Sorwathe women’s Cricket Club were Sunday, May 22, crowned champions of the champions of the national Women’s Cricket league after beating Hampshire Indatwa Cricket club by three runs.
It took the Rulindo-based club a super over to claim their first league silverware after both teams were tied with 72 runs each after 20 overs of the normal encounter.
Hampshire Indatwa won the toss and chose to bowl first as SORWATHE, who joined the final as underdogs, went on to post 72 runs in the first innings.
Indatwa needed 73 runs in the second innings to win the game but SORWATHE’s batters and field keepers were less leaky than expected.
The champions knew that they had not made enough runs to win the final and hence concentrated to force the game into the super over after Indatwa managed 72 runs, the same number of runs made by the SORWATHE-powered side.
It was Indatwa who bat first in the game-deciding super over and went on to post 11 runs in the process but it was SORWATHE who were the better side and went on to win the super over after posting 14 runs with two balls remaining to lift the trophy before their parents who accompanied them to Kigali ahead of the final.
The champions’ Jeannette Mukandayisenga was voted the player of the game after putting up an impressive performance in the final.
SORWATHE coach Landry Rurangwa, was impressed by his team’s performance in the final and revealed that their policy to build the cricket game from the grassroots is already paying dividends.
"The team that you saw here winning the league comprises very young players and I am so proud of their performance. We look forward to growing more talents from the neighborhood and see them rise to stardom. The future is bright,” Rurangwa said.