ICC Africa boss Kambarami lauds hosts, tips qualifiers
ICC Africa Development boss Kambarami gave full marks to the host nation Uganda. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO
KAMPALA- Last week saw the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Regional Final hosted in Uganda end smoothly despite a handful of games being washed out and Cricket Cranes’ familiar melt down.
But none of the above can take away the tournament attaining high grades.
It was a success, according the Regional Manager at ICC Development - Africa Patricia Kambarami.
“The entire week has gone well as we expected and all the organisers deserve credit,” said Kambarami while speaking at the awards dinner at Kabira Country Club, Bukoto.
Namibia came out on top of the showpiece that also had Kenya, Ghana, Botswana and host nation Uganda.
Namibia and Kenya get the reward of representing the continent at ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 11 to November 3 later this year.
Speaking at the same dinner, Kambarami tipped both Namibia and Kenya to do a good job in UAE while referring to the growing numbers of cricketing nations on the continent.
“We (Africa) have to go there and challenge. I know we are capable of competing. I have had a chat with the Namibia captain (Gerhard Erasmus) and we both agreed that cricket in Africa is growing very fast and in future we will be winning the big tournaments,” she added during her closing remarks at the dinner that had Uganda’s Riazat Ali Shah voted best batsman, Kenya’s Rakep Patel getting the best player’s gong while Namibia’s Christoffel Viljoen adjudged best
The Cricket Cranes will now shift attention to August for the ICC Challenge League formerly, World Cricket League, which is part of the ICC World Cup qualification for India 2022.
Uganda is in Group B alongside Bermuda, Italy, Kenya and Hong Kong. Coach Steve Tikolo and his men don’t have enough time to rest as training must resume soonest.
ICC T20 WORLD CUP AFRICA FINAL
Individual Awards
Player of Series: Rakep Patel (Kenya)
Best Batsman: Riazat Ali Shah (Uganda)
Best Bowler: Christoffel Viljoen (Namibia)
Champions: Namibia
Runners: zKenya
*Both qualify for Global Qualifier in October 2019.
