Musakanda in Africa T20 best XI
TOP order batsman Tarisai Musakanda, who led the Zimbabwe Select XI to the recent Africa T20 in South Africa, has been lavished with praises after he made it as captain of the Team of the Tournament.
Musakanda’s remarkable presence was difficult to ignore after he literally drove the Zimbabwe Select XI campaign from the front and winning three of their four group games.
The 23-year-old finished the tournament with 182 runs from four matches and with a strike rate of 127.27.
Although his team could not make it to the semi-finals, he was recognised by the South Africa Cricket magazine as the captain of the 2018 Africa Cup team of the tournament.
And Zimbabwe Select XI coach Shepherd Makunura yesterday hailed the diminutive batsman for his work ethic.
“I think he is one of some of our bright prospects to look forward to for some time to come. I think he is a future leader.
“It’s a very big honour for him to be named in that team, moreso being named the captain. He had a very good tournament and he led the team quite well in the games that we played.
“He showed some good leadership qualities out there, which was a plus for him. But he has to keep focused on his processes. There is still need to keep learning because in cricket you need to learn continuously,” said Makunura.
The other players in the Africa T20 team of the tournament include Proteas seamer Andile Phehlukwayo who featured for KwaZulu-Natal Inland and Marco Marais (Border) who was picked as the best player of the tournament.
The others are Patrick Kruger (Northen Cape), Delano Potgieter (Gauteng), Kyle Nipper (KwaZulu-Natal Inland), Cody Chetty (KwaZulu-Natal Inland), Zane Green (Namibia, wicket), Nandre Burger (Gauteng), Dyllan Matthews (Easterns), Bernard Scholtz (Namibia) and Muasakanda as captain.
Zimbabwe Select put up their best display at the Africa Cup T20 as they had only recorded just one win since the start of the tournament in 2015, with that victory coming against Western Province in the inaugural edition. However, the side started off badly this year when they went down by seven wickets to Gauteng. But they quickly picked themselves up and went on to win the last three matches on the trot.
“It’s quite unfortunate we couldn’t make it to the semi-finals but the way we bounced back from the setback we encountered in our first game showed a lot of character.
“What was encouraging is that we had a number of young players in the team who are still pushing for international experience, the likes of Ryan Murray, Tinashe Kamhunhukamwe, Rugare Magarira and Musakanda himself. It’s good to see we have a future,” said Makunura.
Musakanda is part of Zimbabwe’s squad for the Twenty20 International matches against South Africa while Murray and Kamhukamwe are in the ODI squad that left yesterday.
Musakanda will be joined by experienced players Chamu Chibhabha, Chris Mpofu, Tendai Chisoro and Neville Madziva for the T20Is.
South Africa and Zimbabwe will get the series underway when they meet in Kimberley in the first ODI scheduled for this Sunday, while Bloemfontein and Paarl will host the other two 50-over matches on October 3 and 6.
The T20I series will run from October 9-14 in East London, Potchefstroom and Benoni.
“I would like to wish the Zimbabwe team all the best in South Africa and Bangladesh. Coming out of a series against Pakistan which we did not do quite well, I think we would need to go out there give our best and try to get back some respect. But it’s not always easy against a team like South Africa,” said Makunura.