U-13 cricket tourney gets underway today
MAVERICK Cricket chairman Courage Mafukidze says they have invited prominent schools and cricket academies from across the country for The 2023 Annual Cricket tournament to be held at Prince Edward School.
The two-day tournament is starting today and ending tomorrow.
Mashonaland East Cricket Association, Kadoma Cricket Academy, Premier Cricket Academy, and Hornets Cricket club will be some of the teams involved.
Mavericks play the role of enabling cricket academies and primary schools to achieve their goals by sourcing quality equipment, conducting coaching clinics, and organizing tournaments for teams to gauge their progress in their cricket development journeys.
“We invited prominent schools and cricket academies from across the country,” said Mafukidze.
“Unfortunately, the number of teams is limited by available resources and the number of fields. We therefore accepted applications on a firstcome, first-served basis. Some teams have come from as far as Manicaland, Mashonaland East, and Mashonaland West province.
“The tournament is an equal opportunity competition pitting teams from all backgrounds which is a reflection of Zimbabwe Cricket's goal of taking the game to, and developing it, in all corners of the country. This ties in perfectly with the national “leave no one and no place behind" mantra.
“We are excited to have on board the Goromonzi Sharks Cricket Academy, a rural cricket outfit run by identical twins Ralph and Russell Chisikarambwe who have to walk more than 5km a day to rally children in the various villages in Goromonzi to practice and play cricket. This involves ensuring the children's safe return to their homes after cricket.
“This academy is a beacon of hope not only for cricket but for the nation as a whole because it demonstrates the will to develop others in the community with little resources. He added:
“The tournament is a cricket development event that takes place annually to assist cricket coaches and schools to gauge their progress and be better placed to plan for improvement in the future. It gives schools and academies a rare opportunity to play in the best possible conditions against formidable opposition from across the provinces.
“We hope that this year's tournament will be exciting and competitive. We received so many applications that we are considering making the competition a distributed event in all provinces,” he said.