TCA optimistic over national U-19 cricketers' quest for success

The showpiece, slated for July 23-31, will involve U-19 crickets squads from six countries- Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and hosts Tanzania- battling for qualification for the 2024 ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  

Atif Salim, TCA information officer, revealed recently the association expects the national team will perform well and ultimately secure qualification for the ICC U-19 World Cup.

The official revealed: "We expect the team to secure the top prize (in the qualifiers) because it has been a long time since we became ICC members that we should get one of our teams to qualify for the World Cup."

He noted: "We have been coming close, especially in women's cricket, in which we made it to the final of the U-19 women's World Cup Qualifiers and lost to Rwanda."

Salim disclosed: "If you look at the men's U-19 team, in the 2021 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifiers, the team lost to Uganda, if the team would have lost by a slim margin it would have made it to the World Cup."

The TCA official disclosed 40 players from various parts of the country were earlier selected to make a provisional squad for the national U-19 squad which took part in intensive training in Dar es Salaam.

The official pointed out that the cricketers were, thereafter, trimmed to 19 players that were later reduced to 14 cricketers that form the final squad for the national U-19 side.

The 19 cricketers are skipper Johnson Nyambo (Mwanza), Laksh Bakrania (Dar es Salaam), Karim Kiseto (Tanga), Baraka Laizer (Arusha), Jaffari Kanyita (Morogoro), Issa Safari (Arusha), Hamza Ally (Tanga), Ayoub Hamisi (Mwanza), Alhaji Sadik (Tanga), and Ally Hassan (Arusha).

Augustine Mwamele (Morogoro), Umar Shaik (Dar es Salaam), Omary Ramadhani (Morogoro), Acrey Pascal (Dar es Salaam), Raymond Francis (Mwanza), Mohammed Abdullah Imtiyaz (Dar es Salaam), Abdulrazak Mohamed (Dar es Salaam), Mohammed Simba (Tanga), and Khalid Amiri (Gairo) complete the squad's list.

Salim revealed: "We have few players that played in the previous edition (held in 2021)-Nyambo, Bakrania, Kiseto, and Sadik, the rest are new players, so, we so far have five players (with experience) but I think the ones that have come in are good and will help us win this tournament."

The official said: "They have been playing a lot of club tournaments and have experience of playing against tough opponents (in club tournaments), their participation in the tournaments has been a good advantage for us." 

Former Kenya senior national cricket team player, Jimmy Kamande, is the national U-19 cricket squad's coach, and senior cricketer, Ally Mpeka, serves as the squad's manager. 

"Most of the players making the final squad come from various centers including Arusha, Tanga, Morogoro, and Dar es Salaam, the most conspicuous aspect is the players' ability," the TCA official revealed.

According to Salim, cricketers making the national U-19 team come from all development centers supervised by TCA.

The official noted: "We now also have some players from new centers including Gairo (Morogoro) and we expect other new centers like Chamwino and Kongwa (Dodoma) to also bring us more players."   

Salim pointed out that TCA congratulates all 19 players that worked tirelessly to earn a spot in the final squad for the national U-19 team to represent the country, adding the cricketers are the future of Tanzanian cricket.

Players making the national U-19 side featured in the 2023 Dar es Salaam Cricket (DC) 50 Overs Division A's League, which took place in the city from February 5-July 9.

The ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifiers (formerly ICC Africa U-19 Championships) are a series of regular cricket tournaments organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for U-19 teams from its African member nations. It is the regional qualifier for the ICC U-19 World Cup.