Cricket, Botswana’s fastest growing sport, has been enjoying tremendous growth and development over the past year.
The country’s Under 19s’ cricket team I currently taking part in the U-19 World Cup qualifying tournament that is being held in Lusaka, Zambia.
The boys left the country on Monday to attend the tournament that could possibly land them a place in the World Cup that is to be staged in Kenya in 2010.
The nature of the contest is such that 8 African countries are competing against one another for a chance to win a spot in the upcoming 2010 World Cup.
The 8 countries taking part in the tournament are Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Nigeria and Zambia.
In its first match, Botswana played against Tanzania and finished off a good run in a quest for success.
The boys did the country proud when they won the match by 5 wickets.
Tanzania had played 137 all out while Botswana played 138 for 5 wickets.
Kenya played against Sierra Leone and the latter won by 4 wickets.
Neighboring Namibia also won against Zambia by 94 runs.
Unfortunately for Nigeria, the Ugandan boys ruined their first day of play by beating them by 4 wickets.
As of day one, the winners of the day, Namibia, Uganda and Botswana and Sierra Leone all had 2 points each.
Recently, the country has continued playing in the tournament but the exact detailed results are still yet to be confirmed by the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA). The second match played by Botswana was with Namibia in which the former won for the second time.
Unfortunately, the boys lost two of their games against Kenya and Zambia.
Meanwhile, the organizers of the government schools cricket developmental programme on Thursday escorted it’s Under 13 team to Benoni, South Africa, to take part in the Eastern Cricket Union.
The team comprised of talented and capable students from different government schools in and around Gaborone and are expected back on the 3rd of May.
As usual, the team will be playing against much stronger opponents. Girish Ramakrishna, the Botswana Cricket Association Treasurer, said that the objective of this initiative is to get the kids to play a much better and competitive game of cricket while enjoying the match too.
“We see this as yet another opportunity for the kids to showcase their skills and try to prove themselves,” said Ramakrishna.
