Franklyn Najjumba put the skids under the Kenyans © The Monitor

Namibia, Tanzania or hosts Uganda will go into the final day of the inaugural International Cricket Council Africa Women’s Twenty20 Championship with a chance of the title. But hosts Uganda are the favourites after their easy win over neighbours Kenya.

Opening bowlers Franklyn Najjumba (3 for 6) and Mackenzie Ayato almost settled the match in the eary overs as Kenya slid to 4 for 5, and in the evnt they did well to manage to crawl to 42. Uganda cruised to victory by seven wickets with seven overs to spare.

Uganda’s Net Run Rate is markedly better than second-placed Namibia. Uganda need a commanding win over Nigeria in the last fixture of the tournament to claim the title. If they fail then Namibia could still take the title if they thrash Kenya.

Kenya recovered from their loss to Tanzania to beat Sierra Leone by 10 wickets in the ongoing Africa Women’s tournament in Kampala, Uganda.

Sierra Leone won the toss and elected to bat and they never got going at all struggling at 8 for 5 early on but they fought hard to post 49. Mercyline Adhiambo was the pick of the bowlers picking up 3 for 4 and Man of the Match Sarah Bhakita, debutant Mako Wako and Emily Ruto picked two wickets apiece.

Kenya got off to a flying start and took only 14.5 overs to reach their target thanks to 23 runs apiece from openers Bhakita and Margaret Banja, who has been batting brilliantly since the event began last Friday.

Tanzania women upset the formbook to go top of the Africa Cup by beating arch-rivals Kenya by nine runs at the Lugogo Cricket Oval in Kampala.

Tanzania won the toss, chose to bat and stayed on top of their opponents for much of the game. Opener Monica Pascal piled on 56 as Kenya looked ordinary in the field, and was ably assisted in the middle of the innings by Mwanaiddi Ibrahim, Hadija Hassan and Hawa Salum as they made 109 runs after 20 overs.

In reply, Kenya slumped to 17 for 3 but Margaret Banja’s firefighting 46 and Sarah Bakhita’s explosive 20 got them near the target but they fell nine runs short to hand the Tanzania’s a first win over Kenya since 2007.

Cricket in two African countries has benefitted from English generosity in the past month. The MCC has handed over a full set of nets and an artificial playing surface to the Sierra Leone Cricket Association. The equipment is going to be used in schools before being moved to the country’s indoor cricket academy, which is the process of being built.

Cricket is believed to be the fastest growing sport in Sierra Leone and recently secured a sponsor – telecommunications company Limeline. They have also had former South African Test batsman Peter Kirsten assisting them as a consultant.

The Sussex over-50s team also did their bit for cricket in Africa. They donated £10,000 worth of cricket equipment to the cricket association for development. The team also plans to tour the country in February next year with a 27-member squad. They aim to deepen their regular association with cricket in Gambia by fostering more cricket tourism and assisting financially.

Nigeria have put together a 23-man squad that will go into a training camp ahead of the ICC Africa Twenty20 Cricket League Division One tournament in Uganda. The group is dominated by the players who gained promotion into the World Cricket League Division Six in May, while former captain Dolapo Gafar is set to return to national duty after being included.

Cricket’s foothold in Nigeria was strengthened after they won Division Two of the African Twenty20 tournament, and the Division One competition is another step in their goal of qualifying for a World Twenty20 event.

The training group also includes Seun Odekwu, Endurance Ofem, Kunle Adegbola, Ademola Onikoyi, Segun Olayinka, Emmanuel Okwudili, Joshua Ogunlola, Jide Bejide, Seye Olympio, Ramit Gill, Tope Olayinka, and Osita Onwuzulike among others.

The camp, which resumed June 11, will continue until June 26. Nigeria’s first match of the Division One competition will be against Namibia in Kampala on July 9.

Batsman Sean Phillips was Nigeria's best player in the tournament © Getty Images

A dominant Nigeria prevailed in the ICC Africa World Cricket League T20 Division Two tournament in Johannesburg, defeating Tanzania in their final game to top with tables with 14 points from seven victories.

