02 Sep 2014

Botswana settled for second position after succumbing to a 111 runs defeat to Zimbabwe in the last match of the Under-19 girls 40 overs cricket quadrangular in Gaborone over the weekend.

The annual competition played at the cricket oval from Friday (August 29) to Sunday (August 31) also featured Namibia and Mozambique. The hosts, who won the competition last year, started brightly with two comfortable victories over Mozambique and Namibia.

They defeated Mozambique by five wickets in 24 overs in the opening match on Friday, then made 139 runs for four wickets in 30.1 overs to see off Namibia by six wickets in the second match on Saturday.  Namibia were 133 runs all out in 33 overs.

The team, under the tutelage of coach Innocent Chando, was required to win its third match again Zimbabwe to claim the championships for the second year running. This was after the two teams went into the match tied at four points with Zimbabwe leading on the net run rate.

The local girls restricted Zimbabwe to 177 runs all out after 35 overs in the first innings with bowler Tebogo Motlhabaphuti claiming four wickets.

Captain Shameelah Mosweu gave Botswana a good start by bowling out Chipo Mugeri in the third over, but the partnership between Loreen Tshuma and Josephine Nkomo dragged Zimbabwe to 67 runs before Nkomo was bowled out by Modise in the 13^th over.

Thapelo Modise then claimed a big wicket when she bowled out Zimbabwe’s best batsman, Tshuma, in the 20th over which slowed down Zimbabwe and they started losing more wickets.

Botswana struggled to make runs against Zimbabwe’s fast bowlers in the second innings and were all out after just 66 runs in the 27^th over. Their best batsman on the day was Jacqueline Kgang with a miserly nine runs.

Botswana coach Chando said he was happy with the performance of the girls despite the heavy defeat to Zimbabwe. “I think the team performed well since we were using a new squad. 

Most of our players have pulled out of this year’s tournament because of school commitments,” said Chando. The coach observed that they were outclassed in the second innings by Zimbabwe’s bowlers.

“I told them to restrict the Zimbabwe girls to less than 180 runs and they followed the strategy that we wanted to do. With our batting, I think Zimbabwe outclassed us because they were bowling well,” said the coach.

In individual awards Zimbabwe’s Josephine Nkomo was voted the best player of the tournament. Her teammates Ellen Tshuma and Chipo Mugeri won the best wicket keeper and best batter awards respectively. Botswana’s Jacqueline Kgang was voted the best bowler. ENDS