Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
AN old hand in the gentleman’s game – Steve Mangongo – who has returned to first-team cricket as the head coach of Mega Market Mountaineers, says he is looking forward to bridging the gap between domestic and international cricket.
Mangongo returns to Manicaland/Mashonaland East provinces franchise outfit as the domestic first class cricket season got underway this week.
Two 2024/25 Pro50 Championship matches were played early this week to mark the official start of the domestic campaign.
However, Mega Market Mountaineers are on a bye and will begin their campaign on Monday.
Mangongo, who in recent months has been heading Zimbabwe Cricket’s (ZC) High Performance Programme, said his top priority is to raise the standards of play to international level.
The veteran coach expressed his delight in returning to franchise cricket.
“I am excited to be back in the trenches, at Mountaineers. One of the key goals we want to achieve there is to bridge the gap between international cricket and our domestic first class cricket.
“I believe over the years, the gap has widened, which is detrimental when our guys want to step up to the next level. They find it difficult because our quality of domestic cricket had gone down a little bit. To me that is the first thing.
“So we want to make sure that we are able to produce players who have the quality to be able to step up to international cricket. To me that is number one,” he said.
Mangongo said he is also prioritizing winning trophies for Mountaineers.
“The second aspect is that Mountaineers has a rich history of winning trophies and we want to maintain that. Last year we were champions in the Logan Cup – the first class premier competition – and we want to maintain that.
“For the remaining two trophies, the T20 and the Pro50, we want to make sure we get one of those. So if we get two out of three, we will smile all the way to the bank. That is our attitude.
“We also want to make sure we built cricketers who are disciplined, cricketers who are super fit. In other words, we want to create an athlete before we create a cricketer.
“Mountaineers is a good little community which is more of a family affair and that makes the job easier. So we are looking forward to a great season,” Mangongo said.
Mangongo will be assisted by Thabo Mboyi.
Mountaineers did not have the best of campaigns in the Pro50 Championship last season, finishing in fourth place with six points, eight behind champions Eagles.
However, they managed to win the Logan Cup, their first since the 2018/19 season.
Recently, Mangongo told our sister paper The Chronicle that he is looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead for his side.
“I have to say, I am excited to be back at Mountaineers. As one of the pioneers, it’s always good to be back. This is professional cricket; it is serious business.
“It is tough at franchise level; players won’t have it easy. Mountaineers are a force to reckon with, and we want to make sure that we go back to the top, to the level that we know we should be at and lift those trophies. We are aiming for that,” said Mangongo.
Despite being on a bye in the opening round of games in both the Pro50 Championship and Logan Cup, Mangongo and his team have wasted no time in preparing for the season.
He said they have a good squad with a mixture of young, exciting talents and experienced campaigners who have been around for some time.
Some of the exciting talents in Mountaineers’ ranks include National Premier League (NPL) T20 Blast leading run-scorer and batter of the tournament, Jayden Schadendorf.
He believes in the potential that the former Zimbabwe Under-19 international has.
Some of the players in his team include Wellington Masakadza, Dion Myers, Brian Bennett, Alistair Frost, and Kevin Kasuza, among others.
“We have a good mixture of experience and upcoming talents. We have some of the top performers from the NPL coming through. We’ve got very talented players, both upcoming and experienced.
“Muchawaya (Tinashe) is on top of his game at the moment and will learn a lot from the experience of Tendai Chatara and Victor Nyauchi. We also have some very bright Under-19 talents in our ranks. This team is a deadly mixture.
“We have started training. We got underway with a rigorous fitness session. I am excited that the battlefield is starting, and it is great to be back in the Mountains,” said Mangongo.
Mountaineers Class of 2024:
Tendai Chatara, Wellington Masakadza, Victor Nyauchi, Joylord Gumbie, Mathew Welch, Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Nicholas Welch, Owen Muzondo, Timycen Maruma, Tinashe Muchawaya, Vincent Masekesa, Alistair Frost, Kevin Kasuza, Jayden Schadendorf, Spencer Magodo, Clive Imbayago, Nkosilathi Nungu, Arineshto Vezha, Michael Frost, Ashley Mufandauya.
