Held at Falcon College, Esigodini 1 - 5 April 2002 ORGANISER'S REPORT

Introduction
Overall I believe that this little tournament was a success. Competitive cricket was played, although the standard was variable. Players and officials all appeared to get on and enjoy themselves and that is a very important aspect. The weather was fine. All in all it was a good week.

Teams
Four teams were involved: Matabeleland, Mashonaland Country Districts (including players from Manicaland, Midlands and Masvingo) and two equal strength sides from Mashonaland (Harare).

Officials
ZCU representative : Mr Nick Singo
Matabeleland : Coach - Mr Chris Phiri, Manager - Mr Richard Harrison
MCD : Coach - Mr Neil Ferreira, Manager - Mr George Tandi
Mashonaland `A' : Coach - Mr Stanley Timoni, Manager - Mr Kevin Igoe
Mashonaland `B' : Coach - Mr Walter Chawaguta, Manager - Mr Colin Rusere
Mr Mehluli Sibanda, a reporter from The Chronicle was also around for the duration of the tournament

Transport
The Matabeleland boys largely made their own arrangements with parents and friends to travel out to Falcon. Two of them came down with the Milton bus, which was being used for the long haul trips and brought the Harare and Districts boys.

Hosting, accommodation, catering
Teams were all billeted in Founders House, one of the hostels at the College. The officials used a large but currently empty staff house nearby. All meals were taken in the Dining Hall. Two fields, Main Field and Oval Field, were used. Thanks and credit must go to the following for making the event possible : Mr Reg Querl, Headmaster of Falcon College, for allowing the tournament to take place at the school, Mr Ian Johnston and his staff for the catering, Mr Stewart Coulson and his staff for the pitches and grounds, Mrs Phyllis Watson and her staff for the housekeeping, Mrs Lo Simpson for being on stand-by as the San Sister.

Away from the cricket
There is a limit to what Falcon can offer given its geographical position but I hope we didn't do too badly! A television was set up in the hostel for use of both boys and officials. On the Wednesday evening a large screen projection was organised for a mass watching of the One Day International between South Africa and Australia. For the officials, The Bushtick, the school pub was in use. The players were able to patronise the school tuck shop (after some initial problems) to purchase drinks and tuck. On the Thursday lunchtime, a viewing was organised of the school snake club for those who wanted to watch puff adders and pythons being fed. Otherwise various ball games were improvised under the Main Field floodlights and much socialising was done!

Many thanks are also due here to Mr Orlando Fernandes for running the The Bushtick, Mrs Liz Cumming for stepping in to look after the tuckshop and to Mr Dave van Wyk for organising the TV and video projection and also showing off the snakes.

Incidents and accidents
No event involving schoolboys could go off without something going wrong, but we managed to come as close as possible. There was a problem with electricity in one dormitory on the first night, a flooded toilet area on the first full day. A couple of plasters and one ice-pack were required but fortunately the cricket and any off-field high jinks passed off without any serious injury or illness coming to my attention.

Support
There was a reasonable amount of parental support at the cricket. Largely from Matabeleland, there were also some who had made the journey down from Mashonaland. The efforts of all who came out to watch were appreciated.

Complaints
Almost no serious complaints were thrust at me and I trust that means there were none. Some concern was voiced about the fixtures programme and the `B' field. The answers appeared to be accepted, if not to total satisfaction. I acknowledge that I did not realise the two Mashonaland sides were of equal strength when I planned the programme and I still maintain that the Oval Field is not as bad as it sometimes looks. The fact that the team batting second won twice and that early morning dampness was not a factor, I believe, bears me out. The other complaint to register is that notification of the tournament was very late. Matabeleland and Falcon, for example, only heard about it two weeks prior to it taking place.

Umpiring and scoring
For logistical reasons this had to be done by the officials. I believe the standard was high. I might draw attention to two minor mistakes: a ball must bounce more than twice before reaching the batsman if it is to be a no-ball; likewise, a slow full toss above waist height from a spinner is only a no-ball in limited overs cricket. I would be delighted if all U16 cricket umpiring was to this standard! Players seemed confident of the umpiring and even disappointment was only registered when off the field or through a polite enquiry about a decision. For this reason, an inexcusable show of dissent by Chirinda on the first day, stood out for the appalling behaviour it was. Scoring was done by a combination of 12th men, batsmen and officials (who did a fair bit actually). Matabeleland did have their own scorer, an injured player who still wanted to be involved.

The cricket
Matches were played as `declaration games' with the proviso that the team batting first could not bat longer than 60 overs (Mashonaland `A' bowled out off the last ball of the 60th over v Matabeleland were the closest to doing so) and the second batting team would be allowed a maximum of 50 overs.

Tuesday 2 April : 	MCD drew with Mashonaland `A' (MOTM : Glen Querl)
			Matabeleland beat Mashonaland `B' by 2 wickets (MOTM : Russell Kambarami)
Wednesday 3 April :	Matabeleland beat MCD by 1 wicket (MOTM (shared) : Paul Trethowan, Roland Benade)
			Mashonaland `A' drew with Mashonaland `B' (MOTM : ?)
Thursday 4 April :	Matabeleland drew with Mashonaland `A' (MOTM : Russell Kambarami)
			MCD beat Mashonaland `B' by 4 wickets (MOTM : Lesley Gaylard)

A small point of note is that Matabeleland was the only side to bowl the opposition out in all three matches, while itself never once being fully dismissed (though admittedly 9 wickets down twice!). They also contrived 3 exciting tense finishes, when any result was possible.

A points system was devised for the matches to introduce a certain element of competition and the final table is shown below. There is no way Matabeleland was the strongest of the teams but they played together well as a team with great commitment and enthusiasm and managed to keep their heads in the tight finishes they had on each of the three days. Dividing the Mashonaland boys into two equal sides undoubtedly weakened them. A full strength Mashonaland side, I do not doubt, would have won, but I personally do not believe it would be quite as strong a side as some would have me believe. All teams were depleted to a greater or lesser extent by boys being injured or unavailable.

					P	W	D	L	Bonus		Total
	Matabeleland			3	2	1	0	    3		    12
	Mashonaland Districts	3	1	1	1	    3		    8
	Mashonaland A		3	0	2	0	    1		    4
	Mashonaland B		3	0	1	2	    2		    3

Awards
There was a Man of the Match award for each match (winners indicated above), while at the end of the tournament further awards were presented :

Player of the Tournament : Russell Kambarami (Matabeleland)
Best Batsman : Matthew Brundle (Mashonaland `B')
Best Bowler : Russell Kambarami (Matabeleland)
Best Fielder : Njanji (Mashonaland `A')
Best Wicket keeper : Eric Layard (Mashonaland `B')

© Cricinfo