Yet again batsman Sean Phillips was the star performer for Nigeria, racing to an unbeaten 80 as his team reached 150 for 6. His knock means he ends the tournament with 446 runs, including two centuries, at an average of 148. Tanzania’s batsmen made a fist of their chase but fell just short, reaching 144 for 4 before they ran out of overs.

Nigeria and Ghana, who finished in second position with 12 points and ahead of Botswana on net run-rate, will now proceed to the Division One Twenty20 tournament, which is scheduled to be held in Entebbe, Uganda in July this year.

Subash Modi, who recently retired from international umpiring, has been engaged by the ICC Africa regional office as an umpiring consultant until at least December 2012. Modi joined the Associate and Affiliate panel of umpires in 2006 and remains extensively involved in Kenya’s umpiring structures.

"It would be foolhardy for the ICC Africa region not to utilise the experience and knowledge of this wonderful umpire,” said Africa regional development manager Cassim Suliman. “We are hoping that Modi will be able to play a dual role in the Africa region, firstly as a match referee who will be able to pass on his immense amount of umpiring knowledge to the tournament umpires as well as ensuring the smooth running of the regional pathway tournaments.

“The second roll would be one as an umpire mentor. We hope that he'd be able to facilitate umpire development within the African continent. This should be through conducting regular umpire training courses in the Africa region as well as a continual monitoring of the ICC Africa A, B and emerging panels."

"I have enjoyed being in the panel from 2006 until now and am most grateful to ICC, ICC Africa, Africa Cricket Association and Cricket Kenya for all the valuable support and encouragement,” wrote Modi in his resignation letter. “I have enjoyed my involvement and experience of umpiring at the top level of the noble game. I have been sharing and will continue sharing my umpiring knowledge with the Kenya and regional umpires."

Modi's first official duties as a regional match referee will be in February, when he will be involved in the ICC Africa Twenty20 division three tournament in Accra. The competition will mark his first interaction with African umpires as a match referee and he will also have the opportunity to have a look at the ICC Africa emerging panel in action.

The scheduled playing commitments of Africa's Associate and Affiliate countries will prevent the region having its own tournament, according to Cassim Suliman, the Africa Cricket Association CEO.

"This event cannot fit into the schedule due to timing and many other constraints... hence the Future Tours Programme has a full calendar of events including under-age tournaments that have been programmed till 2015," Suliman told CricInfo.

There had been conjecture a continental tournament involving South Africa A, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Namibia and possibly a combined Africas team was in the planning stage. The Kenya Cricket Association was known to favour its creation.

Africa is the only ICC development region which does not have a continental tournament and several countries such as Botswana and Tanzania only play every second year.

Africa is likely to have its own continental tournament in the near future. Cassim Suliman, the CEO of the Africa Cricket Association is understood to be organising a tournament involving South Africa A, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Namibia and possibly a combined Africa team.

Africa is the only one of the ICC's development regions not to have its own biennial tournament for non-Test nations. The proposed event would not be the long awaited World Cricket League Africa Division One event. Officials from Namibia and Tanzania had recently told Cricinfo they saw no need for the latter as their national teams already had sufficient tournament play. Namibia also plays in the United Cricket Board amateur three-day and one-day competitions.

When Cricinfo contacted Suliman this week, he was travelling in Asia and unable to confirm the reports of plans for the tournament or elaborate on specific detail.

Tony Munro

At least four African countries are set to lose their annual international competition following the apparent demise of the North-West African Championships (NWAC).

Nigerian Cricket Federation President, Kwesi Sagoe, has advised CricInfo the event is "highly unlikely" to be held in 2010 due to issues obtaining sponsorship as a result of the state of his country's economy. It will be the second year in a row it has not been held.

There is a possibility Nigeria and/or Ghana will be included in one of the lower divisions of the global World Cricket League, however that option is not open to Sierra Leone, Gambia, Mali and Morocco.

The latter four can compete in the regional Africa Division Three event bi-annually, and depending on results play in Division Two the following year.

The NWAC was a successor to the old West African Cricket Conference which had been held since 1960.

ICC Africa Development Officer, Cassim Suliman said his office would consider providing financial support if approached.

