Friday, June 7 Morning Zimbabwe vs Rwanda 9:15am Malawi vs Nigeria 9:45am Afternoon Cameroon vs Uganda 1:15pm Botswana vs Kenya 1:45pm Rwanda take on Zimbabwe on Friday, June 7, at Gahanga International Cricket Stadium, starting at 9:15am CAT, knowing only victory puts them in the final and a chance to retain the Kwibuka T20 International Women tournament. Worse still, even victory might not be enough for the hosts and defending champions, largely due to the possibility of applying Net Run Rate, which, Rwanda is already behind Zimbabwe, 2.182 against 2.467. It was not possible for Times Sport to get a comment from the Rwanda head coach Leonard Nhamburo, who, despite the best effort, remained elusive. It's a hectic day today (Thursday), was the best we could get from the 44-year old Zimbabwean, ahead of the game against his compatriots. Nonetheless, reality is, Nhamburo has a job at hand in Friday's decisive game, as it comes on the back of back-to-back defeats against Nigeria and Uganda. Uganda, way out at the top of the table with maximum 24 points from seven matches, are bang on beating bottom, and winless Cameroon, that game starts at 1:15pm CAT, leaving only second place to fight for by the chasing pack. Nhamburo's team dropped to third place with 16 points, behind Uganda (24 points) and Zimbabwe (20), Nigeria and Kenya are tied on 12 points, Botswana (8), Malawi (4) and Cameroon (0). The preliminary stage of the round-robin tournament ends on Friday, and the top two teams, will contest the final on Saturday, June 8. All eyes will be on captain Marie Diane Bimenyimana and her fellow troops to produce a result that may not only take them to final but into history books of Rwanda Cricket. Rwanda started their title defence with four consecutive wins against Cameroon, Malawi, Botswana and Kenya, but they have lost two in a row, and are at a high risk of missing the final Against Nigeria and Uganda, Bimenyimana and her team, were below their best, with both ball and bat--in both matches, they chased 100 runs but in both, they simply fell short. On Tuesday, Nigeria won the toss and opted to bat, scoring 104 for five wickets in 20 overs, and in reply, Rwanda were all out for 72 runs in 19 overs, falling short by 32 runs. Only two Rwanda players scored in double figures, with Bimenyimana top-scoring with 31 off 54 balls, and Merveille Uwase had 24 off 24. A day later, Uganda won the chose to bat, and they sleep-walked to 100 all out in 20 overs. Bearing in mind the rivalry of the two teams and the importance of a win for Rwanda, 100 was a manageable target, but, once again, only Bimenyimana (32 off 42) and Shakira Niyomuhoza (29 off 36, not out), hit double figures as the champions fell short by 12 runs. Good news, Zimbabwe have already been beaten in this tournament, by Uganda, which means they are not invincible, but with the same coin, Rwanda will need to play at their very best if they are get the result they require. All-rounder and Zimbabwe captain Kelis Ndhlovu, who has scored a tournament- high 287 runs already and picked nine wickets, will the player to watch, and her wicket could decide the game, either way.
