Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) senior national side qualified for the Africa Men’s T20 Cup after reaching the finals of the Africa Cricket Association (ACA) South and Central Region Qualifiers.
The Baggy Blues are currently competing at the ACA South and Central against four Southern African teams, Mozambique, Malawi, Mauritus, Eswatini, and Mozambique, and have won three of their four games.
They will face Mozambique in the final tomorrow in Binoni, South Africa.
The squad has automatically qualified for the Africa Championships, which are usually held in South Africa, but Sumod Damodar, Vice President of the Botswana Cricket Association, explains that the ACA has yet to decide on a venue since they believe there is a need to rotate the event throughout the continent.
The Men’s T20 Africa Cup Championship is Africa’s largest continental cricket tournament, and it also serves as a qualifier for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup.
The Championship is made up of three qualifiers from each of the three regional qualifiers, which will eventually constitute the nine-nation T20 Africa Cup Championship.
Dmodar stated that he is impressed with the squad’s performance thus far and has no concerns; he expects the club will perform significantly better than previous year.
Last year, Baggy Blue struggled in their debut at the Men’s T20 Africa Cup Championship, failing to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Rwanda.
“If you recall, we qualified for the Africa Championship for the first time last year and performed very poorly; this year, we hope to advance to the finals and win the cup,” Damodar remarked.
Dmodar stated that he truly believes the 14 men sent to South Africa will produce good results and return with the regional trophy, citing the two trophies awarded to Thatayaone Tsose and Dhruv Maisuria, who were named man of the matches in their matches against Eswatini and Mauritius, respectively.
The team is scheduled to return to Botswana on June 2nd, and they have travelled with their team Coach, Joseph Angara, who has been with the team for the previous eight years.