Stanbic Twenty20 goes national

Sport
BY ALBERT MARUFU ANOTHER year, same teams, different venues but the same old story of excitement remains as cricket fans brace for yet another addition of the Stanbic Bank T20 Series set for later this year.

Last year, the same tournament gave local fans a chance to watch legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara and South Africa’s Lance Klusener among a host of other legends in action and this year is proving to be no different as organisers of the tournament promise more.

The sight of Lara, the West Indies’ legendary batsman in Southern Rocks colours rubbing shoulders with local favourite Tatenda Taibu was something to remember for local fans last year.

Though Lara had a subdued tournament, his 65 run haul off 47 balls, albeit in a losing cause as his side crushed to a 28 run loss to Midwest Rhinos is still fresh to those who were at Harare Sports Club on November 13 last year.

“Zulu”, as Klusener is known also added to the excitement in Mountaineers’ colours.

Now, to spread the excitement across the country, this year will see champions Mashonaland Eagles, Southern Rocks, Tuskers, Midwest Rhinos and Mountaineers playing the game in the country’s three major cities Bulawayo, Gweru and Harare, instead of battling it out in Harare only as has been the norm.

Dirk Viljoen, the Public Relations and sponsorship manager at Dominus Sport organisers of the event told Standardsport that they have also added youth teams to the extravaganza with the scrapping of the third and fourth play-offs.

“The whole idea is continuity and we hope to bring in more top names as you are aware that last year we had big names such as Lara and Klusener (who respectively played for Southern Rocks and Mountaineers) gracing the event.

“This year we want to take the game to the people and as opposed to the games being played only in Harare, the games will start in Bulawayo then move to Kwekwe with the last four days being in Harare,” he said.

Viljoen added that they also hoped to have the Under-19 teams or top schools boys teams competing instead of the third and fourth play-offs.

The Stanbic T20 will last for two weeks from November 12.