Bosso supporters on halfway mark
MONETARY donations by Highlanders supporters have picked up pace again and as of Friday they stood at close to $2 000 which will help the financially challenged club pay the fine imposed by the Premier Soccer League over the abandoned match against Dynamos.
Highlanders treasurer Donald Ndebele said the amount raised by supporters was $1 999,66 as of last Friday. Of that $1 162 came through the EcoCash Biller Code with the rest raised from fundraising initiatives during home and away matches as well as at the Bosso clubhouse.
Ndebele had noted that the donations had slowed down after the Mandava skirmishes which saw police fire teargas when Highlanders supporters pelted an assistant referee in protest against a penalty awarded by centre man Brighton Chimene which gave FC Platinum the equalising goal.
The donations, according to Ndebele have gathered pace following the release of the disciplinary judgment from the Highlanders, Dynamos abandoned match. Highlanders were slapped with a $4 000 fine with the match, abandoned at 1-1 with 41 minutes played was awarded to Dynamos on a 3-0 score line. Highlanders announced that they will appeal both the fine and outcome of the match.
Meanwhile, Highlanders chief executive officer Nhlanhla Dube has defended the decision to plead guilty to the charges brought against the club during the PSL disciplinary hearing over the abandoned match. Dube said as a club that values fairness, they could not go to the hearing and deny that their fans threw missisles onto the pitch.
“As a club you must understand that we value the founding and pillar principles of football which are fairness and integrity. Our club believes that where we have got culpability, we are honest enough to say we have a level of culpability and we take the shot on the chin for that. Everyone was there to see the missiles that were thrown and we said yes, we understand the rules of the game that we are the home team and we are in charge of fan behaviour,’’ said Dube.
He said they could not trample on the principles and values of fairness as well as honesty to win a disciplinary case. Dube said by pleading guilty to the charges brought against them, they did not then give the right to whoever was presiding over the case to pass whatever judgment they wanted.
“You must look at what we presented, the argument that we presented, you can’t look at the fact that we said we are guilty, guilty of what and what then did we say outside that. You must look at what we said in total, even the judgment says what we said, it speaks broadly to our argument, what we presented and what we presented as far as we are concerned is very logical and they also concede that it was logical,’’ Dube said.
Meanwhile, Highlanders last week appeared before yet another PSL disciplinary committee heading over the disturbances at Mandava on 28 May. The ruling is yet to be out. NATIONAL cricket team coach, Heath Streak is anticipating a tough tour of Scotland where Zimbabwe will play the Scots in two One Day Internationals on Thursday and Saturday.
With Scotland having recorded an upset seven wickets victory over Sri Lanka last month in a tour match the Sri Lankans used as warm up for the International Cricket Council Champions Trophy, Streak is well aware that the two fixtures will not be a stroll in the park. He has emphasised the need to get their tour off to ideal start by winning against Scotland.
“It’s important that we start the tour well, the guys expect them to be tough at home, hopefully we can start off on a strong note, they beat Sri Lanka so they can be tricky to beat, they have players who play in the English county system. We need to build some confidence, we expect Scotland to give us two hard games,’’ said Streak.
National team players have been busy in the Pro50 Championship which concluded last Tuesday and was won by the Bulawayo Metropolitan Tuskers. They trained together on Wednesday and Thursday, were given Friday as well as yesterday off prior to the team’s departure today.
Streak expressed happiness with the amount of match preparedness his players got ahead of the tour. He believes that it would have been great to play some warm up matches when they get to Sri Lanka which have however, not been arranged.
“I am happier with the amount of match practice we had in advance of tour. It would have been nice to have a warm up match in Sri Lanka. It will be tough to beat them but we feel we can if we play to our potential,’’ Streak said.
From Scotland, Zimbabwe will proceed to Netherlands for three 50 over fixtures and then Sri Lank for five ODIs and one Test. The first two ODIs against Sri Lanka are in Galle, on 30 June and 2 July. Hambantota is the venue for the last three ODIs which are on 6, 8 and 10 July with the only Test in Colombo from 14 to 18 July. Zimbabwe ODI squad for Scotland, Netherlands and Sri Lanka: Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza, Tendai Chatara, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Hamilton Masakadza, Solomon Mire, Peter Moor, Christopher Mpofu, Tarisai Musakanda, Richard Ngarava, Donald Tiripano, Malcolm Waller, Sean Williams — @Mdawini_29