English Cricket Side Kent Sign Zim-Born Star Tawanda Muyeye

ENGLAND-BASED Zimbabwe cricket sensation Tawanda Muyeye has made a massive leap in his fledgling cricket career after signing a three-year contract with English county cricket side Kent on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old former Zimbabwe youth international sport scholar at Eastbourne College in the United Kingdom, has been on the radar of several top English sides after he was named Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year for 2020.

The prestigious Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year award is presented by the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, or colloquially the Bible of Cricket – a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom since 1864.

Muyeye became the first Zimbabwean teenager to win the award previously won by England stars Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler, as well as Kent’s Vice-Captain, Daniel Bell-Drummond.

On Wednesday Kent Cricket announced that they had signed Muyeye on a three-year contract with the Harare-born prodigy expressing his delight at realising his dream of becoming a professional cricketer.

“I am delighted to sign for Kent and achieve my dream of becoming a professional cricketer,” said Muyeye.

Kent’s Director of Cricket, Paul Downton, said: “We are really excited that Tawanda has agreed to join us at Kent. He had several offers from other counties and was in high demand.

“As he begins his journey as a professional cricketer, we aim to help him develop as a person and as a cricketer, and to help him fulfil the huge potential he undoubtedly possesses.”

Born in Zimbabwe but qualifying as a domestic player, Muyeye is a highly-talented, attacking batsman, and a useful off-spinner with an outstanding schoolboy record.

In 2019, in his first year in the sixth form at Eastbourne, Muyeye scored 1,112 runs with 56 sixes – both records for the 150-year-old school. He also scored two double hundreds, his second coming from only 135 deliveries.

Muyeye attended Peterhouse Boys School pupil in Marondera before moving to the United Kingdom.

The rising cricket star was named a reserve for Zimbabwe’s 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup squad at the age of 15.

Muyeye however still qualifies to represent both Zimbabwe and England at international level although according to reports in the past, he has set his sights on featuring for the latter.

This article was originally published on New Zimbabwe

Photo: New Zimbabwe