In a startling statement from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Joseph Rego of the Zimbabwe’s Old Mutual Heath Streak Cricket Trust and Academy, in his fresh interview has made a massive comparison of the widely acclaimed Twenty20 competition, Indian Premier League (IPL), with its recently concluded Old Mutual Heath Streak Africa Cricket Cup 2017’s second edition on August 15.
“IPL is all about competitive cricket and here in Zimbabwe we are exposing our youngsters from across Africa to a different style of cricket, facing fierce challenges and competition which is almost similar to the Indian Premier League,” Rego told Daily News.
The tournament has been named after Zimbabwe’s former skipper and fast bowler Heath Streak, who is currently serving as the national team’s coach as well as the president of the Academy.
While talking about its emergence in the South African peninsula, Rego believes the South Africa Cup is very popular among the young prospect in a country which has further attracted different academies from different parts of the nation.
“The rapidly growing cricket extravaganza has been attracting prestigious academies from across Africa,” Rego added.
While making the cricket a home to entertainment as well, Rego feels the short-paced competition would serve as a major platform in the long-run — to lure the quality audience and potential bidders — to make it a huge success owing to the complete package under one roof.
“Consumer youth brands have been eying this event closely as they realise the high potential to market and advertise their brands as their target audience would be kids,” Rego added.
After comparing the tournament for youth in Africa with celebrated league IPL, Rego backs his claims while saying they are working hard, in a process to make it a huge success in the foreseeable future.
“As a professional academy it is our vision to identify, nurture and groom young talent offering them the opportunity to reach their full potential,” Rego maintained.
Moreover, Rego reiterated that they are looking forward to nurse the raw talent and give them the proper opportunity to showcase their skills while performing at the elite-level of cricket like IPL acts as a strongest of the mediums in India to uplift the domestic-level cricket.
“One day [they would] represent the nation at the international level with pride,” Rego asserted.
While focusing on the grassroots level, Rego further added they would like to bring in more plans on the table to offer in abundance for their talented youngsters which would not only come up with the national bench strength but would eventually bring the fresh crop of cricketers in the field of competitive cricket to excel.
“We firmly believe in grassroots level development and age groups structures,” Rego concluded.
In a bid to regain what Zimbabwe was capable of on the cricket field, Rego is confident to improve the state of a national side owing to the fresh vision to overhaul the first-class cricket set-up in Zimbabwe after facing the daunting challenges throughout the past many years.