Harare, 27 August 2023 – Stanbic Bank has been commended for its contribution towards junior cricket development through sponsoring the annual Stragglers Junior Cricket week.
The Stanbic Bank sponsored Stragglers Junior Cricket week roars into life this morning as the financial services institution plays its part in grassroots cricket development.
Stragglers Chairlady, Win Ives said Stanbic’s contribution is imperative to the success of Stragglers Junior Cricket Week.
“Among many other areas Stanbic Bank assists greatly in hosting the development sides that join us. It is the one event of the year where 500 young cricketers can showcase their abilities,” said Ives.
She said this cricket week has been running for over 60 years and applauded Stanbic Bank for being involved for almost half of that period.
During the weeklong event the budding cricketers from different socio-economic backgrounds rub shoulders in a well-planned cricket experience with youngsters coming from areas as far as Bindura, Shamva and Bulawayo to play limited overs cricket.
The grade 4 and 5 cricketers play in the morning and the grade 6 and 7s in the afternoon. The players are placed into teams named after cricketing countries – Zimbabwe, West Indies, India, England, Australia, and Sri Lanka to name a few. Each Country challenges a different country every day during the week in limited overs matches. All cricketers are rotated and every player has a chance to bat and bowl. Certificates are awarded to high achieving cricketers.
Ives said while this successful model remains, it is fine-tuned every year to ensure its smooth running.
“Every year we have budding cricketers who are successful in their school cricketing career and endeavour to go further after school. While we do not keep track of all of them, it is always exciting to see some familiar names in the senior school age groups and at national level,” said Ives.
She said Stragglers exposes the development sides to all levels of talent and gives them the opportunity to play the game with sides they would not normally play against.
Ives said Stragglers Junior Cricket Week was designed to share the passion and the love of the cricket game adding that this is achieved annually as the young cricketers leave the week wanting to play more and having established firm friendships around the game.
“Every year, Stragglers Junior Cricket Week showcases a huge amount of talent and passion, this we feel is essential for the survival and future of cricket in Zimbabwe. The demographics of Stragglers Junior Cricket Week are very broad and lifetime friendships are created during the week thanks to this wonderful game of cricket and of course Stanbic Bank,” said Ives.
Stanbic Bank Acting Head, Brand and Marketing, Tariro Memo said the leading financial services institution is committed to playing its part in shaping the future of cricket in the country through the programme.
“Cricket is among the top sporting disciplines in the country and as a Bank, Stanbic is pleased to play a pivotal role in nurturing talent from a tender age as we appreciate that these young ones are tomorrow’s Chevrons. Recent sterling performances by the senior cricket teams have spurred us to keep supporting Stragglers given that the sport is not only growing in popularity, but the performance levels have risen as well,” said Memo.
She said the beauty about Stragglers Junior Cricket week is that the players get to play as many as five games throughout the week as well as getting to bat and bowl, shaping the young ones into all round players.
The junior cricketers are exposed to high level cricket under the guidance of some of the country’s top coaches as well as some members of the Chevrons who come to give some cricketing tips.
Stragglers Junior cricket week takes place every August School holidays at Hartmann House and St George’s College as a way of allowing the young players to let off steam after a demanding second school term.
Memo said Stanbic Bank was not only committed to ensuring that its clients’ banking needs were met but also to change the face of the communities in which it operates through well-structured Corporate Social Investment (CSI) initiatives.
‘Stragglers is one such initiative which is multi-pronged as it covers the education and sport pillars while also ensuring that the young ones stay healthy throughout the week-long event. We all know that a healthy body is a healthy mind so the benefits of Stragglers are far reaching,” said Memo.
Stanbic’s CSI initiatives span education, environment and sanitation as well as education. In sport, Stanbic Bank has assisted national hockey and tennis teams to participate in key tournaments.
