daniel chigunwe
Brandon Moyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
A ZIMBABWE Cricket women’s high-performance programme camp is set to get up and running at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo starting tomorrow morning.
The programme, which features budding Under-19 talent and players from the senior national women’s cricket team, is set to run for six weeks and will be overseen by veteran coach and ZC High Performance Programme head coach Steve Mangongo.
Speaking to Zimpapers Sports Hub, Mangongo — who led the men’s Zimbabwe Emerging to gold at the 2024 African Games in Ghana — said this is a crucial step towards the growth and development of women’s cricket in the country.
He said programmes such as the high performance play a key role in ensuring that women’s national teams are competitive against whatever opponent is putting in front of them. The players will be put into two groups of 20 over the next six weeks.
There will be three intakes in a year.
“This is a big programme that has been put on by Zimbabwe Cricket,’’ Mangongo said.
“The Ladies are now part of the Future Tours Programme, so we are now playing with the elite, thus we need to make sure that they are prepared technically and mentally. We need to up-skill the players so that they are ready to play at that level, ready to compete and win games,” said Mangongo.
The Lady Chevrons are in line to make their debut in the International Cricket Council Women’s Championship.
The competition will see Zimbabwe hosting South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, and Ireland, while also playing away matches against India, New Zealand, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, according to the ICC’s 2025-2029 Future Tours Programme.
Mangongo also outlined some of the aspects they will be working on during the programme in a bid to up-skill the players.
“There are three layers that we will be working on . . . Firstly, it’s skill, especially batting. This is a big issue that we need to work on, and then we will look at fitness.
“Your fitness determines your skill execution and then mental toughness. We need to make sure that our players have good game awareness so as to execute their skills.
“This programme is very critical. If we want the results that we know we are capable of, it is important to up-skill our cricketers. It is important because we are creating a wide pool of the best talent that will reach the top,” said Mangongo.
He added that such programmes help in creating a larger selection pool.
“We are trying to create numbers. Our numbers have remained stagnant for some time. So, this programme will give us the required numbers and create competition.
“We will get better products, and if there is a large pool of players to select from, there will be a sense of competition among the group,” said Mangongo.
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