Zimbabwe board delighted with record turnout

	Hamilton Masakadza celebrates his half-century against Mashonaland Eagles in the final © Zimbabwe Cricket Enlarge
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Zimbabwe Cricket has expressed delight at record attendances for the Stanbic Bank 20 Series which finished last weekend.

The final at Harare Sports Club on Saturday attracted a crowd of around 7500 which is the biggest for a domestic match in living memory. It represented a triumph for the board following its decision to revamp the domestic structure at the start of the season.

In recent years attendances for any kind of match, including internationals, have more often than not been in the hundreds rather than thousands. However, crowds for the midweek matches in the nine-day tournament were low and Shingai Rhuhwaya, ZC's head of media and communications, said it was "a pity that more schools did not take up the invitation to attend".

She added: "Schools cricket is the lifeblood of the future, and it can only be hoped that, after the success of this tournament, more of the schools will be prompted to bring parties of their pupils during the week.

"Certainly the pupils who did attend appeared to have a great time and helped to create some atmosphere with their enthusiasm and cheering. Over the first weekend it was estimated that about 6000 attended in total over the two days."