Rwanda Cricket Association (RCA) is targeting early preparations for the senior cricket team ahead of this year’s ICC/ACA World Cricket League Div 3 tournament in June.

In the past, the team’s average performances in the tournament have partly been blamed on inadequate preparations.

However, RCA’s president Charles Haba highlighted during RCA’s extra-ordinary general meeting last Sunday that it was important for the senior team to have early preparations.

"The team needs to have early preparations to give themselves a good chance of putting up better performances this year,” he noted.

This year, the tournament which has been made annual pits Rwanda with Mozambique, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Lesotho, and hosts Malawi.

RCA has named a tentative 18-man team for theAffiliates tournament.

RCA has opted to include more youngsters in the team after naming Jules Ishimwe, Audifax Byiringiro and Derrick Bayingana. The trio is fresh from the U-19 ICC World Cup qualifiers in Mozambique.

Should Rwanda compete, it will be her fourth appearance in the event. Rwanda made her debut back in 2004, finishing seventh out of eight teams.

In 2006, the team finished sixth before reaching the semi-finals last year where they lost to eventual tournament winners, Ghana. Just like in the past, the tournament winners will progress into the Associates Group.

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