THE St John’s College Rams T20 Cricket tournament, one of the most entertaining schoolboy events, makes a welcome comeback this morning following the pandemic-forced absence over the last couple of years.
The three-day tournament will see Zimbabwean schools: hosts St John’s College; Falcon College, St George’s, Peterhouse, Prince Edward, Churchill High among others taking part. South Africa’s Clifton High and Westville Boys High will bring the international flavour.
St John’s College Director of Sports Chris Fourie perfectly captured the mood of expectant spectators ahead of the tournament.
“I think these tournaments are very important as they give our young players the motivation to want to play cricket at a senior level,” he said.
“We know we struggle with structures of excellence in this country and that has been a demotivating factor to a lot of players of late. But a tournament of this nature helps players who want to seek structures of excellence after school.
“I think this competition is very vital especially after having been disturbed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The standard of cricket has dropped. So, tournaments like this, especially at the junior level play a critical role in the development of cricket players and hopefully get us back into the top level.”
St John’s College cricket first-team coach David Mutendera concurred with Fourie.
“These tournaments are very important for the development of our youngsters. The St John’s T20 has produced so many top cricket players who are currently playing for the national team,” he said.
“The last we hosted was in 2019. It’s a big festival in terms of the development of young players who can feed into our national team. This is the best platform for the young players to showcase their cricket abilities and talent.
Mutendera also lauded the presence of top South African teams.
“We have always invited South African teams to make the competition strong and it’s also beneficial to our local players to improve their game because of the stiff competition that exists in this competition,” he added.
“It’s not only the local schools but we also invite top regional schools so that we provide strong competition to our local teams that will add to the needed experience and competition to our young stars.”