ICC World Cricket League Div.3

Semi-finals

Rwanda       v Ghana

Sierra Leone v Swaziland

Rwanda hold the psychological edge going into today’s semifinal of the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 being staged in Benoni, Johannesburg, South Africa against a Ghana team that has very thing to play for.

The Rwandans will be looking to drive home their confidence of tackling the West Africans’ experienced spin bowlers after rallying to win against Lesotho in their last group game.

The semifinal debutants will be banking on their new found hero Eric Dusabemungu and experience to book a place in the final against South Africa or Sierra Leone.

Rwanda’s rising star Eric Dusabemungu played a sensational knock to help Rwanda reach their first ever semi-final.

Dusabemungu, who received good support from Jasat Mohammed, hit 15 runs to gift Rwanda their second win of the tournament.

Ghana finished unbeaten in Pool B which also featured Swaziland, Gambia and an invitational side from South Africa who are standing in for Morocco.

Although Rwanda has earned a reputation of being one of the tournament’s bowling sides, a lot of questions have been raised about its batting.

Despite winning two of her three group matches, it was evident that the team was struggling to chase the set targets and the team manager Benjamin Manzi has called upon the guys to set up their batting.

"We have been excellent in the bowling and fielding departments but there are still a lot of concerns about our batting,” Manzi realized before adding that, "Ghana is a quality side but we are.

Rwanda will have to beef up its batting if it’s to have any realistic chance of getting to the finals.

2006 finalists Sierra Leone who are also the tournament favorites face South Africa’s invitational side in the other semi-final.

The Rwandan national cricket side has so far won two and lost one game in the on going ICC series.

Victory against Ghana will be another high point of the old timers as they seek to move up in International cricket council status.

If Rwanda records a win against the West Africans it will be its first appearance in the finals.

Rwanda was drawn in the toughest group alongside 2006 finalists Sierra Leone, Malawi and Lesotho. In yesterday’s group stage fixtures, Rwanda beat Malawi by 5 wickets.

Sierra Leone who is 2006 finalists has recorded two wins thus leading the group. Rwanda finished second after winning against Malawi.

In other group game Sierra Leone over came Malawi to book their ticket into the semifinal to face South Africa. Finals will be played on Friday.

The ICC World Cricket League is a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status, administered by the International Cricket Council.

All Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC are eligible to compete in the league system, which features a promotion and relegation structure between divisions.

Teams were allocated to their respective divisions based on their performance in the qualification tournaments for the 2007 World Cup, the six initial teams in Division One being the teams that qualified for the 2007 World Cup. The series completed its first cycle in 2007.

The second cycle begins in 2008 and acts as qualification for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. It will contain two extra divisions being added to the Global World Cricket League.

Ends