Tony Munro

Malawi remained unbeaten to ensure their promotion to Africa Division Two following their four-wicket win against Sierra Leone in Blantyre, Malawi on Tuesday. Sierra Leone must beat Rwanda on Wednesday to ensure they join Malawi in Benoni next March.

Sierra Leone won the toss and batted. However, the top order failed to fire and the innings was precariously poised at 142 for 5 in the 29th over. Allrounder Lasana Lamin smashed 78 off 86 balls, helping his side set a target of 176 for victory.

In response, the Malawi top-order managed meaningful partnerships in the run chase and reached 79-3 after 24 overs at one stage. Shailandra Jeena smashed an unbeaten 35 to help his team to achieve the target in 42 overs with four wickets to spare

Rwanda beat Lesotho in the second match by 218 runs.


Scores:

Sierra Leone 176 (41.4 overs) (Lansana Lamin 78, Ibrahim Kamara 45; Zaffar Sukhera 3-28, Arjun Kalaria 3-46, Shailendra Jeena 2-22) Malawi 177 for 6 (41.4 overs) (Shailendra Jeena 35 not out, Danish Jakhura 31, Mushahid Quraishy 22, Naeem Chaudry 21, Ishtiyaz Khan 20; Ibrahim Kabia 2-23, Lamin 2-39)

Rwanda def. Lesotho No scorecard available at this stage

Things go from bad to worse for Ugandan cricket and, by association, for the dreams of many young cricketers across Africa, with an admission that seven players, and not six as first reported, went missing at the end of the ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in Toronto.

Reaction back at home has not been good. Former Uganda board chairman Abbey Lutaya said it was “a great setback for Ugandan sport”. He continued: “It is indeed a big step backwards to the many achievements cricket had attained. Uganda have worked hard on the cricket front and with the hard work almost bearing fruit, these little boys decide to spoil everything now,”

“They are so talented and it is catastrophic that not one but seven of them decide to vanish.”
Cassim Suliman, chief executive of the Africa Cricket Association, said he was “not happy”, adding: "It sets a bad precedent and basically we need to somehow look at countering this by getting other measures in place."

The Uganda Cricket Assocation has asked the Canadian authorities to repatriate the missing players as and when they are found.

While this has been linked with a similar incident in 2007 when two Ugandan players absconded after an ICC tournament in Australia and subsequently claimed asylum, there is confusion over the status of the seven.

They have no documentation - the management appear to have been holding their passports to try to avoid such an incident – but Canadian police said no laws had been broken as the seven were all legally in the country on six-month visas. However, it is believed the country’s immigration department are not taking quite such a relaxed view.

Speaking to Canada’s National Post, Dr. Joanna Quinn, an assistant professor at the University of Western Ontario who has extensive knowledge of Ugandan politics, said it was easier for Ugandans to get visas to Canada than to the USA or UK and played down suggestions they were seeking political asylum.

“It doesn't seem to make sense,” she said. “The only thing I can think of is [that they are seeking] economic improvements.”

Africa needs to look hard at itself and ask this question: why are there only two teams from the continent going to New Zealand for the Under-19s World Cup in January? And of the two, no-one can ever be too sure about Zimbabwe.

No non-Test nation (apart, now, from Zimbabwe) has made it through from Africa; whereas Asia will have six representatives (two non-Test sides), the Americas and Caribbean three (two non-Test nations), the Antipodes three (Australia, New Zealand and non-Test Papua New Guinea), and Europe two (one non-Test).

Uganda nearly made it through, but in the end they came out also-rans and, like Vanuatu, hom they beat, were not really up to scratch. Sierra Leone did not appear for the Toronto qualifiers - might they have been a surprise package or, more likely, mere fodder for the better teams? And Kenya were a no-shower for other reasons, compounded in part by their own foolishness amid premature assumptions that they would host the tournament.

So, the second question is this - and it's one that's been asked before: whither Africa?

South Africa will always hold its own; Zimbabwe seems possibly to be coming back; Uganda (where 38,000 people play the game) still appears promising; and Kenya has a lot to do. Backstage, Tanzania also hold promise, but Botswana recently took a biffing at the World Cricket League Division 6 event in Singapore.

