T-20 CRICKET: TANZANIA TARGET CAMEROON SCALP
AFTER posting two crucial wins in their previous matches, Tanzanian cricketers return to action again tomorrow to face Cameroon in the ICC T-20 men’s World Cup African Sub-Regional Qualifiers taking place in Kigali, Rwanda.
Tanzanian Boys are placed at the top of Group B with four points from two outings after beating Mozambique by 87 runs and Sierra Leone by eight wickets in the opening matches. As yesterday was the rest day, the event rages on today but Tanzania will be back to action tomorrow against Cameroon.
Before facing the high-flying Tanzanian boys, Cameroon will today face Botswana in the morning while Mozambique will be locking horns with Sierra Leone.
Another Saturday’s showdown will see Botswana testing Mozambique. Tanzanian cricketers are in Kigali for their yet another attempt to seek qualifications for the 2022 World Cup finals in Australia.
The qualifying matches are played at Gahanga International Cricket Stadium and IPRC (Integrated Polytechnic Regional College) Kicukiro Ground. The top team from both the event will advance to Africa regional finals, where they will compete against Nigeria and Kenya for the one-ticket qualification.
Tanzania has, for years, been competing for World Cup qualification but to no avail, but this time around, the Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) has made big efforts to ensure they boys make it. Before going to Rwanda, the cricketers had a training tour of Mombasa where they won all their matches.
Under Kenyan all-time best World Cup player, Steve Tikolo as the head coach assisted by the former national team batsman, Hamis Abdallah as a manager, Tanzanian cricketers are in a good shape to maintain their winning spree and leave no stone unturned to win the title.
Already Ivan Selemani has proved to be an up and coming player to watch in the qualifiers after managing to win double half centuries against Mozambique and Sierra Leone. He is supported by other experienced players like Kassim Nassoro and Abhik Patwa who have had such milestone in the previous qualifying series and other international tournaments.
So the team coach, Kenyan Steve Tikolo stays optimistic that his boys can win the title and progress to the next stage to face highly ranked teams of Kenya and Nigeria. With Kenya and Nigeria being the two highest-ranked teams, both sides have progressed directly to the regional final.in 2022.
