VISITING Australian cricket coaches have been impressed by the abundance of natural cricket talent in Zimbabwe and are looking forward to helping upskilling the young budding talent from disadvantaged communities through the Grassroots Cricket initiative.
Grassroots Cricket is a not-for-profit organisation which harnesses the power of cricket to help transform young lives in vulnerable communities of Zimbabwe by providing life coaches, life skills and essential support.
Trevor Chapell and Peter Buchanan have already conducted coaching clinics in Glen View, Bindura and during their off day on Sunday, they also conducted a training session with Prince Edward High School and players from Methane Lions.
“I have seen a lot of talent, both boys and girls. They have natural ability in throwing and running, probably lack a bit on the technical side of things,” Buchanan told NewsDay Sport.
“We try and teach the basics, catching, throwing, how to bat and how to hold a cricket ball, while having fun.”
Buchanan believes that the Grassroots Cricket programme has the ability to change the Zimbabwean cricket landscape.
“This programme is certainly going to help the country, your cricket had slowed down from a considerable period of time, but it’s starting to pick up again,” he added.
Chapell, who was a right-handed batter, played three Test matches and 20 One-Day Internationals for Australia.
- Garwe revels in domestic double success
- Garwe revels in domestic double success
- Cricket initiative targets disadvantaged communities
- Cricket initiative targets disadvantaged communities
Keep Reading
He is a member of one of Australia’s famous cricket families that includes his older brothers, Greg and Ian.
Like Buchanan, Chapell was impressed with the level of natural cricket talent in the country and believes quality coaching should start at a young age without killing their natural flair.
“It is very important for players to get quality coaching at a young age. There is a lot of natural talent in Zimbabwe,” Chapell said.
“The level of technical skills I have seen so far is not too bad, the best way for young players to learn their skills is being out there and playing not necessarily in a structured coaching situation. When it is not structured the natural flair comes through.
“The junior enthusiasm is there, just needs to be harnessed a bit and directed in the right direction. Sport is an opportunity to make a living.”
In the world of T20 with many children preferring the shortest format over Test cricket, Chapell believes that the batters still need the batting solidity that is learned by playing Test cricket.
“The batting technique needs to be solid for you are to be able to hit the ball to the boundary but if you can't stop a good length ball to hit the stumps it is not going to last very long,” he said.
“For the longer version is not just about hitting the boundaries but there are other options to score. You also need to learn how to survive when the bowlers bowls a good ball.
“Good running between the wickets is also very important in the modern game. Every run in a 20-over game can be the difference between winning and losing.”
Chapell was a fine cover fielder in his time and does not see why Zimbabwe cannot become one of the best fielding sides in world cricket.
“The fielding and the natural athleticism of the young Zimbabwe players is incredible so the basis of being a good fielding side is there,” he said.
The founder of Grassroots Cricket, Tawanda Karasa, a Zimbabwean based in Australia, said: “Our aim is that every child has access to quality coaching regardless of their social economic background.
“We primarily target disadvantaged communities in high density suburbs, rural and peri-urban areas. We have been in existence for five years.”
Grassroots Cricket encourages young people to be involved in sport and they use cricket to build their character and link them to opportunities.
Karasa never played cricket before, but saw an opportunity in Australia to help his countrymen back home.
“I am based in Australia and I have been there for about 16 years. I have never played cricket but when I went to Australia, I fell in love with the game. I realised that there were a lot of opportunities in Australia to help children back home at grassroots level,” he said.
“If you want to build a game at a national level, it has to start from the grassroots. Cricket is an expensive sport to play, one of the things we do is to mobilise equipment and transport it to Zimbabwe, donate it to poor schools and communities so that they can play cricket.”
Kurasa is dreaming big and seeks to grow the Grassroots Cricket initiative by building a multipurpose centre.
“Our goal is to establish a multipurpose centre in Zimbabwe where children can come and learn cricket,” he said.
“We are working with established clubs and where there is an interest in cricket, we have been going there.”
They introduced cricket at Chitsere Primary School and have trained four women cricketers who had never played cricket before and are now coaches.
Through Grassroots Cricket, over 100 children are playing cricket at Chitsere Primary School every second day.
In the four years since Grassroots Cricket was established in Zimbabwe, the programme has reached over 15 000 children, in Kwekwe, Zvishavane, Bulawayo, Harare, Mashonaland Central and many other places in the country.
In 2023, they sponsored a team to represent Zimbabwe at the Street child World Cup in India and they came second.
