Afro T10 league.
The country’s first white ball cricket tournament with the franchise model promises to be an electrifying showcase of fast-paced cricket, offering an incredible platform for these talented individuals to gain invaluable exposure and enhance their skills. The tournament will see five privately owned teams in the mix, namely, Harare Hurricanes, Durban Qalandars, Cape Town Samp Army, Bulawayo Braves and the Joburg Lions.
The Zim Afro T10 will get underway on July 20, with a grand final scheduled for July 29. All the games are set for Harare and will be broadcast exclusively on ZTN Prime.
The player draft was conducted last Sunday with 80 players, comprising local talent and international stars, involved.
T Ten Global Sports chairman and founder Nawab Shaji Ul Mulk said the program was meant to benefit Zimbabwean cricket in the long run.
“The talent hunt is something which we have been planning for a long time because the whole idea is in every country there are thousands of young cricketers who don’t get a chance to play at the highest level,” he said.
“So what we are doing now, with support of the Lahore Qalandars and the high performance programme that we have for the player development programme, we have tasked them with the responsibility that a nationwide youth talent and player development programme needs to be undertaken.
“So three centres in the country have been identified and we are expecting thousands of youths to come in. The specialty of this initiative is that, in the next four weeks a cricketer who is literally unknown in the country will be picked.
“In this initiative we are mandated that five players are actually picked from this talent search and drafted right into the T10 squads, which literally means a youngster will become an international cricketer in a few weeks from now,” said Mulk.
“While we like to see the best international cricketers entertain the fans all over the world, I felt the young players must get their time in the sun.
“We want to see the best cricketers from the Zimbabwean system come out and leave a lasting impression on the senior pros and the fans, and the Emerging Player Programme is designed specifically for that.
“I am confident we will unearth the crème de la crème in terms of talent from Zimbabwe. In the future we will expand the Talent hunt program to neighbouring countries to further develop the sport and give opportunity to more hidden talent.”
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