BY SPORTSCAST WRITER
HARARE – Romario Roach, a teenage star from the West Indies, flew out of London Monday night on his way to Zimbabwe to join the African country’s biggest domestic cricket team.
The 18-year-old all-rounder – a handy batsman and medium pace bowler – will play for Harare-based Mashonaland Eagles during the forthcoming 2023-24 first-class season in a deal facilitated by agent Rob Humphries.
The enterprising UK-based Australian Humphries has close ties with Zimbabwean cricket and has arranged deals for several players from the country to play on England’s club scene.
Roach earlier this year played for Ashmanhaugh and Barton Wanders CC in the Premier Division of the Norfolk Cricket Alliance, winning the league title with the club.
The Barbados Under-19 ace cracked a century on debut for the Norwich-based club. He also took crucial wickets throughout the season.
Roach attended Yorkshire’s Scarborough College, a cricket school, then stayed on in England to play club cricket.
“He has been absolutely phenomenal,” Winston Weekes, a mentor of Roach, told SportsCast from London.
“The club loves him, the people love him, and they are inviting him back next year. And (West Indies great) Joel Garner believes that he is one of the best to come out of Barbados. That I can tell you.”
Roach is likely to be one of a sizable number of overseas professionals featuring in the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s premier four-day tournament.
In July, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) signed a MoU with Pakistani franchise Lahore Qalandars for five seriously fast bowlers from the Asian cricket giant to play in Zimbabwe’s domestic league.
