22 Aug 2018

The Botswana ladies cricket team got off to a great start at the ongoing Women’s International T20 Tournament six nations competition.

The team’s coach, Karabo Motlhanka has attributed the team’s impressive performance to the growth and maturity of players. 

The six nations’ competition, which is organised by Botswana Cricket Association (BCA), started in Gaborone on August 20 and it will end on August 25. 

The youthful Botswana team were efficient in their bowling and fielding as they dismantled Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique to move top of the round robin standings with six points from three matches. 

In the first match on August 20, the team secured an easy 124 runs victory after hitting 164 runs for 7 wickets in the first innings and restricting Lesotho to a paltry 40 runs all out after 14.3 overs in the second innings. 

They continued their dominance by securing a 58 runs victory against Malawi in the afternoon. This time around they hit 128 runs for 6 wickets in the first innings, and allowed their opponents only 70 runs all out after 17.1 overs in the second innings.  

In the third match on August 21, they beat Mozambique by 10 wickets after easily chasing down a target of 80 runs in 11.4 overs. 

Players such as Laura Mophakedi, Olebogeng Batisani, Goabilwe Matome, Botsogo Mpedi, Thandiwe Legabilwe and Mimmie Ramafifi were impressive. 

Motlhanka said he was happy with the team’s performance so far, adding that though they won two games by a large margin on Monday, he was not entirely happy with their play. 

He said the way the team was fielding was very good, which made it easy for them to beat their opponents. “We haven’t really put down many catches. I think the effort in the field was the main thing,” he said.

He however said the team must improve its batting, saying he was not happy with how they lost wickets in the first two matches. 

Botswana faces Sierra Leone in their fourth match  today (August 23), and Motlhanka pointed out that the west Africans posed a tougher challenge.

 “They are a slightly older team and are very strong and have their basics in order. I think it will be a tough match for us,” he said. Mozambique will take on Namibia in the other encounter, while Sierra Leone will meet Malawi and Namibia will clash with Lesotho. ENDS