Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE Marylebone Cricket Club have praised the hospitality and warm welcome they received in Zimbabwe with members of the English team pledging to return in future.
So charmed were the players and officials that they pledged to make destination Zimbabwe one of their tourism venues.
The MCC entourage made the pledges during a welcome dinner held by the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry at the Heritage Village in Harare on Wednesday.
The English side are currently in the country for a seven-match tour and enter into second phase of the visit after having already played Rhinos in two T20 and a 50-over match at Kwekwe Sports Club.
The tourists will now face a Zimbabwe A side in a three-day first-class fixture from October 10-12 at Old Hararians Sports Club, before concluding their visit with three T20s against the Zimbabwe Academy at Takashinga Cricket Club.
Two of the matches will be played on October 14 and the final match on October 15.
However, the members of the Marylebone Cricket Club took some time away from the rigours of cricket action to mix with some of the locals during their welcome dinner.
“Since the minute we have arrived in Zimbabwe, we have been treated brilliantly by everybody,” said the club tour manager, Owen Dawkins.
“It is such a friendly place to come and experience and I highly recommend more people to come here to come to Zimbabwe, it’s just been fantastic.
“Just to be able to come here get a warm welcome and get a chance to see the wildlife, the experience has been great. We then got the chance to play the Rhinos, I think they had five internationals out in their last game, it was a real tough test.
“We played a couple good games of cricket and now we are in Harare ready to experience more of the same,” he said.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) are making their first visit to the country in 60 years, as cricketing and cultural ties between Zimbabwe and England continue to strengthen. And the significance of the visit was not lost on Dawkins.
“It’s great to be able to get out to all countries all around the world and keep generating the cricket interest,” he said.
“Zimbabwe hosted the World Cup qualifiers for the men’s recently, they have got the Under-19 World Cup in January, and to be able to come out and play in a country that’s hosting such great events is tremendous.
“I have been very fortunate enough to be with the club over the past 30 years to have visited quite a number of places in Africa,” he said.
“I’ have done Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Gambia, Ghana and South Africa and now to come to Zimbabwe has been fantastic.
“MCC are always looking to tour everywhere and anyway possible, so when the opportunity to come to Zimbabwe came about, we jumped on it immediately.
The significance of MCC’s visit was further expanded by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Tourism Takaruza Munyanyiwa.
“This is a very huge moment for Zimbabwe,” he said.
“If you look at it globally, it’s an endorsement of our country as a prime destination. After all, this team was here last some 60 years ago, and they had the power of choice to return or not.
“And they decided to come back to Zimbabwe and play cricket here and enjoy Zimbabwe. Through sports tourism, there are a lot of downstream industries that will also benefit from this visit.
“We are also coming on the backdrop of Zimbabwe having played cricket in England earlier this year and, only last week, we had the qualifiers.
“So, think this is the right time for Zimbabwe. Sports tourism is doing very well as we had an independent assessment was saw Zimbabwe amongst the top two must-visit African destinations.
“We are paired together with Morocco. And last year, we were number six in Africa as most visited destination.
“So, tourism is just on the go and thriving. When tourism thrives, investment comes in and then development comes in,” he said.
Munyanyiwa also stressed the importance of brand promotion and how sport is playing a key role.
“I think in terms of brand promotion, we have been very consistent from government level to us and the technical level,” he said.
“The president’s message is very clear on saying, you know, Zimbabwe is open for business. And, we have engaged ourselves in very aggressive marketing with sport an important part of that.
“When we talk about sports tourism, Zimbabwe is in line for a big couple of years. What with us hosting the Under-19 World Cup next year and then the 50-over World Cup, the following year.
“Zimbabwe have qualified for the T20 World Cup next year and the rugby team also booked their ticket to Australia in 2027.
“This is a huge time for Zimbabwe in terms of sports tourism,” he said.
