22 Aug 2016

Eight national teams from Southern Africa countries will converge in Gaborone this week for a four-day Ladies under-19 International Cricket Tournament.

The inaugural 20 overs competition, which kicks-off on Thursday has been organised by Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) with an objective to provide national team players with international exposure.

Participating countries include hosts Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, Swaziland, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique.

The tournament will start in a round robin format, with teams divided in two groups of four teams, before going into a knockout stage later.

Botswana has been placed in Group B together with Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. Group A contains Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa.

Botswana will commence the tournament with a clash against Lesotho at 1PM on Thursday, and meet Swaziland the following day, before rounding off the group stage campaign against Namibia on Saturday morning. The semifinals and final will be held on Sunday and all matches will be at BCA ovals.

Girish Ramakrishna, BCA CEO has explained that the competition was an upgrade of the previous four nations’ tournament which was established in 2007.

“We have decided to make it the competition a bigger event to give the players the opportunity of competing in a bigger international platform. We do not have a big international cricket tournament in Africa, so the idea is to use this platform to prepare the team for the ICC (International Cricket Council) World Cup Qualifiers,” Ramakrishna said. 

“We are satisfied with how the preparations have gone. However, we were forced to leave out some of our players because of examinations but have replaced them with younger players.” 

Laura Mophakedi, Jacqueline Kgang, Olebogeng Batisani, Batho Freeman, Ponalo Rapinyana, Mimmie Ramafifi, Thapelo Modise, Bontle Madimabe, Botsogo Mpedi, Tebogo Motlhabaphuti, Thandiwe Legabile, Goabilwe Matome, Shameelah Mosweu, Amantle Mokgotlhe, Banyana Gaanamong and Oratile Kgeresi make up the team. Ends