The ManicaPost
Fungayi Munyoro Sports Correspondent
YOUNG cricketers are set to converge at Mutare Sports Club tomorrow for the mini-cricket festival hosted by Blast Academy.
The festival will see cricketers from around the province taking part.
Blast Academy founder and coach Eddy Samunetsi said all was in place for the hosting of the festival.
“We are ready for kick-off tomorrow. We are hosting the mini-cricket festival at Mutare Sports Club. We are targeting both boys and girls who are between seven and 10 years old from Mutare. We have invited children from different schools to come and participate in this festival and we are running the festival under the theme, “Catch Them Young”,” he said.
Samunetsi said their aim was to introduce the game at grassroots levels.
“Our aim is to introduce the game of cricket from a tender age. We also want more girls to play cricket,” he said.
Formed in February this year with the aim of developing junior cricket, Blast Academy is the first cricket academy in the province.
Currently the academy has 48 registered players, among them four girls, drawn from local schools. They are optimistic of registering more girls in the coming year.
Samunetsi said there was talent galore in Manicaland that needed identification.
“We have a lot of talent in our province. Cricket is an expensive game that needs expensive equipment unlike other sports. Our main aim is to reach out to high-density areas where the majority of the population is,” he said.
Samunetsi said lack of proper training grounds had hindered the development of the sport in the province.
“We do not have suitable grounds to use for our training and games. Equipment too is the other challenge we have. These are the two main challenges that we are facing,” he said.
He urged more schools to take up the sport.
“We need more players from the local schools to represent the franchise (Mountaineers). The only way to attain that is to make sure that primary and high schools are playing cricket,’’ he said.
