The Tanzanian men’s national Cricket team have secured their ticket to the final round for the World Cup Africa qualifier after beating Botswana by 3 runs on Sunday, November 7 at Gahanga Cricket Stadium, to finish top of Group B during the just-concluded ICC Men’s T20 Sub Regional World Cup Qualifier. The two teams were regarded as potential favorites to come out on top of Group B prior to the qualifiers and, as predicted, were unbeaten throughout the campaign before they went into Sunday game with each side knowing that a win would see one of them progress to the final round of the World Cup Africa Qualifier which also kicks off in Kigali on November 15. It was the Tanzanians who won the toss and opted to bat first and posted a total of 143 runs after 19 overs to set the bar high for the Botswana opponents. The ball was then in the hands of the Botswana team who knew that a single mistake would cost them their chance at the World Cup. They started batting with confidence that they would outshine Tanzania’s total score, a target that looked possible to achieve till the 18th Over but Tanzania were too resistant to see them off by just three runs after Botswana managed 140 runs in total. Tanzania’s Kassimu Nassoro Chete who enjoyed an impressive campaign was voted the man of the match. The result saw Tanzania finish top of Group B with 8 points, two ahead of Botswana, while Sierra Leone finished third with four points after managing two wins in four games. Mozambique came fourth on the five-team Group B table while Cameroon ended the campaign at the bottom of the table after failing to take home a single win. Tanzania now joins Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya in the final rounds of the ICC Mens T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier which Kigali will also host from November 15-21. The Tanzanians are, according to head coach Syeve Tikolo, staying in Kigali and start to prepare for the World Cup Africa Qualifiers as they bid to chase a ticket to the World Cup for the first time in the country’s history. The winner of the qualifier will represent Africa in the World Cup scheduled to be played in October and November 2022 in Australia. Originally, the tournament was to be held in 2020, however, in July 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the tournament had been postponed, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In August 2020, the ICC confirmed that Australia would host the rearranged tournament in 2022.
