Rwanda recorded its first win of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Group A qualifier taking place in Kigali, after comfortably beating Botswana by five wickets during an entertaining game on Thursday, November 17, at Gahanga Cricket Stadium.

Botswana came to the Kigali qualifier as favorites to come out on top of the group.

But Martin Suji knew a victory over the Southern Africans would help his men bounce back from the poor performance experienced during their series of buildup games in Tanzania.

Rwanda won the toss and elected to bowl first. The hosts made the best out of Botswana’s weaknesses in batting to ensure that they don’t register too many runs.

Botswana only managed 106 runs in 20 overs in the first innings and it only took captain Clinton Rubagumya and his teammates to outscore them after 17 overs, winning the game by five wickets.

Rwanda's all-rounder Martin Akayezu was presented with the man-of-the-match award after his decisive 4/16 bowling figures against Botswana. Rubagumya was also prolific. He delivered an impressive performance that deserved nothing but victory for the hosts.

In other fixtures, Lesotho upset Mali to win their opener by 35 runs. But the match between Kenya and St Helena and that of Seychelles versus Botswana were abandoned as the sides struggled to play in very wet cricket grounds due to the rains.