By Lucas da Paz
There will be some International flavor when local cricket club Melville Storm take on Scarborough in their WACA competition season opener on Saturday afternoon at Tompkins Park.
Nelson Mukuvare, 22, left Zimbabwe to play Cricket in Australia to improve himself as a cricketer with the intentions of going professional whilst studying as an International student at Murdoch University.
“Cricket is my first love, I started cricket when I was six, and my brother taught me how to play it, I was attracted by the sport and I used to watch Australia play cricket on the TV,” Mukuvare said.
The Zimbabwean talent, comes from a small sugar cane town called Chiredzi, the same place as Australian international cricketer and Perth Scorcher’s Hilton Cartwright.
The all-rounder cricketer said he was excited as the season approaches and that he has high ambitions for his team.
“We’ve got to try and play to our best ability, we want to try and make the finals and win a few trophies so we’ll see how it goes” he said.
The WACA competition is one of the higher competitions to play cricket in Western Australia and has many teams from different districts.
Ahead of the first game, Mukuvare said he is well prepared to adapt to the different atmosphere of playing cricket in Australia compared to his home in Zimbabwe.
“It is a lot hotter here in Australia, the people here are more committed to the sport, there are more people coming to watch the games” Mukuvare said.
“There are faster bowlers here in Australia, its tougher competition here compared to Zimbabwe, the bowling is much harder to bat” he said.