Tanzania U-19's cricketer holds sway in 2023 ICC U-19 WC Africa

In one of the 2023 ICC U-19 Men's World Cup Africa Qualifiers final day duels, Tanzania U-19 cricketers, on the one hand, beat the Sierra Leone U-19 team by 142 runs to garner the only win in their participation in the junior continental showpiece.

The encounter held at the University of Dar es Salaam ground witnessed Tanzania U-19 cricketers winning the toss, electing to take the crease first and registering 259/9 in the allotted 50 overs.

In response, the Sierra Leone U-19 cricket team found the going tough in the chase, ending with 117/10 in 24.1 overs to suffer the loss.

Having recorded the highest margin victory in the tournament and the highest score of the tournament, the tournament hosts will certainly be proud of managing to wind up their campaign impressively.

The highlight of the tie was, on the other hand, a scintillating showing with the bat that was showcased by the tie's eventual winners' cricketer, Shaikh Basha, given the performer notched 115 runs not out which included five fours and a six.

Having stepped on the crease after the quick dismissal of another top-order cricketer Baraka Robert, Basha mercilessly cracked balls all over the pitch and set up a last-wicket partnership with Issa Safari (seven runs not out).

The two batsmen significantly pushed Tanzania U-19's score and helped the squad end its innings with an imposing figure.

It was in the end the best batting performance to have been displayed in the week-long ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifiers and was moreover the only century of the tournament.   

The Tanzanian batsman ended at the top 10 list of individual players rankings as generated by the automated point system on the tournament application based on the match statistics of the individual performances.

Basha chalked up 1043 points, Raymond Coker of Sierra Leone took second place with 853 points and Namibia's Jack Thomas Brassell settled for number three having notched 828 points.

Joseph Baguma of the Uganda U-19 squad took fourth place having scored 826 points, whereas Joshua Asia of Nigeria U-19 came fifth after amassing 755 points.

Another Namibia U-19 cricketer, Peter-Daniel Blignaut, settled for sixth place with 746 points, followed by Victor Samuel of Nigeria U-19 taking seventh place having ended with 694 points.

Sierra Leone U-19's performer, George Sesay (692 points), Uganda U-19's Fahad Mutagana (617 points), and Namibia U-19's Gerhard Johannes Janse Van Rensburg (609 points) took eighth, ninth, and 10th spots respectively.

In an interview with Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA)'s information officer Atif Salim shortly after the Tanzania U-19 vs Sierra Leone U-19 clash, a delighted Basha revealed: "I feel very happy for this match, I wanted to play well, I wanted to finish the 50 overs."

The performer admitted to having had a wobbly start to his innings, pointing out: "The team was struggling and I got very frustrated, I and my (batting) partner (Safari) sought to play straight batting and we had a very good partnership."

The cricket noted: "I was focusing on being aggressive, I wanted to see the ball, I and my batting partner just played straight balls and he was a good partner today."

Six teams namely Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda took part in the 2023 ICC U-19 Men's World Cup Africa Qualifiers which got underway on July 23.

Sixteen teams will be competing at the 2024 ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Sri Lanka over 41 matches and 11 teams automatically qualified for the event as the best-placed Full Member nations from the previous event played in 2022.

The remaining five spots have been determined through regional qualification pathways, with one team from each region securing a place at the global event.

Americas and East Asia Pacific have hosted one qualifying event in 2023, with the winner of the showdowns sealing a spot at the 2024 U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup.

The African, Asia, and Europe regions have each gone through a two-step qualification structure.

These regions hosted Division 2 Qualifiers in 2022 to determine the teams that will compete in the second and final qualifying event, the Regional Qualifier, with events taking place in 2023.

The winner of the African event will join regional qualifiers from Asia (Nepal), East Asia Pacific (New Zealand), Europe, and America’s representatives, as well as the 11 Full Member cricket nations that automatically qualified for the 15th edition that will be played in Sri Lanka.

The Full Member competitors are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Zimbabwe.