Cricket side left to rue near miss
Mqondisi Dube | Tuesday June 2, 2026 09:47
It has been a gripping week of cricket as seven nations battled for two spots at the Africa regional finals following the conclusion of the Sub-regional Qualifier A held in Gaborone.
Rwanda and Kenya booked their places, with Botswana narrowly missing out.
The final game of the competition featuring Botswana and Rwanda was a nail-bitter, providing the climax that the week-long competition deserved.
But in the end, it became a case of so near yet so far for the Baggy Blues, who suffered a deflating two run loss.
The defeat left the local players crest-fallen as after long periods of Rwanda's domination, there was light at the end when Dhruv Maisuria dragged the game in the hosts' favour.
Botswana had restricted Rwanda to 117/8 in the 20 overs, with the total appearing surmountable. Openers, Karabo Motlhanka and Monroux Kasselman made a steady and assured start, but the later departed in the fifth over with 25 runs on the board.
Botswana then found runs hard to come by as skipper, Motlhanka saw partners come and go in quick succession at the other end.
Rwanda's bowlers, led by man-of-the-match Martin Akayezu, tightened the grip as the local batters battled to keep the scoreboard ticking. The departure of Motlhanka, for a well played 40 in the 15th over, appeared to settle the contest.
But Maisuria had other ideas when he walked to the crease with Botswana reeling at 98-8, blasting a quick fire 16 off five balls, which included two sixes.
However, his heroics were insufficient to take the home side across the line as they fell two runs short of pulling the rabbit out of the hat.
Despite the agony of failing to progress, captain Motlhanka praised the team's brave effort.
'We are bitterly disappointed not to go through. We were at the finals last year and we would have liked an opportunity to go again,' Motlhanka said.
'It was not our day but it was a valiant effort from the boys, it was a brilliant bowling and fielding display but Rwanda outfought us today.'
Pace bowler, Thatayaone Tshose felt the game slipped away during the middle session.
'I think we tilted our plan a bit looking at the run rate. May be we should have stuck to our plan and play the game to win. Things did not go according to our plan,' Tshose said.
Rwanda's Akayezu, named man-of-the-match for his 19 runs and two wickets, said Botswana made it difficult for them, particularly in the closing stages.
'We got the runs on the board which we were able to defend. In our minds, we wanted to restrict them below 100, although it was not easy we managed in the end,' Akayezu said.
Rwanda and Kenya will now join Tanzania and Ghana who qualified from Qualifier B, while Namibia are through to the finals after participating in the previous World Cup.
Nigeria will host Qualifier C in October, which will see the top two teams join the already qualified sides.