Mawoyo tourney on today
THE inaugural Tino Mawoyo Junior Development Cricket Festival gets underway at Mutare Sports Club today, with four boys teams competing in the 15-over matches.
The event was launched yesterday, with four representatives of the Under-13 clubs present at the Sports Commission boardroom with captains of the teams gracing the occasion.
Named after Manicaland rivers Pungwe, Odzi, Save and Kairezi, the teams will walk away with floating trophies at the end of the event.
Founder of the festival, Zimbabwe international cricketer Tino Mawoyo said he was very humbled to be part of such a developmental programme and hopes to take it to other provinces in the future.
“I am very happy to have this programme for the kids in Manicaland and I hope it will expose some youngsters who, with opportunities, may go through academies and eventually graduate into the senior national team.’’
Mawoyo, a top-order batsman, captained the Zimbabwe Under-19s at the World Cup in 2003-04.
Earlier on in his career, his appearances were limited by educational commitments.
But that didn’t deter him and he was called up for an A-team tour of Bangladesh in 2006.
He made his ODI debut on the trip to that country at the end of that year.