Zimpapers Logo

Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
FOXES coach Ben Kelvin is confident his table-topping team has what it takes to win the Harare Basketball League despite a morale-sapping 69-73 loss to reigning champions Harare City Hornets over the weekend. Hornets, who represented the country at the AfroBasketball championships in Botswana from October 20-26, are back in the groove after the win which effectively set the league into a riveting three-horse race between them, Foxes and Cheetahs.

But, Kelvin, whose team will be off to Lesotho for the Lesotho Summer Slam Invitational tournament this weekend, believes his charges are good enough to dethrone Hornets. “Obviously, I am very much disappointed by the defeat we suffered at the hands of defending champions Hornets. They are a good team with very competitive lads.

“They have most of the national team players in their ranks. They are fast becoming a regional force and that fact is indisputable. They are also one of the best in the league, but we also showed them what stuff we are made of. We made some mistakes at vulnerable positions and we were punished. But losing to such a magnificent team with just four points shows that we are good enough to be at that top level. We have gone for some games without tasting defeat and I am very confident we will claim a stake come end of season,” he said.

Kelvin said it is disappointing to lose the very fixture which every team would have wanted to win, especially considering that they (Foxes) will be representing the country in Lesotho in a few days’ time.

Foxes, together with Bulawayo-based women’s giants Lakers, are the only teams from Zimbabwe to take part in the annual jamboree in Maseru. “We would have wanted to win our fixture against Harare City Hornets to boost our confidence ahead of the Lesotho trip. But, still we remain confident that we will do our best to try and hoist high the country’s flag.

“We are now experienced enough in terms of regional tournaments so we ought to improve from what we achieved the last time out,” Kelvin said.

Foxes were bundled out in the quarter-finals by Munali Suns in the Swaziland Invitational tournament in May, while they had also been booted out at the same stage by Brave Hearts in a contest hosted by the latter in Lilongwe, Malawi in March.

Kelvin’s Foxes will this time around be banking on such players as national team trialists Tatenda Tswatswa, Christpher Nadolo and Russel Matanhire to make an impact in Maseru.