Franchise cricket comes to Botswana
Dumisani Ncube | Thursday March 31, 2016 10:47
Gaborone Cricket Club (GCC), an affiliate of the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) has organised the franchise league. The league will only be active in Gaborone as it is a GCC initiative. Competition started during the Easter Holidays with a number of games taking place.
The franchise teams have already found sponsors from different companies.
“As this concept being introduced to the Botswana cricketing fraternity for the first time, organisers will be looking to improve on quality of cricket for both players and spectators in the coming years as this event will now be annually featured on the GCC calendar as a flagship event,” BCA fixtures and publicity secretary, Sumod Damodar said.
The winners are set to walk away with P12,000 while the runners up receive P6,000. This move has brought excitement to the Botswana cricket as players do not receive financial rewards despite winning the league especially in leagues organised by the BCA.
The teams consist of players of different calibres who have played different formats such as the T20 and 50 Overs. Some of the players had represented their respective national teams such as Botswana and Zimbabwe at different age groups.
Franchise cricket is popular in leading cricket nations such as India, South Africa and Australia.
Weekend fixtures:
Gladiators vs Tigers (Thursday), Blasters vs Panthers (Friday), Gladiators vs Ninjas (Saturday)
All matches start at 7pm.