Cricket: Otieno rallies charges for do-or-die Zimbabwe match

Kenya face a tough test against Zimbabwe on Sunday as they seek to seal a semi-final berth in women’s cricket in the African Games in Accra, Ghana.

The Group "B" match will take place at Achimota Senior Secondary School "A" field from 1:30pm local time (4:30pm Kenyan time).

After falling by six wickets to Uganda in their opening match of the multi-sport championship on Thursday, Kenya bounced back with a seven-wicket win over Rwanda on Friday at Achimota Senior Secondary School "B" field.

With only the top two teams in Group "A" and "B" progressing to the semi-finals, Kenya must beat favourites Zimbabwe by a huge margin to be sure of remaining in the competition.

Group "A" consists of South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and Nigeria.

Having won all their two matches, Zimbabwe top Pool "B" with four points, two above Kenya.

Third-placed Uganda have also amassed two points, while winless Rwanda are last with zero points.

Uganda will face Rwanda in the other Pool "B" match planned for Sunday at Achimota Senior Secondary School "B" field.

To stand a chance of qualifying for the semi-final at the expense of Kenya, Uganda must beat Rwanda by a big margin.

Kenya coach Francis Otieno said they are in the competition to gain experience.

Speaking to Nation Sport ahead of their match against Rwanda, the ex-international urged his charges to improve their batting performance.

“Our performance in the match against Uganda was a good sign that the team is starting to believe that they can win big matches,” said Otieno. 

“Our approach for the next two matches will be to ensure that we bat all our overs without losing wickets quickly. With that we will have players occupying the wicket and we will also have strong partnerships. With that we can always score enough runs on the board to make a game out of it.”

Kenya captain Esther Wachira was named player-of-the-match after top-scoring with 42 runs off 49 balls, including six fours, against Rwanda.

The impressive performance by the third batswoman, who was not out, helped Kenya successfully chase Rwanda’s target of 69 runs all out in 18.3 overs of their innings.

Kenya, who lost the toss, posted 72 runs for the loss of three wickets in 17 overs of their innings.

Jemimah Ndanu was also instrumental in the win with three wickets in four overs, where she conceded 21 runs.

Otieno hopes her charges better their performance against the highly ranked Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe beat Kenya by 62 runs in their last meeting in the Africa Region Qualifiers for the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s T20 World Cup held last December at Entebbe Cricket Oval in Uganda.

In Pool "A" of the African Games, Nigeria top with three points, one above South Africa. Third-placed Namibia also have two points, while Tanzania are last with one point.

To top the pool, Nigeria stunned Namibia by 55 runs in their opening match and later shared spoils with Tanzania due to rain.

Top-ranked South Africa bounced back from their shock one-run loss to Namibia in their opening match to hit Tanzania by eight wickets in their second outing in Accra.

Sunday fixtures (all times in EAT) 

Achimota Senior Secondary School A

Namibia v Tanzania 12pm

Kenya v Zimbabwe 4:30pm

Achimota Senior Secondary School B

Nigeria v South Africa 12pm

Rwanda v Uganda 4:30pm