Zimbabwe U-19 women's team coach, Trevor Garwe, has described the just ended Kwibuka Women's T20I tournament as a perfect platform for his charges in preparation for next year's Under-19 T20 World Cup.

Zimbabwe Cricket was represented by an emerging side at the annual Kwibuka Women's T20I tournament with 12 of its players aged between 15-19 years.

The bulk of the players are eligible to represent Zimbabwe at the T20 World Cup next year and coach Garwe believes the tournament played a major part in the team's preparations for the global showcase.

"The Kwibuka tournament actually helped us in our preparations for the Under 19 World Cup as it gave the players a proper test of game situation.

"As a coach, I am really happy with the exposure that was given to the team and really thankful to Zimbabwe Cricket for the opportunity that they gave us in preparation of the World Cup," said Garwe. Zimbabwe finished second at the tournament after losing by two runs to Uganda in a final match played on Saturday.

Despite the loss in the final, Garwe believes that there were a lot of positives to be drawn from the tournament.

"In a couple of games, we struggled with our fielding and bowling, but as the tournament went on we saw some improvements. And also the way the opening partnership of Kelis (Ndhlovu) and Beloved (Biza) performed in three innings with a partnership of over 80 is a good sign going into our preparations for the World Cup.

"I think there are some of the positives that we can take out of the tournament, but overall I think as a team we need to work on match awareness," said Garwe.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe U-19 captain led the list of players that shone at the tournament for Zimbabwe as she named the player of the tournament.

Ndlovhu who had three player of the match awards was also named as the batter of the tournament, while Chiedza Dhururu was named the fielder of the tournament.

Ndlovhu was also named in the team of the tournament together with Loryn Phiri and Beloved Biza.