Zimbabwe Provincial Cricket News - Manicaland

The Manicaland First XI finished 7th on the national club first-league log earlier this year and retained their first-league status. The Second XI played far beyond expectations and clinched promotion to the third league and won the knockout competition. We were fortunate enough to contract Guy Whittall to play for our first team this year. He gave freely of his time (whenever possible), both in the Mutare and Chipinge, and his knowledge and expertise were of great value to all the young cricketers he assisted.

We had five teams competing in our domestic league this year, which included a development team and a team from Juliasdale. This has been fairly successful although for several reasons a number of matches were not played. The development team however had a side available for every game, so congratulations to Joel Muzeya.

We have hosted international matches this year and they have been very successful. Support is growing among spectators and we hope that this trend continues. We hosted Denmark in March; this is the first time a full 'international' side has come to Mutare. We also hosted the Charterhouse Friars, which was very successful. During the season we hosted Western Province and just recently the Gauteng B versus Zimbabwe Board XI matches. Both of these touring teams enjoyed the usual Manicaland hospitality and from a MCA point of view it was an honour to host these matches.

On the development side of things Joel Muzeya has done a great job. With sponsorship from Suku Naik the development league continues to prosper. The development field in the high-density area of Chikanga is coming along and we are ever closer to finalising details with the city council; Mark Burmester was due to have a meeting with the mayor on 16 December. Groundwork has started on the Mini Academy and grateful thanks go to Nissan (Zimbabwe) for their support in financing this project. The Mini Academy has sprouted a lot of enthusiasm amongst cricketers in and around Mutare. We will keep you updated on this project as it happens.

Another recent development, which is extremely exciting, is the employment of Bill Flower as our Cricket Development Officer. His services will prove to be invaluable to Manicaland cricket. He will be servicing a large area covering the Lowveld, Rusape and Chipinge. He will also aid the coaches in these areas. One of his main objective will be to push cricket in the high-density areas and teach the players and coaches in these areas about the game of cricket. Manicaland has their own international umpire, namely Kevan Barbour. Congratulations to Kevan for 'umping' so well.

In general, cricket in Manicaland is growing. We are certain that our association can only go from strength to strength.