Graeme Nish
Masvingo cricket lovers are in for a treat this season with the Masvingo based Southern Rocks cricket team set to play four one day Pro50 games and two four day Logan Cup games at Masvingo Sports Club.
Unfortunately the Rocks will be without their national stars Sikander Raza; Blessing Muzarabani and Innocent Kaia for the opening fixture this weekend as they are preparing to leave for Australia where they will be representing Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup.
Kwekwe-based Midwest Rhinos will be the Rocks’ opponents on Saturday when they play a one day 50 over match and the two sides will meet again next Monday for another 50 over encounter.
While the Rhinos will also be without their national players, both sides will have in their line up players who have represented Zimbabwe such as Roy Kaia, Tendai Chisoro and Richmond Mutumbami who will be in the Rocks line up.
Also in the side this weekend will be Ben Curran, who is the son of a former Zimbabwean international, the late Kevin Curran and whose brothers Sam and Tom currently play for England. Ben who plays county cricket for Northamptonshire in the UK turned out for the Rocks last season and was in fine form with the bat.
The Rhinos are expected to be captained by Prince Masvaure and likely to also include Brandon Mavuta and Carl Mumba in their side.
Raza is expected to captain the Rocks team on his return from the World Cup. The 36 year-old, who had a stellar season for the national side and was hugely instrumental in securing Zimbabwe’s qualification for the T20 World Cup which starts in mid-October in Australia.
He was able to repeat his heroics in that qualifying tournament in Bulawayo and in a one day series win for Zimbabwe against Bangladesh in Harare a few weeks later. His performances against the more fancied Bangladesh side saw him rise to a world ranking of four amongst one day batters and also resulted in him being chosen as the International Cricket Council (ICC) player of the month in August.
Entrance to the Masvingo Sports Club is free and it is hoped that a big crowd will turn up to watch what should be a very exciting game.
