Zimbabwe Cricket Union vice-president Dave Everington talks to
John Ward about the major developments taking place at Zimbabwe's
leading venues.
Besides being ZCU vice-president, Dave Everington is in charge of
the special projects sub-committee, which is part of the
facilities committee which deals with specific items of
development, in this case capital development projects at the
major grounds.
Zimbabwe has currently only two Test grounds, Harare Sports Club
and Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, and the ZCU is mainly
concerned with these two grounds at present. Their plans are
based on the fact that the next World Cup will be held in South
Africa in 2003, but Zimbabwe will play all their preliminary
matches in that tournament at home, and it is vital that all
facilities on those two grounds reach international standards by
then.
The ZCU have identified areas of priority for improvement, and of
prime importance are the media facilities. At Harare Sports Club
a temporary media centre has been built, although it may still be
a little while before the permanent structure in built. A
satisfactory media centre in Bulawayo has been longer in coming,
but the Matabeleland Cricket Association are confident that when
it comes it will be better than the one in Harare. Alongside it
will be some corporate boxes which will be leased to help pay for
the development.
The second priority is the public and players. The Harare Sports
Club dressing rooms have already been refurbished but the next
project may be to provide completely new changing rooms at both
grounds. The siting of these changing rooms is important, as the
ZCU is leasing the Harare ground from the Sports Club and have
virtually finalised a similar arrangement with Queens. Both
clubs have given the ZCU a designated area and therefore new
developments need to be kept within that area. It is possible
that ZCU may opt instead simply to upgrade the existing
facilities.
For spectators, new toilet blocks have been built at both
centres, and further facilities are planned. At Harare Sports
Club new stands have been bought from the Police rugby ground and
are situated in the south-west corner of the ground; there are
plans probably to buy some more stands from the same place in the
near future. The Tobacco Industry Supporters Club has built a
private concrete stand on the west side of the ground next to the
scoreboard, and there are plans to build as many as 18 private
boxes there to sell for additional revenue. The ZCU has spent
almost four million Zimbabwe dollars to date on the ground,
mainly in improving spectator facilities, including shade cloth
for the stands and upgrading access points. The present media
centre is a donation from two commercial companies.
Mr Everington has been given a mandate to draw up an overall plan
for the ground, and the next major project is to draw up plans
for a grandstand for the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, to be situated
on the north-west side of the ground. This will consist of such
facilities as VIP areas, a president's room, cocktail bars,
dining rooms and the like, and will probably be a joint venture
between the ZCU and the Mashonaland Cricket Association, and
possibly the Stragglers Cricket Club. It may also include
offices for the secretariat.
The magnitude of the project depends on the amount of ground
available for it. Just behind the boundary wall is the Harare
Sports Club swimming pool; at one stage the club was willing to
hand that area over for development as well, but it now appears
as if they are having second thoughts about it. If this is not
possible, then the grandstand will have to be considerably
restricted in scope.
It remains a problem that neither ground belongs to the ZCU, but
they are putting up all the money for capital development, so the
plan is that the provincial associations will run and maintain
them once they have been built. It is not intended to be a
handout on the part of ZCU, but the provincial associations will
be expected to raise money to maintain them; for example, the
Matabeleland Association will raise money by renting or selling
their corporate boxes, with the revenue returning to the ZCU.
The surplus will be put towards other projects on the ground.
It is also intended to develop the basic facilities on these
grounds; the electrical system at Queens has already been
upgraded and the intention is shortly to do the same in Harare.
The tented village on the west side of the ground is nowadays a
very important and attractive feature of the one-day matches
especially at Harare Sports Club, having developed from a mere
four or five tents a few years back to about thirty today. They
now include such things as television sets, full-scale lighting
and tea rooms, and it has become an important social area,
especially after a match. So ZCU are considering upgrading the
electrics on that side of the ground as well to make an
increasingly pleasant area for people to come and watch. The
idea of building a grassy embankment in the area has also been
proposed.
