Under 19’s getting cooked

STEVE MANGONGO'S wish of having his Under-19 team “well-cooked” for the next ICC Cricket U19 World Cup could become a reality amid indications Zimbabwe is planning tours to Australia and England this year.

Mangongo wants at least 30 international youth ODI innings for his boys before the 2018 World Cup in New Zealand.

Zimbabwe toured Namibia for five one-day games and three T20s last November, and the team is fresh from a tri-nation tournament featuring hosts South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Team manager Nicholas Singo said they were pulling all the stops to get the youngsters more game time.

“We are working on getting as many matches as possible. When we tour Australia we possibly want to proceed to New Zealand as well… it's something we are working on,” he said. CHEETAHS' coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba has set his sights on using next month's Kwese Sports Sevens Tournament in Victoria Falls to blood new players.

“Expect to see new faces at the tournament,” said Nyamutsamba in an interview on the sidelines of the tournament's launch in Harare during last week. “The goal right now is to participate at the Africa Cup Sevens tournament, and qualify for next year's Rugby World Cup Sevens in the United States.

“However, before we can do all that we have go back to the drawing board and look at our personnel. This starts

Singo also revealed that a tri-series is also being considered.

“We need to play as many games as possible hence we are trying to organise a tri-series featuring Zimbabwe, South Africa and we will make a choice on inviting either Uganda or Namibia,” he said.

Zimbabwe's teenage cricketers endured a tough tri-series in South Africa, winning one game out of six, but Singo believes they benefitted greatly from the experience.

“When a team loses people don't really care, it's the result that matters most to many; but to be honest our boys played against older players.

“Sri Lanka had about four players who will not be eligible for the next World Cup and in our team we only had Ryan Murray who will miss the next edition, the rest will be eligible so I believe it was a huge lesson for our younger players,” he said.