Kenya, Bostwana advance to final round of WC qualifiers

Kenya on Wednesday overcame an early scare to keep alive their 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s T20 World Cup dreams.

The East Africans thrashed Cameroon by 118 runs in the semi-final of the Africa Regional Division Two qualifiers in Gaborone, Botswana.

The match was held at the Botswana Cricket Association Oval, the same venue of the other semi-final contest between hosts Botswana and Sierra Leone.

Botswana won by 17 runs and will face Kenya in the final on Friday. By virtue of advancing to the competition’s final, both teams have qualified for the final round of the 2024 World Cup qualifiers slated for later this year.

Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe are the teams waiting in the Africa regional finals. The top two teams in the continental showpiece will qualify for the global championship.

Kenya won the toss and elected to bat first, setting a target of 156 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs of their innings.

But if Cameroon thought they had managed to restrict Kenya by dealing an early blow to their top-order-batting, then they were in for a rude shock, as they lost wickets even faster to manage just 38 runs all-out in 14.4 overs of their innings.

Everyone in the Kenyan team had hoped that opening batswomen Queentor Abel and Daisy Njoroge would replicate their top performances against Cameroon - who had registered two wins and one loss on their path to the penultimate stage.

Kenya were in group “A” alongside Botswana, Malawi and Lesotho, while pool “B” consisted Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Eswatini.

Panic gripped Kenya when its top-order-batting collapsed inside the first four overs, with Njoroge, former captain Abel and Mary Mwangi marching to the pavilion in that order with only 15, seven and zero runs respectively to their names.

In their resounding 111-run victory over Botswana last Saturday, Abel was crowned the match’s best players after she delivered 71 runs from 46 balls including 12 boundaries.

She also took four wickets and earned a maiden in four overs where she conceded just seven runs. In Kenya’s seven-wicket win over Malawi last Sunday, she hit 30 runs from 28 balls including three fours.

The former skipper also took one wicket in the match. She was crowned the best player in Kenya’s 208-run victory over Lesotho on Tuesday after she hit 109 runs from 52 balls.

Njoroge delivered 71 runs from 46 balls including 12 fours in the match against Botswana, while against Lesotho, she hit 82 runs from 67 balls with 10 fours.

Kenya’s ship was steadied by middle order batswomen of Venasa Ooko, skipper Esther Wachira and Melvin Indambo, who delivered 32, 51 and 28 runs respectively.

Abel made amends in Cameroon’s innings with a massive five wickets in four overs where she earned a double maiden and conceded five runs only.

Mwangi and Wachira also took two wickets each.

[email protected]