No permanent development in the form of stands is therefore
planned at present for the east side of the ground, although the
nets and practice area for players will be upgraded and extended,
together with the floodlights which are still there from the
former rugby area. It is envisaged that eventually good
facilities will be provided for up to 15 000 spectators in Harare
and 10- to 12 000 at Queens, and all to be completed by 2002 in
preparation for the World Cup. There is also the small matter of
inflation in Zimbabwe, currently running officially at 70%, so
the sooner they are completed the cheaper it will be.
Matabeleland has been complaining for many years that they have
not had a fair slice of the cake when it comes to international
cricket - this season, for example, they host one Test against
Harare's three, although five one-day internationals against
seven - but Mr Everington insists that the ZCU are keen to give
Bulawayo a fair share. Harare Sports Club at present hosts more
international cricket than any other ground in the world and they
are very happy to use Queens regularly, as an excellent ground,
in many ways a better cricket arena than the Harare Sports Club.
The idea of floodlit cricket in Zimbabwe has been tossed around
for some time, but this is actually very low on the ZCU's list of
priorities. The cost of installing lights would be in the region
of 50 million Zimbabwe dollars, while the costs of running them
would also be huge, too great for them to recover through
increased revenue from other sources. Mr Everington also feels
that floodlit cricket in other countries is beginning to lose
some of its appeal as the novelty wears off.
Although at present there are not the facilities or support for
full international matches in the minor provinces, considerable
progress is being made in Kwekwe, centre of the Midlands. Mutare
in the eastern highlands is also seen as a significant centre
worthy of hosting first-class matches, at present just in the
Logan Cup and matches involving such touring teams as county
sides or UCBSA Bowl games. The ZCU is keen to give these two
small cities as much cricket of this sort as possible.
Kwekwe have just had a 'magnificent' centre of excellence put in
by Nissan, and plans are to employ a couple of coaches in the
area and to develop a proper administration. ZCU plans to spend
some money there not just on development but also to upgrade such
facilities as covers, boundary ropes and sightscreens, and a new
small spectator stand. Kwekwe has already good enough facilities
to cater for first-class matches, and it is unfortunate that they
have recently suffered serious problems with their ground. They
have lost most of the grass on their pitch, which led to a
disastrous match between the Sri Lankans and the CFX Academy, and
it has been necessary to transfer a Bowl match away from them; it
will probably take at least a year before their ground is fit for
use again.
Mutare is a possibility for further development, and the
Manicaland association has been approached and invited to make
suggestions about what they would like within a certain
framework, as a basis for discussion.
Masvingo and the Lowveld must not be forgotten. Although at
present there is little in the way of well-developed cricket
facilities in Masvingo town, there are excellent facilities in
Triangle in the south-east of Zimbabwe. The overwhelming problem
is getting there, as the local aerodrome cannot handle aircraft
large enough to carry two teams, and it would not be easy to talk
into international teams into making a 500-kilometre coach trip
to play there.
The idea to extend Zimbabwe's cricket season into the winter
months is gaining ground, and the current wet conditions
surrounding the Sri Lanka tour give weight to that idea. Mr
Everington remembers playing cricket in Malawi, where the season
ran from April to September, and is keen to see top-class cricket
played in those months; there is, he says, no better place in the
world to play cricket in those months when rain is rare, the sun
is expected to shine all day long and the daytime temperatures
are in the region of 20 degrees Celsius. Already the West Indies
have been booked in for the 2001 winter and certain other
countries have also expressed an interest.
It also makes good sense from a business point of view, Mr
Everington avers, as at present ZCU are incurring twelve months'
expenses but only six months' income. He feels that by extending
the season by three months at one end or the other they can get
nine months' worth of cricket. This would be a handicap for
players wanting to play in England at this time of year, though,
but Mr Everington feels this could be matched by the quality of
cricket available playing against Test-playing countries who
would probably be able to tour for longer periods.