“We will show the world that there is more to our country than the lies they peddle about us,” [Mugabe] said. “The great cricketing countries will come and we will welcome them and we will beat them.”
An official said work on upgrading the Harare Sports Club, site of the country’s first Test-level match against India in 1992, would begin as soon as possible, at a cost of about $50m. The ground, buttressed by the Presidential Palace and Royal Harare Golf Club in the centre of the city, accommodates only 10000 spectators. This will be increased to 50000.
One stand at the renovated ground would be named after the disgraced former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, Mugabe said. He did not say who the other stands would be named after, nor did he give any further details about the planned reconstruction.
