Tanzania: No Friendlies for Cricketers

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Suleiman Jongo

15 March 2011

The Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) has cancelled its plans to organise an international friendly for the national team ahead of the 2011 Africa Advanced Players League (APL).

This means the national team will travel to Johannesburg, South Africa for next month’s APL without playing any high-profile warm-up.TCA chief executive officer Zulfikar Rehemtullah said yesterday that the team would, instead concentrate on residential training.

“Our decision to call off the international trials for our national team stems from the fact that we don’t have enough time to organise such friendlies,” Rehemtullah said.Kenya’s national cricket team is among the teams that had been earmarked for the warm-ups, according to the TCA official.Tanzania will battle it out against six powerful countries in the inaugural continental tournament.

The list also has the likes of Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Namibia and hosts South Africa.

Rehemtullah said he was optimistic that their decision to cancel the warm-ups will not affect the team, a statement that will likely draw mixed feelings from the sport’s stakeholders.

His optimism stems from the fact that most of the players making up the team featured for their respective teams in the domestic APL, which featured nine professional players from India, Kenya and South Africa.

The tournament, which took place in Dar es Salaam, saw Twiga Warriors crowned the champions after breezing past the Dar Devils by 31 runs.

The national team has four professional players who ply their trade in the UK. They are: Hamis Abdallah and Athuman Kakonzi, who feature for first division Watford Town Cricket Club. Others are Khalil Rehemtullah (23), who plays for Abbots Langley Cricket Club in Leicester City and batsman Abhik Patwa, who features for Countesthope.

But Rehemtulla’s lads should be careful if they really want to avoid embarrassment in South Africa because most of the teams lined up for the six-team tournament are now in New Delhi, India for the Cricket World Cup.

AllAfrica – All the Time