ZIMBABWE Cricket and Pakistan franchise side Lahore Qalandars have announced a historic arrangement to see local talent spending four months at the side’s high-performance centre.
The deal will also see five express seamers heading to Zimbabwe’s shores, where they will be attached to local franchises.
The announcement was made at a signing ceremony held at Harare Sports Club this Friday.
According to the deal, which will run for a year, ZC is sending eight young cricketers to Lahore, where they will receive expert coaching.
The eight making the trip to Pakistan were identified after a talent scouting exercise that took the Qalandars to Bulawayo and Harare.
The players are Tinotenda Maposa, Tawanda Maposa, Tanunurwa Makoni, Marshal Takodza, Brighton Phiri, Lennox Chando, Davis Marwendo and Alex Falao.
Speaking at the ceremony, ZC Managing Director Givemore Makoni and Qalandars Chief Executive Atif Rana expressed their confidence that the arrangement will improve the quality of the local game and aid in its broader development.
“As Zimbabwe Cricket, we are happy to announce that we have partnered with Lahore Qalandars for an initial one-year period, after which we will review it and quite possibly extend it for at least a year,” said Makoni.
“We are grateful to the Qalandars for giving our young players this opportunity to improve their skills at the Qalandars high-performance centre, which is highly regarded in the cricket world,” Makoni added.
Rana revealed that the arrangement is not just for the young cricketers but also for talented locals.
“Our arrangement with Zimbabwe Cricket is tailored for young players and all talented cricketers. Our facilities and coaches are available to help improve the skills of Zimbabwean cricketers to world-class standards. We are convinced that Zimbabwe has the requisite talent, which our coaches will merely fine-tune to ensure they can compete with the best in the world,” Rana revealed.
“Apart from the eight cricketers attached to Lahore Qalandars for four months, we will also send five seamers to Zimbabwe to play in the domestic game. The idea is to have locals face express bowlers who bowl an average of 140km per hour, which is the world standard today,” said Rana.
Makoni acknowledged the need for local batters to face express seamers at the domestic level to make them competitive on the international scene.
