Junior cricket tourneys deserve more attention

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s senior cricket team has got another opportunity to battle for the country’s prestige at the international level, as it participates in the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 in Malaysia.

The top two sides in the event will qualify for the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 and the third and fourth placed outfits will retain their places in the Division 5. The last two teams will be relegated to the ICC World Cricket League Division 6.

Tanzania’s attempt to secure qualification for the Division 4, unfortunately, have started on a disappointing note as the squad has already conceded two defeats at the hands of Jersey and tournament hosts, Malaysia.

The East African side’s 122-run defeat to Malaysia in the opening match on Thursday and the 102 runs’ loss to Jersey the following day, means it has to cover every blade of grass in the remaining three matches against Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Nigeria to stay in contention for a place in the Division 4.

Tanzanian cricket followers, for that matter, will have to put their fingers crossed hoping to see the senior national squad turn around its fortunes in what is definitely a challenging campaign.

The most notable feature in the present senior national squad is the presence of several promising young players, a move that has reflected the desire by the Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) to focus on a slow, serious overhaul of the squad with a view to improving chances of excelling in major continental and international tournaments.

Talented young players, Arshaan Jessani, Kishen Kamania and Salum Jumbe, are among the youngsters that have made their way into the senior squad following a string of impressive performances in both domestic competitions and the national U19 cricket side.

The mentioned players have, so far been the most consistent performers among domestic junior players and solid performances they put in the Africa Cricket Association (ACA) U19 Twenty20 Division 2 tournament in South Africa in 2012, in particular, contributed immensely to their selection for the senior national squad.

In domestic competitions, Jessani, Kamania and Jumbe have equally been in good form and have turned into dependable players for their clubs, Aga Khan SC, Upanga SC, and Academy Boys respectively. And chances for the trio to live up to the expectations of the senior national cricket squad’s coach, Zully Rehemtullah, in the Malaysia tournament are definitely huge going by the performance that Jessani and Jumbe, for instance, have put in the first two matches.

Jessani, arguably, had an impressive debut for the senior national squad in the Friday match against Jersey, in which the youngster scored 28 runs off 57 balls to finish his innings with a strike rate of 49.12.

It was a significant contribution with the bat for Jessani, who was the sixth batsman in the order, as he helped his side post a respectable score of 144 runs by the time he was caught by Jersey’s EJ Farley off a delivery by CJ Bodenstein with 81 balls remaining.

Jumbe, who is currently among promising medium pace bowlers at the domestic level, did not have much impact with the bat in his debut spell for the senior squad in the match against Malaysia but he managed an encouraging bowling display after conceding only 22 runs in the wicket-less two overs.

Senior national team’s skipper, Hamis Abdallah, has already spoken highly of the three young players. He, in a recent interview with The Citizen, showered plenty of praise to Jumbe for his stellar performance during the senior national side’s trip to Mumbai and the TCA’s Advanced Players League, which served as preparations for the ICC World Cricket League Division 5.

TCA has, in turn, successfully maintained its preference for providing a considerable number of promising young players a platform for exploiting their potential in global tournaments, a move that has, to some extent, paid off.

The selection of the then promising national U19 players, Ali Mpeka, Rashid Amri and Seif Khalifa for the senior squad that participated in the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 in Italy in 2010 and the inclusion of Nassibu Kelvin in the national squad for the 2012’s World Cricket League Division 5 in Malaysia substantiate the trend.

The onus is now on Jessani, Jumbe and Kamania to maintain their place in the senior national squad and play a key role in the pursuit of either of the top two positions in this year’s ICC World Cricket League Division 5. It is, thus, nothing but resoluteness that can help the trio realize the team’s dream.

The selection of more young players in the senior national cricket team, moreover, is a sure sign of steady progress that TCA enjoys in its junior development programme.

A look at the national junior teams, whose players are expected to step into the shoes of the current senior team’s players in future, however, reveals that there is a lot to do, should TCA dream of grooming more competent performers for the senior side. Much as the national U17 and U19 squads boast of an array of talented youngsters, the two sides have not managed to achieve tangible success at the more competitive stage of the game, notably, continental tournaments.

Consistence, for one, was glaringly lacking in the national U19 squad that participated in the 2012’s ACA U19 Twenty20 Division 2 tournament in South Africa and the Division 1 event in Uganda last year.

This, for that matter, calls for TCA to put special focus on bolstering the performance of the squad by, among other approaches, giving the squad opportunity to play a series of high profile international friendlies with continental cricket powerhouses.

TCA should also go as far as according primary and secondary schools cricket leagues across the country close supervision with a view to raising the level of performance in the events.

The fact that the leagues serve as a breeding ground for most of the players that, later on, feature for the national U17 and U19 teams means the association should not be contented with simply seeing to it that the events take place annually.

Securing reliable financial support for the schools’ competitions should be one of TCA
‘s priorities considering that the move stands to motivate the players and increase competitiveness in the tournaments.

Morogoro, one of the regions that has been contributing a bigger number of players in national junior teams, as a matter of fact, has been less fortunate when it comes to accessing sponsorship for school competitions.

TCA, thus, should do its utmost to attract support from various firms and raise competitiveness in school tournaments in Morogoro and other regions including Mwanza and Tanga, where the cricket development program is still in its infancy.