September 19, 2016 By Sahr Morris Jr.
Sierra Leone kept alive their U-19 Cricket World Cup qualification quest in the ongoing ICC Africa Division II qualifiers with a 6 wicket victory over Botswana on Saturday at the Sahara Park Willowmoore A Oval in South Africa.
The Southern Africa nation won the toss and elected to bat first, but were limited to 201 run all out in 47 overs. Open batman Rudolph Dewet proved too tough for the Sierra Leonean bowlers as he was bowled out for 76 runs from 90 balls to finish as Botswana’s top scorer.
Muaz Arooz, who hits two fours to register a total of 28 runs from 53 ball, finished as the team’s second top scorer, while their most experienced player in the squad Tharindu Perera was only limited to 11 runs from 31 balls.
Chernor Bah, Haroun Kamara and George Ngegba each grabbed two wickets for Sierra Leone, but it was Kamara who was top bowler in the inning as he conceded 24 runs with an economy rate of 2.67.
Sierra Leone replied in the second inning with 202 runs for loss of 4 wickets in 38 overs. Wonder Boy John Bangura was Sierra Leone’s top scorer with a massive 80 runs not out.
The win moved Sierra Leone a step closer to second position after Ghana whitewashed Nigeria to a massive 10 wickets win. Nigeria won the toss and elected to bat first but surprisingly the high scoring Nigeria side were limited to 27 runs all out in 15.4 overs while Ghana replied with 28 runs for the loss of now wickets in 4.3 overs.
The win over Nigeria was Ghana’s sixth out of six games which saw them clinch the title and gain automatic qualification to the next round of the World Cup qualifiers.