The ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier curtains came down on Wednesday in Kigali, with Uganda edging Tanzania to qualify to the West Indies next year.
Under a new generation of players, the Baby Cricket Cranes won the Men’s U19 trophy after beating Tanzania by eight wickets in their last game played at the newly developed IPRC Kicukiro ground that favours spin.
Uganda won the toss and opted to bowl first, Joseph Baguma (2/16) backed up by Juma Miyagi (1/12) and Akram Nsubuga (1/8) restricted Tanzania to 33/5 inside 20 overs.
Captain Pascal Murungi picked four wickets as Uganda limited Tanzania to 51 runs all out; they lost both openers, Isaac Ategeka (28) and Juma Miyagi.
It is the third time for Uganda to be making their third appearance at the U-19 Cricket World Cup. Baby Cricket Cranes have been to the 2004 and 2006 World Cup competition.
Namibia also had an outside chance of qualifying on the last day, but their work was cut short after Nigeria set 184 in their innings, a total they needed to chance in just two overs to have a chance to qualify.
Two other African countries – South Africa and Zimbabwe – qualified automatically as two of the top eleven teams from last year’s tournament.
