Tournament favourites Namibia started in the expected fashion by winning both their group matches on the opening day of ICC World T20 Africa “C” qualifiers at Gaborone, Botswana. There were opening wins for the host’s and St Helena as well on an eventful day at the BCA Oval grounds.
Namibia posted comfortable victories over Swaziland and Malawi, while Botswana’s win cam against Mozambique and St Helena’s over Swaziland, which has put Swaziland’s campaign on a back-foot on the opening day itself.
Zhivago Gorenewald went to the top of the wicket-taker’s list after day 1 with 8 wickets giving away only 7 runs in two matches. Namibia’s Jan Frylinck, St Helena’s Amdrew Yon and Botswana’s Karabo Motlanka scored the tournament’s first three half-centuries respectively.
Malawi Cricket Union in association with ICC Africa and PitchVision were able to live stream the match between themselves and Namibia on YouTube.
Brief Scores:
Botswana 171/3 in 20 overs (Karabo Motlanka 62 n.o, Vinoo Balakrishnan 36, Zain Abbasi 25, James Moses 21 n.o, Damiao Couana 2/28, Filipe Cossa 1/35) beat Mozambique 48 all out in 14.1 overs (Kaleem Shah 19, Mmoloki Mooketsi 2/7, Nabil Master 2/9, James Moses 2/14, Adithiya Rangaswamy 1/9) by 123 runs
Swaziland 72/6 in 20 overs (Sohail Akhtar 25, Zhivago Groenewald 5/1, Christopher Coombe 1/10) lost to Namibia 74 for no loss in 5.2 overs (Pikky Ya France 44 n.o, Lohan Louwrens 20 n.o) by 10 wickets
Malawi 85/9 in 20 overs (Sami Sohail 23 n.o, Mahammed Patel 21, Zhivago Groenewald 3/6, Tangeni Lungameni 3/9, Bernard Scholtz 2/12) lost to Namibia 91/2 in 12.1 overs (Jan Frylinck 60 n.o, Michau du Preez 23 n.o, Moazzam Baig 2/12) by 8 wickets
St Helena 182/5 in 20 overs (Andrew Yon 81, Ryan Belgrove 28, Rhys Francis 22, Jordy Henry 19 n.o, Sohail Akhtar 1/10, Imran Patel 1/29) beat Swaziland 90/8 in 20 overs (Junain Hansrod 27, Alexander Nicholas 18, Scott Crowie 2/8, Gareth Johnson 2/10, David Young 2/12, Phillip Stroud 2/15) by 92 runs
