By Yvonne Sakala –
THE Zambia Cricket Union (ZCU) has praised the media for playing a pivotal role in the development of cricket in the country.
ZCU president Reuben Chama said this at the ZCU-organised journalists’ cricket seminar held at Lotus Primary School in Lusaka.
He said the union felt indebted to host the course in order to equip sports journalists with cricket etiquette.
He said journalists needed to understand the basics of the sport so that they report on cricket happenings with authority.
He said most journalists in the country had little knowledge on the scoring in the game, adding that the seminar would help them understand the basics of the game.
“As part of our developmental project, we feel it’s important to hold such type of seminars for our friends in the media and help them understand the sport more. They write reports on cricket, but they don’t understand it fully.
“We are trying by all means to make sure the journalists understand the basics of the game so that even when they are doing their reports, you will be able to relate and interpret what you are writing,” Chama said.
He said cricket was slowly, but steadily making positive strides in the country because of the reports in the media.
Chama said the union’s core duty was on development and that it would ensure more schools were introduced to the sport.
He said the union had gone a step further in developing cricket with 199 schools taking part in the sport.
He said 7, 000 boys and girls had been captured under the International Cricket Council (ICC) Africa regional development programme, and that the union was still spreading its net wider to attract more younger players to the sport.
The seminar was conducted under the auspices of the ICC Africa regional development programme and attracted 20 participants from both the print and electronic media.
All the participants were awarded with certificates of attendance.