Author: ELKANA KUHENGA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: PREPARATIONS for this year’s Advanced Players Cricket League (APL), reportedly going on well at Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club, ahead of the event’s opening shootout in early August this year.
Organised by Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA), the annual event normally involves elite cricket players from different leagues in and outside the country.
From its opening day on August 8th, the tournament will rage on for eight days before winding up at the same venue on August 16th involving six teams in the showdown.
According to TCA Communication Officer, Atif Salim the league will be played in 20 overs and officially named as Advanced Players League (APL). It will involve both senior players and Under 19 youngsters.
“This is an annual TCA event which involves all the best players in Tanzania including promising U19 youngsters as well. It is an event that takes place every year and played in 20 overs with six teams formed by 14 players each.”
“The tournament this year however is going to mostly cater to the players playing in the domestic leagues due to the coronavirus scare in other parts of the world. We have sent invitations to all the clubs to send us their players name for selection and the coordinating committee will finalise the names.”
He further elaborated procedures and terms that will be hand-in to select those 84 players and how they will be grouped.
The process will moderated with a panel that will consist of experienced personnel in the cricket fraternity which will also include the National team head coach, Steve Tikolo.
The panel will select the squads and balance them accordingly.
“We have maintained the players’ statistics for the last 2 years online and if the players nominated by their clubs will be on the list they will be looked upon by the committee by their stats and the committee will decide on the selection.”
“In the previous years, professional players from United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya had taken part in the league upon invitation by TCA. This also included National team coach Steve Tikolo who played in the inaugural series back in 2008.”
To make it equal for all six teams and ensure a competitive league, Salim stressed that they know the players personally and their statistics thus balancing those six teams “will be ideal for the technical ability but also will consider age, experience and player commitment.”
