The Sunday Mail
Milton Shumba, the all-rounder in the Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket team, is set to play in his second ICC U19 World Cup slated for January 13 to February 3 in New Zealand.
The 17-year-old made his debut at 15 during the previous World Cup in Bangladesh and as Zimbabwe prepares to leave for New Zealand this Tuesday, Shumba believes he has developed the heart of a lion through his experiences with the team.
“Firstly to be where I am now it’s because of the sacrifices I made as a young boy and a lot of commitment as well,” he said. “The willingness to get better every single day pushed me and we all know that it is only in the dictionary where success comes before work. “I have clocked many hours and worked so hard to improve my game,” Shumba said.
And improve he has. He was part of the Zimbabwe team at the Africa T20 Cup in 2016 and the Churchill School pupil got a call to the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy side, Rising Stars, where he scored a fifty on his First Class debut against Mountaineers last month.“I was happy and disappointed at the same time. While I felt I should have scored more runs, it was a great feeling raising that bat on my first game. “That moment alone went a long way in boosting my confidence.
“I wasn’t expecting it to come this early, but I was really eager to get that opportunity before the World Cup,” said Shumba who was the first player amongst the current U19 squad to play in the Logan Cup.
“I found out that playing First-class cricket is all about confidence and self-belief so after scoring a half century on debut, I took that as a big plus and also as a sample of what I am capable of doing. The Mankad incident that dumped Zimbabwe out of the previous World Cup at the hands of eventual champions West Indies broke Shumba’s heart, but he says he has moved on. Moreover, Zimbabwe got their revenge when they also effected the Mankad dismissal during the second Youth ODI against West Indies in Marondera in July.“We have moved on.“We play the game tough and hard, but in the spirit of the game,” he said.
Zimbabwe is in group C together with Australia and India and Papua New Guinea.
