AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) will meet with cricket teams at Leaders Club in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam to deliberate ways to help them financially.
Various teams and players in cricket leagues in the country are reportedly to have found the going tough financially, as the Coronavirus severely affecting them.
The meeting will involve TCA management along with 18 cricket teams from all Divisions (A, B and C). The teams include Strikers, Caravans, GP, Aga Khan Club, Aces, Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club, Lions Club, Estim, Dar es Salaam Cricket Club and Annadil Burhani.
Other teams include Union Sports Club, K & P Construction, Marylebone Cricket Club, Patel Brotherhood, Dar Black Panther, Tamil Nadu Sports Club, Sandy’s Super Strikers, Royal Strikers.
TCA Communication Officer, Salim Atif told the ‘Sunday News’ yesterday that they have arranged the meeting with all the clubs to hear how they are affected by the pandemic and how the association can help them during this time of crisis.
He added; “Most of the clubs are made up with foreign players, who are working in the country as experts in various fields and some left the country during the crisis.”
Salim said that most cricket teams are facing financial crisis because they are run by sponsors and a few, are self-funded.
He said Covid-19 pandemic has affected some sponsors, as their businesses have been badly hit, forcing them to cut down their sponsorship package.
“The self-funding teams are the most badly hit as these include the working class out of which, some have lost their jobs or have taken pay cuts. In such scenarios, sporting activities for such clubs take a backseat over life necessities,” he said.
“They (clubs) are facing challenges but TCA will try our best to support them and keep the game going,” he said.
Meanwhile, the national cricket team had stepped up training from last Monday as part of preparations for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers. The date for the qualifier is yet to be announced.
It was initially scheduled to be staged from April 25th to May 4th this year in South Africa, before it was suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Salim, the players are training in the groups of three to four at different intervals for five days.
