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Cricket franchises identities unveiled

By Mehluli Sibanda

THE identities of the country’s five cricket franchises were unveiled last Wednesday during the Zimbabwe Cricket awards held in Bulawayo.


Captains for the five franchises showed off their team colours to the invited guests at the function.
Matabeleland Tuskers was born out of the merger between Bulawayo Metropolitan and Matabeleland North. Tawanda Mupariwa who led Westerns last season is expected to captain the franchise this coming season.
The chief executive officer(CEO) of the franchise is Stanley Staddon, the former chairman of the Bulawayo Metropolitan Cricket Association. Prominent city businessman Delma Lupepe is the chairman of the franchise management committee and will oversee the running of the franchise based in Bulawayo for the next three years.
Former national selectors convener Kenyon Ziehl is the CEO of the Midwest Rhinos, made up of Midlands and Mashonaland West and is based in Kwekwe. Ken Connelly is the chairman for the franchise.
Matabeleland Tuskers are yet to sign their top players Mupariwa, Keith Dabengwa, Sean Williams, Christopher Mpofu, Njabulo Ncube and Mbekezeli Mabuza with some of these players rumoured to be on their way to other franchises.
The players who confided to Sunday Sport said that they were unhappy with the money offered to them and the attitude of CEO Staddon who openly told them that they can go to other franchises as he will sign players from outside the country.
However, the recently appointed franchise management committee led by Lupepe has vowed to ensure the players stay in Bulawayo.
Givemore Makoni, the former senior national team manager is the CEO of the Southern Rocks franchise, a combination of Masvingo and Matabeleland South whose chairman is Richard Billing. Speculation has been rife that the franchise is offering good money to entice the best players to Masvingo. Those who are said to have signed for the franchise include national team captain Prosper Utseya. The rumour mill has gone as far as speculating that the franchise has signed Kenyan Steve Tikolo as their player/coach, which would be an over ambition on their part.
Newsreader Hugo Ribatika is the CEO of the Mashonaland Eagles franchise, which is based in Harare. The franchise is a combination of Harare and Mashonaland Central whose chairman is businessman Farai Matsika. The franchise is understood to have already secured big name sponsors.
Little known Philip Senzani is the CEO of the Mountaineers franchise, a mixture of Manicaland and Mashonaland East. Senzani is said to be have been a well-travelled man who has been based in the United States of America and recently returned to the country.
Harare businessman and Mighty Movies chief executive Supa Mandiwanzira is the chairman of the Mutare based franchise.
The franchise system has replaced the old provincial structures as from this season. This was after Zimbabwe Cricket adopted a recommendation by the world cricket governing body the International Cricket Council to decentralise the running of the game in the country.
Each franchise will receive a grant from ZC, believed to be US$750 000 to finance its operations with extra funding for the franchise to come from sponsorship and other fundraising initiatives.

zimfan1 wrote:Having Steve Tikolo as their player/coach would be good for the game as he has lots of experiance

Kopje wrote:I wonder which foreign players we are going to lure. As i said before, televising the domestic leagues will bring in a lot of money for the franchises.

zimfan1 wrote:Having Steve Tikolo as their player/coach would be good for the game as he has lots of experiance

zimfan1 wrote:Would love to know who these players from outside the country are as they keep on getting mentioned

one player to watch out for a return is Greg Lamb who i have been told has been contacted by a franchise

Experianced middle order batsman who bowls a bit of off spin is exactly the kind of player that we need