Nigeria may be an untapped talent; Ghana are making efforts to climb; Malawi, on the other hand, and Zambia too, have faded away. Namibia are somewhere in-between, blowing hot and cold. One day Morocco may come through, but it will be a long time before Mali does.
In the wings, and whether they can fly or not nobody really knows, are Mozambique, Rwanda, Lesotho, Swaziland, Cameroon and the Gambia, while way offshore there lies little St Helena.

As yet, no Egypt. Why not?

It's not a particularly rosy picture; nor is it one of total despair. What it does illustrate, though, is that more resources need to be ploughed into the continent and proper development programmes carried through.

We could start with no less than adequate press coverage of cricket, so desperately lacking across most of the continent. So let's start there; the oxygen of publicity may be the saving of cricket in Africa.

What do others say?

Colin MacBeth

Uganda and Sierra Leone booked their places in the Under-19 World Cup qualifying tournament later this year after finishing first and second in the Africa Under-19 Championship in Zambia. They will join Afghanistan, Hong Kong and the top two teams from the Americas, East Asia-Pacific and Europe regions in a play-off, from which the top five teams from that tournament will join the ten ICC Full Members and hosts Kenya in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup.

Uganda and Sierra Leone met in the final round of matches, and it was Uganda who won a rain-affected game despite being bowled out for 91. Chasing a revised target of 83 in 20 overs, Sierra Leone lost too many wickets too quickly and only managed 35 for 8, Geofrey Nyero returning remarkable figures of 6 for 7.

That result meant that Namibia could have overtaken Sierra Leone with an emphatic win over the hugely disappointing Kenyans, but after they had posted 158 for 7, the match was abandoned six overs into Kenya's reply. The one point Namibia earned was not enough.

Hosts Zambia finished fourth thanks to a 63-run win over Tanzania, but again the weather meant the game was decided by Duckworth-Lewis calculations. Zambia made 133 and Tanzania struggled to 42 for 7 before the rain returned.

Nigeria showed why they finished bottom without a win as they were dismissed for 68 by Botswana, who went on to amble to a six-wicket win.

               P   W  NR   L   Pts      NRR 

Uganda         7   6   0   1    12     -0.31

Sierra Leone   7   5   0   2    10      1.18

Namibia        7   4   1   2     9      0.83

Zambia         7   4   0   3     8      0.10

Kenya          7   3   1   3     7     -0.22

Botswana       7   3   0   4     6     -0.44

Tanzania       7   2   0   5     4     -0.43

Nigeria        7   0   0   7     0     -1.36

Rwanda’s Under-17 manager Emma Byiringiro has expressed frustration about the team’s preparations ahead of next month’s ICC/ACA U-17 tournament. The New Times quoted Byiringiro as saying: “It’s very difficult to have the boys during the course of the week because they are busy doing their exams. So this has limited us to weekends, which is not enough time for them to perfect their game.”

Despite facing Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Byiringiro was upbeat. “Kenya and Uganda are favorites but we shall give them a good run for their money. But more certainly, we shall target to beat Tanzania. They are ICC Associate members but we humiliated them during last year’s ICC U-15 regional tournament and we are looking to do it again with the U-17s this year,”

The tournament is being held from July 1 to 5 in Kampala.

Nigeria opened the North West African Championships with a crushing win against Gambia and Sierra Leone beat Ghana on the second day.

Results

Nigeria 365 for 7 (Ofem 111, Onikoyi 46, Adegbola 36) beat Gambia 87 all out by 278 runs

Sierra Leone 195 for 7 beat Ghana 147 all out by 48 runs

Tony Munro

One of the oldest running (give or take the odd year) tournament in international cricket starts this weekend when five countries contest the North West African Championships in Lagos, Nigeria.

The traditional entrants, Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, all members of the British Commonwealth, have taken part in the old West African Championships since the 1960s.
Last year Mali and Morocco became the first former French territories to compete, (in Banjul, Gambia), and the tournament became the North West African Championships.

Mali is back, Morocco is not, and plans for Cameroon to debut this year have been scuppered.

Also returning this year are 12 of the 14 members of the successful Nigerian team, the only changes forced by work commitments. The five teams will contest a round-robin, with the winner decided on win-loss record.

Ghana and Sierra Leone are regarded as Nigeria's main threats.