The host’s have come to join the party. With two wins in as many games on day 3 of the ongoing ICC World T20 Africa “C” qualifiers, Botswana remained undefeated in the 7-nation event after 3 rounds of matches by defeating Malawi and securing a crucial win over St Helena to join Namibia and St Helena on top of the points table with equal points but take the lead with better net run-rate.
The loss to Botswana will hurt St Helena, who are no longer undefeated in the tournament with the latter and Namibia still yet to lose a game. Having played a game more than the two now, St Helena have 2 more matches to ensure they stay on track with both of them as the match between Namibia and Botswana is still remaining and will be the final match of the tournament to be played.
Elsewhere, Mozambique and Malawi recorded their first wins in the tournament as they beat Lesotho and Swaziland respectively. It’s an uphill task for Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique to catch up with the leaders from here on. Malawi have been the team who have taken their matches real close against their opponents so far and will be ruing the end-results, that didn’t go their way.
Mohamed Abdulla of Malawi became the first bowler to pick up a 6-wicket haul in the tournament against Swaziland, while Lesotho’s Mthimkhulu Leporoporo also picked up a 5-wicket haul against Mozambique.
Brief Scores:
Botswana 144/5 in 20 overs (Karabo Motlanka 50 n.o, Zain Abbasi 20, Vinoo Balakrishnan 18, Reginald Nehonde 15, Ryan Belgrove 2/48, Phillip Stroud 1/20, Scott Crowie 1/25) beat St Helena 63 all out in 18.2 overs (Scott Crowie 13, Mmoleki Mooketsi 3/5, Nabil Master 3/10, Adithiya Rangaswamy 2/3, Thatayaone Tshose 1/13) by 81 runs
Swaziland 99 all out in 20 overs (Sohail Akhtar 21, Shehzad Patel 19, Harris Rashid 15, Mohamed Abdulla 6/12, Donnex Kansonkho 2/18, Mahammed Patel 1/17) lost to Malawi 104/2 in 11.2 overs (Muhammad Khurram 35 n.o, Sami Sohail 30 n.o, Harris Rashid 1/10) by 8 wickets
Mozambique 183/8 in 20 overs (Filipe Cossa 59, Imran Ismail 55, Damiao Couana 16, Mthimkhulu Leporoporo 5/24, Shakhele Ramataboe 2/25) beat Lesotho 117/7 in 20 overs (Sameer Patel 36, Chachole Tlali 32 n.o, Ayaj Patel 21, Filipe Cossa 3/11, Kaleem Shah 1/16, Joao Huo 1/17) by 66 runs
Botswana 158/5 in 20 overs (Vinoo Balakrishnan 46, Zain Abbasi 36, Karabo Motlanka 29, Adithiya Rangaswamy 18 n.o, Sami Sohail 1/29, Mahammed Patel 1/29) beat Malawi 143/7 in 20 overs (Sami Sohail 56, Gershom Ntambalika 18, Mohamed Abdulla 17 n.o, Adithiya Rangaswamy 2/20, James Moses 1/25, Reginald Nehonde 1/12) by 15 runs
