admin
Blessing Malinganiza-Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Under-19 women’s national team coach Trevor Garwe, who is currently in Rwanda with the Zimbabwe A side, believes that the ongoing Kwibuka Women’s T20 tournament will expose upcoming cricketers to international cricket as the country prepares for next year’s Under-19 World Cup.
The emerging side is participating in the T20 tournament together with seven other African countries.
With the squad in Rwanda comprising mostly the U-19 national team, Garwe has described the tournament as a good platform to allow the upcoming cricketers to have a feel of international cricket.
“This tournament for us is about giving the young and upcoming cricketers a chance to grow and the exposure of playing against other national teams.
“The biggest advantage we have with the squad that we have is half of the squad members are still Under 19; this will help us with our preparation for the U-19 World Cup,” said Garwe.
Zimbabwe started off their round-robin campaign at the tournament with a date against Malawi yesterday and posted a 93-run victory.
Zimbabwe were sent in to bat first by Malawi, taking control of the match as they posted a competitive total of 183 runs in 20 overs for the loss of five wickets.
Kelis Ndlovhu was named the player of the match after high scoring for Zimbabwe with 48 runs out of 24 balls, before claiming two wickets for 14 runs.
Beloved Bhiza came second with 45 runs from 38 balls.
Lorraine Phiri and Chiedza Dhururu, the senior members of the team, posted 26 and 13 runs respectively.
Christina Mutasa scored 14 runs with Runyararo Pasipanodya concluding the list of Zimbabwe batters with seven runs.
Zimbabwe managed to defend the total in 20 overs restricting Malawi to 90 runs for the loss of the seven wickets.
Despite the win, Garwe revealed that he was not worried about his charges winning the tournament instead he was focused on fine-tuning the team for the World Cup.
“We are not worried about winning the tournament but we hope after this competition we will know where we are and the areas we need to work on.
“But we are not going to take this tournament lightly, saying that as a team we are only focusing on our processes and making sure we do all the basics well and not worry about the result,” said Garwe.
Online Reporter