Cricket: Kenya eye Tanzania scalp after unconvincing start
Kenya's Neil Mugabe during their training session at the Ruaraka Sports Club on November 17, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Kenya’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup are in serious doubt after they scrapped out victories against minnows Rwanda and Nigeria in their opening two matches of the qualifiers
- Assistant coach Joseph Angara was on Thursday hopeful that the two wins, though slim, will motivate the team in the upcoming matches
- Tanzania, coached by ex-Kenya international Jimmy Kamande have lost their two opening matches of the qualifiers
Unconvincing Kenya will on Saturday be seeking to keep their winning run when they face Tanzania in the ongoing 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Regional qualifier in Windhoek, Namibia.
The match, which will be Kenya’s third of the competition, will be held at Wanderers Cricket Ground from 10:30 am Kenyan time.
Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria are the other teams featuring in the tournament where the top two teams will qualify for the World Cup to be co-hosted by the United States of America and West Indies from June 4 to 30 next year.
Kenya’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup are in serious doubt after they scrapped out victories against minnows Rwanda and Nigeria in their opening two matches of the qualifiers.
According to the latest ICC rankings, Zimbabwe is the top team in the tournament at position 11.
Namibia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Rwanda follow in that order at position 12, 23, 30, 32, 38 and 62 respectively.
Against Rwanda on Wednesday, the coach Lameck Onyango’s side laboured to secure a 17-run victory with Kenyan batsman Irfan Karim shining with 63 runs from 43 balls.
Collins Obuya also impressed with a half century from 47 balls.
What a historic win it would have been for Rwanda since they have never beaten Kenya in a senior contest.
Against Nigeria coached by ex-Kenya international Steve Tikolo, Kenya won by four-wickets thanks to Lucas Ndandason’s four in the second-last ball of the East African's innings.
With Kenya electing to field first after winning the toss, Nigeria set a target of 121 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs of their innings. Kenya laboured to win with 124 runs for the loss of six overs in 19.5 overs of their innings. Kenya’s batsmen struggled to put up a decent score with Shem Ngoche who came in as the eighth batsman being the hero for the East Africans.
He impressed with 19 runs in the 19th over, before Lucas Ndandason saved face for Kenya with a four in the second last ball in the East Africans innings.
Assistant coach Joseph Angara was on Thursday hopeful that the two wins, though slim, will motivate the team in the upcoming matches.
He blamed the team’s struggle in the two matches to the slow wicket at United Cricket Club Ground.
In their last meeting at the 2022 Africa Cricket Association Cup held in Benoni, South Africa, Tanzania beat Kenya by four wickets.
Promising to be a tougher match, Kenya will be hoping that captain Rakep Patel will be available for the match.
Having twisted his ankle against Rwanda, the experienced batsman was unavailable in the contest against Nigeria.
Tanzania, coached by ex-Kenya international Jimmy Kamande have lost their two opening matches of the qualifiers. They lost by eight wickets to Uganda and Zimbabwe by eight and nine wickets respectively.
In their opening match of the competition, Zimbabwe fell by seven wickets to Namibia.
Fixtures (all to be held at Wanderers Cricket Ground)
Saturday
Kenya v Tanzania 10:30am Kenyan time
Namibia v Rwanda 2:50pm Kenyan time
