04 Apr 2016

Mochudi U-13 boys cricket team triumphed over their Ramotswa counterparts to clinch the regional cricket tournament.

The tournament brought together five teams from Ramotswa, Francistown, Molepolole, Phikwe and Thamaga at the Botswana cricket oval in Gaborone. It afforded the young players a chance for national selection.

Mochudi faced Ramotswa in the final showdown, and went on to win the clash with 115 runs, losing four wickets under 19 overs against Ramotswa’s score of 114 runs, and losing seven wickets under 20 overs.

Mochudi walked away with a trophy and medals, while second and third placed Ramotswa and Molepolole respectively were awarded medals. In fourth position was Francistown, Thamaga sat at fifth and Selebi Phikwe on sixth position.

The first inning saw Ramotswa taking to the field to bat, and they set the pace for their counterparts with 114 runs under 20 overs and five wickets.

Mochudi were tasked to surpass the bar set by Ramotswa. Their captain, 12-year-old batsman, Bokani Mmutle was impressive, and his performance earned him player of the match for managing to score enough runs to close in on their opponents score.

Roy Tau also put in an impressive performance and set the record of best batter of the tournament. Roy managed to bag a record 90 runs not out.

Others who walked away with accolades for performance rewards were Leungo Masalaesi of Ramotswa, player of the tournament, while best bowler was won by Molepolole’s Alvin Muvhandavaka.

Mochudi’s coach, Velily Legwaila was all praises for his side’s performance. Though Ramotswa was a tough opponent to beat, he said his team managed to rise to the occasion and eventually won.

Legwaila said credit should go to his team and said the team’s captain, Bokane helped his side back into the game with his sterling batting ability. He explained that Ramotswa was good at batting while his side was better when it came to fielding.

“We started preparations last year by selecting the best players through a tournament that we hosted, and did the same this year in order to cut down the number of players we had,” said Legwaila.

He credited their opponents for putting a good fight, which he said helped him note some weakness from his team, especially when it came to batting.

For his part, Ramotswa coach, Mmoloki Mmoketsi expressed disappointment for losing to Mochudi. He said he expected his boys to win the tournament.

However, he said the boys have shown great change of game maturity as they grew with every game they played. He said in the final game against Mochudi, his boys slipped out after a good series of batting by the opposition and planted panic mode on them. ENDS