Four defeats rattle Botswana in T20 tourney

Dumisani Ncube | Friday April 3, 2015 10:34

Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) chief executive officer, Girish Ramakrishna told Mmegi Sport that the batting has not been up to scratch

“Our batting system did not deliver that much. We did not expect such a performance from the team,” he said.

Ramakrishna was, however, quick to dismiss suggestions that the absence of acting coach, Joseph Angara due to VISA issues was behind the poor run. He put the blame on the team’s lack of fitness.

Ramakrishna said five players were out with injuries, which might have affected the shape of the squad.

“We had to fly two players to South Africa this morning so they can replace the injured players.”

The injured players are captain Karabo Modise, wicket keeper Karabo Motlhanka, Adithiya Rangaswamy, Gaolape Mokokwe and Sooraj Kollery.

Under-19 captain and wicket keeper Rashaad Mosweu and Inzam Master have joined the team to fill up the places for the injured players despite the fact that they were not part of the standby players that comprised of Thabang Nshomane and Imran Khan.

“We sent the young batsmen so they can beef up our batting, which is not doing well,” Ramakrishna said.

The tournament statistics show poor batting results from Botswana squad, with only Motlhanka and Mokokwe being the only players that showed consistence.

The rest of the team was scoring a margin of runs below 20.

Today, Botswana play a 50 over match against Ghana for a place in ICC’s Division Six. Ghana has already beaten Botswana by four wickets in a T20 tie on Monday. The winner of the match will earn a place in Division Six.

In the absence of their coach, the team is under guidance of senior players such as James Moses and team manager, Sumod Damodar.