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A team led by Matabeleland Tuskers Cricket Franchise’s chief executive officer Stanley Staddon toured the province last week to launch the programme meant to develop the sport at grassroots level.

In an interview yesterday, the Tuskers area manager Vumi Moyo said the schools that got the first batch of the $6 000 worth of development equipment were Tsholotsho’s Nemane High School, St Francis of Lupane, Binga High School and Hwange’s Nechibondo Primary School.

The resort town of Victoria Falls had four schools, Chinotimba Primary School, Kings, Ayoba and Mosi-oa-Tunya High School, benefitting from the first phase of the programme.

“Our development programme has been rolled out and in the next few days we are coming to Bulawayo.

We saw it proper to start in Matabeleland North Province where there are few cricket playing schools. The first phase is to create concrete wickets for those Matabeleland North schools and already work in terms of foundations has started.

“I think in a month or two we should be done with concrete wickets in all those areas,” said Moyo.

Tuskers last month acquired equipment worth $6 000 for use by its coaches in their development programmes at schools.

Moyo said that they donated playing equipment that included bats, balls, gloves and cones.

Tuskers’ chief operations officer Samu Nkiwane was confident that their development programme would yield desired results.

“What we want is to develop the sport from the grassroots and this is our first step in ensuring that cricket spreads to almost all the parts of the country.

“The passion that we saw out there for the sport was amazing as some showed us planks which they used as bats. We gave them proper equipment which we hope will go a long way in developing up-and-coming talent.

“The good thing is that in most of those areas that we travelled to we trained a number of teachers who will spearhead the grassroot programmes,” Nkiwane said.