Under-19 cricket team promoted to Division One
Dumisani Ncube | Wednesday September 21, 2016 16:06
In the tournament, Botswana faced Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana. Botswana lost only two games being the opening match against Ghana as well as against Sierra Leone.
Botswana came as underdogs into the tournament with the team consisting mostly of rookies who had never played a tournament of such a high magnitude save for the captain, Tharindu Perera who has played in numerous tournaments.
“Well it was tough losing the first game in the tournament but we had a chat with the boys and made them believe that it was not over yet and gave them strength. It was a wake up call,” said the team coach, Joseph Angara. He noted that despite the team consisting of young players they stuck to their attacking plan and approached the tournament with the mentality of taking one game at a time.
Botswana’s batting system earned them a place in Division One and became the only team which managed to surpass the 1,000 runs margin throughout the tournament. They clocked 1,054 runs with the likes of Perera, Usman Mohideen and Ruan De Wet showing strong characters with the bat. “After this promotion more hard work will be required from fitness level and a lot of exposure in competitive games. In terms of development, BCA is doing a great job and with this qualification it gives a lot of hope for the youngsters coming up,” the coach said.
Angara said he wants to propose to the BCA for junior teams to participate in more age group competitions which comprises teams such as South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe who are more competitive in order to prepare for life in Division One. “We would like to congratulate the boys for picking themselves up after losing the first game, showed a lot of mental toughness to win three games in a row and qualify to Division One,” he said. Division One cricket action will be staged in the first quarter of 2017. Botswana will face the likes of Kenya, Uganda and Ghana.