T20 Africa Cup: Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton calls for expanded competition

Zimbabwe, playing their first global tournament for six years, beat Pakistan by one run at the men's T20 World Cup on Thursday

Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton wants an Africa Cup of Nations-style cricket championship to help develop the sport on the continent.

The southern Africans not only made it through qualifying to reach the ongoing T20 World Cup's Super 12 stage, but then stunned Pakistan in thrilling fashion on Thursday.

With Namibia opening the tournament by beating Sri Lanka, and South Africa a continual threat at the highest level, Houghton wants an all-encompassing T20 Africa Cup to firmly develop the sport.

"I would love nothing more than to have a [full] African Cup," Houghton told BBC Sport Africa.

At present, the continent's top-tier cricket nations - South Africa and Zimbabwe - do not take part in the event.

"I really do think it's time we got ourselves together - all the cricket nations in Africa - and talked about the chance of having that," the 65-year-old added.

"Asia play the Asia Cup and they're all just getting more and more exposure at a good level. I'm hoping it's not too far off when we can match what they do in Asia and have an Africa Cup and our own little independent sort of 'World Cup'."

Opportunities needed for 'smaller guys'

Last month, the African Cricket Association (ACA) staged the inaugural T20 Africa Cup, which was contested by International Cricket Council (ICC) associate members alone - with the ACA having decided against involving Test nations such as South Africa and Zimbabwe to enable growth in the teams below.

Uganda won the tournament, beating Tanzania in the final in Benoni, South Africa, at the end of an eight-day competition which the ACA says reached a huge global audience.

Kenya, who have appeared at five 50-over World Cups and one T20 World Cup, and Botswana were losing semi-finalists in a tournament completed by Ghana, Malawi, Cameroon and Mozambique.

"It was the ideal venue. It had all the infrastructure and it was great," ACA chief executive Cassim Suliman told BBC Sport Africa.

"We beamed it into 168 countries. We're just waiting for the final figures but it passed the 52 million viewers - it was very successful.

"Giving the smaller guys an opportunity to display the standards of cricket and help them at the same time with cricket development, that's what we are here for."

Namibia did not feature at the T20 Africa Cup this year because of scheduling issues, and missed out on a place in the Super 12 at the ongoing World Cup in Australia

Referring to the all-encompassing Asian Cup, Houghton says that even the teams that do not get to the finals improve because of the inherent challenge provided by qualifying.

"I'd like to see the same thing run through Africa, it's the exposure," said the former Zimbabwe batsman and captain. "Being at a World Cup is number one, but it's also the series around the World Cup as well.

"It's nice that there are so many African sides playing good cricket. Some of the ICC associate member sides like Uganda were also in the qualifiers [for the T20 World Cup] and they played one or two really good games."

In a bid to grow the sport across Africa, Houghton hopes teams such as South Africa will be able to contest the T20 Africa Cup in future.

"I certainly will be singing it from the rooftops because it's important that we all get an opportunity to play against sides like South Africa, the leading side in Africa, and it would be nice to play them more often. An African Cup every two years or so would give us that opportunity."

In the meantime, Houghton, who is in his second spell with Zimbabwe after returning in June, also revealed Zimbabwe are close to agreeing an annual match-up with South Africa.

"We quite recently had talks with the South African Cricket Union about having a bilateral competition with them," he explained,

"Even a couple of one-dayers or a Test every year, which I believe they've agreed to, so we are hoping to get more contact with them."

ACA on a different wicket

The Afro-Asia Cup, first played as a three-match ODI series by select XIs in 2005, could be making a comeback

While Houghton hopes the continent's top teams can test themselves against any side on the continent, the ACA is targeting other experiences for the players in these sides.

ACA chief executive Suliman says his organisation is on the verge of signing a deal with the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) to revive the Afro-Asia Cup as a T20 series.

The inaugural 50-over three-match series, which took place in 2005 [and ended 1-1], involved a combined Asian team made up from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh against an African XI made up from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

The three-match series also took place in 2007, also featuring one T20, but future tournaments were put on hold as attention turned to the rise of the Indian Premier League.

Suliman, however, has revealed the negotiations for the revival of the intercontinental contests, which this time would include Namibian players, are at an advanced stage with their counterparts in Asia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"We had Jay Shah, the president of the Asia Cricket Council, also general secretary of the BCCI, at our AGM and he gave us exciting news about it," Suliman told BBC Sport Africa.

"We will visit to sign an MOU (memorandum of understanding) between the ACC and the ACA. We're just waiting for them to settle down after the World Cup, then we're going to a meeting and we'll revive that aspect of it."

Exposure needed for growth of African cricket

Before facing Zimbabwe at this year's T20 World Cup - a match which was abandoned - South Africa's most recent meeting in any format against African opposition was in October 2018, also against the Chevrons

Suliman says the priority for African cricket at the top end has to be giving the three T20 World Cup participants the best competition they can while also getting Kenya back to their former glories.

"We need to revive Kenya quickly," he added. "They reached the semi-finals in the 2003 World Cup and it's about time that we revive all these potential players and create a good nucleus of team players.

"Namibia continue to move forward. They've done great, and are very productive in the style of game they play. That's brilliant.

"Zimbabwe is going to the same fold as well - getting there [to the T20 World Cup] and going to the second round, which is amazing.

"It's wonderful, it gives encouragement to all the other teams to move in that light. An icon has been created, it guides me to follow it and to reach the biggest stars in the game.

"Unfortunately Namibia are out though, but that's how the game goes. We have three African teams moving forward. We are proud of Zimbabwe right now and also with South Africa forging ahead.

"As you can see Africa is moving and we want to see more teams coming into the format, into international competitions."

Suliman added they plan to launch the first women's edition of the T20 Africa Cup, compromising six teams, before March 2023, saying the competition was first mooted in 2019 only to be delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.