Rwanda has ICC Div2 spot to lose

CLAD in all white, tomorrow, the Rwanda national cricket team will walk onto the Benoni oval ready to face Mali in their opening game at the ICC Africa T20 Division 3 tournament in Johannesburg with only one aim: to win and go back to Division 2.

Monday, April 23, 2012
The national cricket team that took part in the ICC Africa Div.3 affiliatesu2019 tournament in South Africa in 2008. Only five players (circled) are still on the current team that travelled to Johannesburg yesterday. The New Times/File.

April 25-29ICC Africa Division 3Rwanda’s fixturesApril 25 Mali, GambiaApril 26 Cameroon, MoroccoApril 27 ZambiaApril 28 Seychelles, St. HelenaApril 29 FinalCLAD in all white, tomorrow, the Rwanda national cricket team will walk onto the Benoni oval ready to face Mali in their opening game at the ICC Africa T20 Division 3 tournament in Johannesburg with only one aim: to win and go back to Division 2.But whether they can make it or not has a lot to do with their performance in each game against the other seven participating countries. That they have to win all their games is an unwritten objective which can come to pass.The Rwandan outfit is the favourite at this tournament with only Zambia to worry about, but like is always the case in Twenty20 cricket, anything can happen.Head coach Colin Siller in an exclusive interview with Times Sport said, "We have been preparing for this tournament since January and for sure we know that Zambia is a strong team but our aim is to win all our games.”The 42-year old Scot, who has coached the national teams of Austria and Sweden as well as been the assistant coach of the Canadian national side at the ICC Trophy Qualifiers in 2007, can be trusted to lead the team to victory in South Africa. "Our target is to at least set 140 runs in every game because then we can be a very hard to beat in Johannesburg,” Siller added.As has been the case, Rwanda’s first ten overs have been a cause for concern with the batsmen in the top order amassing an average of just 40 runs which limits the middle order batsmen even if they double the runs in the last ten overs.Siller admits that his charges have to concentrate and at least score 5-6 runs per over which makes it approximately 60 runs in 10 overs and that is good for the side’s net run rate.Rwanda can only afford to lose one game so as to secure a place in the top two and make the final for only two teams will be promoted to Division 2.