Cricket in Zimbabwe hampered by ZCU's shortcomings

Cricket has grown in popularity in Zimbabwe and is now the second most popular sport in this soccer-crazy country. A lot of children in the high-density areas, who used to play football with home-made balls fashioned out of tightly rolled plastic bags, now play cricket with equally improvised equipment - tennis balls in place of proper cricket balls, dry maize stalks supported by bricks for the stumps.

The massive upsurge in the popularity of cricket with the younger generation in Zimbabwe started after England's (in)famous tour in 1996, when they were thrashed 3-0 in the one-day series. Many of these young people have grouped together and formed clubs, but their efforts have been hampered by lack of equipment and money. Many do not even have proper cricket grounds to play on, and instead play on fields which were once used for rugby and soccer.

According to a Zimbabwean cricket follower who, unsurprisingly, wishes to remain anonymous, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union has done little to assist most of the disadvantaged communities who have so much passion for the game. He says that the ZCU has imported equipment earmarked for development over the years, but this equipment doesn't seem to have reached its intended beneficiaries. There have been complaints from several parts of the country that most of the equipment has been allocated to Takashinga, an all-black club from Highfield, a high-density suburb in Harare.

The exorbitant cost of cricket equipment in Zimbabwe means that almost none of the newly formed clubs can afford to buy their own equipment - a quality cricket bat costs about US$100, and most of the newcomers to cricket come from the less-privileged societies in Zimbabwe and cannot afford such a luxury. Only two new stadiums with the facilities necessary to host first-class matches have been built by the ZCU since Zimbabwe gained Test status in 1992. These are Takashinga in Harare and Emakhandeni in Bulawayo, the construction of which is still underway.

The ZCU recently announced that it had "frozen" all the assistance it had been giving to clubs through the provincial associations. Ozais Bvute, a controversial member of the board who was involved in the row between the ZCU and the 14 rebel players, told the Matabeleland Cricket Association that the ZCU was not a "bottomless pit", and that clubs should source their own funding.

As our correspondent points out, this latest move by the ZCU means that aspiring cricketers from disadvantaged communities will have to continue using improvised equipment. They will continue to play their matches on football pitches, use tennis balls for practice, and risk life and limb when facing real cricket balls without the necessary protective equipment.