By Suleiman Jongo, The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA)  is determined to take the sport to a higher level of achievements since the country gained independence 50 years ago, stressing the need for more involvement of girls in cricket in order to lift its standard.

Cricket, which was popular among players of the Asian origin before and soon after independence, has now gained momentum as it is played in many regions, including Morogoro, Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Mwanza.

This was because of the introduction of the sport in primary and secondary schools through the association’s Development Programme, which has produced several young stars including three players, Benson Mwita, Khalil Rehemtullah and team captain, Hamis Abdallah, who are playing in the United Kingdom.

Tanzania is one of the countries hailed by both the International Cricket Council (ICC) and African Cricket Association (TCA) for its continued efforts in the promotion of the fast growing sport in the country.

The staging of the African Under-19 tournament, which climaxed yesterday in Dar es Salaam was a clear indication that progress has been made for the sport’s promotion, especially for women, which still need an emphasis.
Having pioneered the introduction of women’s cricket in the continent, Tanzania is now highly respected in cricket and chances are still coming for the local players to trade skills in Europe.

“We feel obliged to have been given an opportunity to host the inaigural U-19 African event for women on home soil, it was a privilege for us and for the country as far as 50 years of Independence are concerned”, says TCA chief executive officer, Zulfikar Rehemtullah.

“ We will intensify our efforts to promote the sport among women as they are capable of playing”, he says.
“At present, we’ve many girls playing cricket, however, we have a challenge of scouting for others to get married to the sport”, says Rehemtullah.

Through the so-called ‘Chanzo Cricket’, which early this year brought together more than 1,000 pupils from schools, the number of new girl players is set to increase.

 “We’ve brilliant players in the current senior national men and women and juvenile teams, but I believe we will be a force to reckon with on the continent if cricket is played in all regions’, we started in few regions but the target is to cover all regions,” says Rehemtulla.

Hamis Abdallah, who was grown in cricket family since his childhood and now plies skills in Europe showered praise on the TCA for their deliberate efforts to promote the sport.

“We are now a force to reckon with in the continent and we are set to explore more as we progress”, says +Abdallah.

“The TCA has thus far done a tremendous job to promote the sport because it was played by a small group, but now it’s growing in leaps and bounds,” he says.

Women’s cricket is now being played in Morogoro, Arusha and Dar es Salaam with a good number of girls taking part through the TCA’s Development programme.

The endeavour, from its humble beginning in the late 1990s, in just two months became a serious, productive venture that saw once childish players turn into new stars of the Tanzanian cricket team that won countless honours in various international tournaments including World League Division 4 held in Darwin city of Australia and Bologna, Italy competing among other countries, Cayman Islands, Nepal, Afghanistan, Italy, Argentina and the United States of America.

Aneth Banali, the captain of Tanzania National Women team was quoted during last year’s Women’s World Cup qualifiers for Africah held in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi as saying she was seeing a bright future ahead for women’s cricket in the country.

Banali says she sometimes does not believe that they have  turned into such industrious players.
She says that she and fellow national team players like Mwanaidi Ibrahim, who has now become an inspirational golf player, have grown into a close knit family of brothers and sisters.

Banali was among players when the country’s series of success began in 2002, where Tanzanian boys and girls teams emerged winners of East Africa in the under 15 championships in Dar es Salaam where three nations -- Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda participated. 

“We were the overall winners of the inaugural tournament while the boys’ side ended as runners-up,” she says.

The Tanzanian girls continued to shine in the sport the following year in 2003, when they won the under 19 East African championships held in Uganda. Things did not end there, in the same year, the cricketers  had sweetest memories of success when both girls and boys teams won the regional under 17 titles in the event held in Nairobi in December 2003.

The year 2004  also carried its splendours worth recording as Tanzania’s women national cricket team became the first to win the  senior African Championship.

The presence of TCA Cricket Academy or ‘House of excellence’ built at Muhimbili in Dar es Salaam has had a role to play in the development of the team  Khalil Rehemtullah,a senior national team player who, alongside Mwita and Abdallah had a teaching role for kids during their cricket career in the UK, says that the academy is rare on Tanzanian sports arena and other sports ought to have similar institutions if they intend to advance.

Abdallah, who alongside other two players are set to return to UK in April next year for their professional career, says that the development of the sport at the grassroots level was very important.

In the Under-19 African championship, which was staged at Annadil, Dar es Salaam Gymkhana and the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) grounds, the women team proved to be a hard nut to crack, beating all teams like Botswana, Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique.

“We had a triumph performance and are looking forward to continuing our winning spree in other forthcoming major events”, says Esther Wallace, the team’s player.

The  team leaves tomorrow for Uganda to take part in the senior Under-19 tournament, beaming with confidence to shine and return home with the trophy.

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites