It is said that cricket was one catalyst in Rwanda’s drive to join the Commonwealth.

Rwanda’s unlikely inclusion owes much to cricket. Introduced to the country in 2000, the game has rapidly become the most potent symbol of the land of a thousand hills.

2007 Peak
Last year, the peak of Rwanda’s cricket was undoubtedly her involvement in the ICC/ACA sponsored East African U-15 boys’ tournament in Nairobi, Kenya.

Rwanda finished third in the four-nation tournament that had attracted 2006 champions Kenya, reigning champions Uganda and Tanzania.

With barely a year of cricket from half of the team coupled with no international exposure, inadequate preparations and Rwanda’s ICC affiliation status, it had been anticipated that Rwanda would find it very hard to match her opponents considering the fact that they boasted of a superior ICC status (Associates), vast international exposure and plenty of experience.

And although it was not surprising for Rwanda to lose to Kenya and Uganda, the inexperienced youngsters pulled off a shock performance to edge Tanzania by three wickets.

Rwanda’s win over Tanzania will for a long time haunt the latter. How they could lose to a team that had hardly played the sport for a year! Some media publications dubbed it as ‘giant-killing to the extreme’.

But in isolation, the victory justified the Affiliates' inclusion in the thrilling tournament. It also lifted Rwanda's profile.
On top this performance; Rwanda also produced the tournament’s best fielder in Bob Bashil who took four splendid catches.

On the local scene
A lot transpired on the local scene. 2007 witnessed the birth of a new cricket club, the Young Tigers, which came into existence during the first quarter of the year.

After recurring unsatisfactory performances by the Right Guards, the club’s youngsters led by Andre Kayitera and Eric Dusabemungu broke away to form Young Tigers.

This took Rwanda’s club tally to five. Kigali Cricket Club, Indorwa and Challengers are the others.

Although this development was a blow to Right Guards, it was warmly welcomed by Rwanda Cricket Association; the local cricket governing body.

RCA stressed that Young Tigers would improve local cricket in two ways; improve the competition amongst the clubs as well as increasing on the numbers of cricketers in the country as the club would attract more cricketers.

Tournaments
Rwanda’s top cricket club (Kigali Cricket Club) lost its supremacy to a revamped Challengers’ side.

Challengers broke KCC’s dominance by winning the 2007 Sulfo league. It was the first time that KCC had lost the title since its inauguration in 2003.

Challengers kept their impressive run intact a few months later by clinching onto their second trophy after edging Young Tigers in the final of the inaugural Utexrwa Cup.

However, they could not get hold of their third title after losing to KCC in the final of the inaugural MM Industries 20/20 tournament.

Led by their all-rounder Mehboob Jasat, KCC cruised to a seven-wicket victory over Challengers.

The victory was good consolation for the four-time Sulfo league champions who had been silenced for the bigger part of the year.

Foreign assistance
Rwanda’s cricket received sound assistance from CricAid.net and CWB (Cricketers without Boundaries); two UK-based charity organizations that help boast the game of cricket.

Officials from the two charity organization visited the country and during their stay in Rwanda, they conducted cricket clinics and at the end of those clinics, donated a lot of cricket equipment to RCA.

Schools development program
Similar to 2006, RCA closely monitored the schools development program and partly realized the fruits of its investment from the U-15s performance in Nairobi.

The performance was a clear sign that RCA had scored highly in this area. We hope 2008 brings more to that cause.

Haba retains presidency
During RCA’s Annual General Meeting in late November, Charles Haba was entrusted with RCA’s top seat for the third consecutive two-year term.

It was a clear sign that the cricket fraternity was contented with what he had done since assuming office in 2002.

Haba has been successful in persuading six schools to start playing cricket and was in big part the brain behind Rwanda joining the affiliate status of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Lows of 2007
Local cricketers definitely had a lot of cheer about last year but RCA still has low moments in mind.

Most galling of all is RCA’s failed attempt to find a cricket ground. Towards the end of 2006, RCA had finding a cricket ground as one of the priorities of the 2007 calendar, however very little was realized to this effect.

RCA is still using one of Kicukiro secondary school’s playing grounds but rumor has it that its usage may be short-lived.

Minimal sponsorship
RCA failed to deal with its lack of sponsorship syndrome which largely explains why the entire 2007 season centered around three tournaments; Sulfo league, Utexrwa Cup and MM Industries 20/20 tournament.

Ends