The team is in Rwanda for the T20 World Cup Africa Sub-Regional qualifiers and kicked off their campaign with 75 run win over Sierra Leone on Tuesday. Their next game is against Cameroon today. Botswana will fancy their chances against what appears a winnable group that also has Mozambique and Tanzania.
The East Africans should pose the biggest threat to Botswana’s bid to progress to the final round of the Africa qualifiers where Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria lie in wait. The overall winner will proceed to the global qualifiers next year. Botswana’s senior team has been near-men for years now, and this could be their chance to stamp their authority particularly after a kind draw. Coach Angara said they will take each game as it comes.
“It is good we started the tournament with a win and we did well in all the departments of bowling, batting and fielding. We take one game at a time and we play Cameroon tomorrow (today) and we are focussing on that. So far, Tanzania and Mozambique have also played well and we cannot take any team lightly. The lesson is that we have to be disciplined in our game and be consistent,” Angara said yesterday.
While Angara was impressed with the team’s performance, his captain, Karabo Motlhanka felt they could have done better with the bat. “The game was good but I think we should have got a bit more on the board, but it's okay, we are still adapting to the conditions,” he said. Motlhanka top scored with 75 in a man-of-the-match performance that also saw him pick a wicket for five runs. Opener, Tharindu Perera was dismissed for a duck before a 107 partnership stand between Motlhanka and Reginald Nehonde took the game away from Sierra Leone, as Botswana scored 157/5. Mmoloki Mooketsi and Dhruv Maisuria then each picked three wickets to restrict Sierra Leone to 85 all out.
