The International Cricket Council, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa Qualifier kicked off in Rwanda over the weekend, with all teams starting the long journey towards the dream of the blue ribbon ICC event in Australia, in 2022.
Only if it had been a real knockout clash, Rwanda’s campaign would have ended on the first day of the competition because a poor show with the bat shows a lot of work still needs to be done by cricket head coach Martin Suji if the host is to take care of the other teams.
In the opener, Rwanda lost to Ghana in a nail biter by 52 wickets at Gahanga cricket stadium.
Ghana won the toss and elected to field, required 3 runs off the final ball and Devender Singh pulled off a heist to post a six to win the game and break the hearts of the home fans. Samson Awiah became the first bowler for Ghana to take a five-wicket haul in T20Is.
Rwanda’s Eric Niyomugabo posted 48/34 , Orchide Tuyisenge managed 33 runs out of 36 balls Zappy Bimenyimana posted 2/32 (4 overs)
The game ended with Uganda 169/4 in 20 overs and the host Rwanda managed 63 in 15.1 overs.
The host went to suffer a second defeat to Uganda by 106 runs. Uganda, elected to bat first posting 169/4 in 20 overs Ronak Patel managed 63 (37) and Saud Islam picked up 43 (43).
Rwanda take on Seychelles in the third game on Monday at ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa Qualifier Group A.
In the other games played at IPRC ground on the opening day, Eswatini defeated neighbors Lesotho in a big scoring game. Malawi beat Swaziland by 8 wickets on Sunday while Swaziland beat Lesotho by 54 runs.
Ghana took on Malawi at Gahanga in the morning fixture on Monday, before Rwanda battled with Seychelles in the afternoon. Lesotho played Uganda in the morning game to play at IPRC before facing Eswatini in the afternoon.
The winners of Group A and B in Rwanda this week will join Kenya and Nigeria in Africa Qualifier, where they will compete for a spot in the global qualifiers.
