ICC boss visits Zimbabwe to discuss hosting possibilities

INTERNATIONAL Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Manu Sawhney has visited Harare to hold preliminary discussions with Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC)’s top brass on the hosting of ICC events in the period from 2023 to 2031.

International Cricket Council  Chief Executive Manu Sawhney

Sawhney, accompanied by ICC Commercial General Manager Campbell Jamieson, today met with ZC Chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani and the ZC executive trio of acting Managing Director Givemore Makoni, Director of Cricket Hamilton Masakadza and Head of Finance and Administration Feroza Shariff before proceeding to meet Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry.

His visit is part of the ICC’s initiative to meet all members to brief them on the process to be adopted for the allocation of ICC events in the 2023-2031 cycle comprising eight men’s events, eight women’s events, four men’s Under-19 events and four women’s Under-19 events.

“The main purpose of their visit was to discuss with us the next ICC cycle, which is 2023-2031, and the various possibilities that are there for us to host ICC events,” Mukuhlani said.

The ZC Chairman said Zimbabwe will be looking to bid for more ICC events after successfully hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 and the ICC Women’s Qualifier Africa 2019.

“Those qualifiers were, in the ICC’s view, the turning point for what is possible in Zimbabwe,” Mukuhlani said.

“They were able to see that there is a cricket culture and that there are cricket fans here.“They were impressed with what they saw in 2018 and the way we hosted and that will always be a reference point when we make proposals to bid for the next ICC events.”

During their meeting, the parties also took the opportunity to discuss the strategic business, financial and cricket plan that ZC and the ICC have been working on together since 2018.

“We also discussed ZC and where we are in so far as our programme with the ICC is concerned, how far we have progressed and how things are shaping up here in Zimbabwe,” Mukuhlani said.

“It was a positive engagement and we are looking forward to a better future for ZC and our cricket.” – ZimCricket