Cricket: Botswana on revenge mission against Kenya

Former Kenya international Joseph Angara will be hoping to get his first win with Botswana on his homeland on Thursday when the teams meet again in the first Continent Cup Twenty20 International (T20I) Africa competition at the Nairobi Gymkhana.

Angara, who played for Kenya between 1997 and 2005, said on Wednesday it would be a huge achievement if they hand the hosts their second defeat of the competition.

Uganda and Rwanda are the other teams taking part in the four-nation tournament, which will see the teams meet three times before the top two teams meet in the final on June 21. Angara has been the coach of Botswana since July 2015.

Prior to the first T20I Africa of the Continent Cup, the teams had met twice, with Kenya winning one while the other was abandoned due to rain.

Kenya defeated Botswana by eight runs in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa qualifier in Kigali, Rwanda on 24/11/2022.

And last Saturday, Kenya once again beat Botswana by eight wickets in the Continent Cup T20I Africa competition.

It (beating Kenya) is a big thing for the boys and that is what we are looking at. I still hope and believe they can do it, said Angara, who was part of the Kenyan team that reached the semi-finals of the 2003 ICC World Cup hosted by Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Botswana go into the match on the back of three consecutive defeats, having fallen to Uganda by 64 runs on Wednesday.

In the match, Uganda, who won the toss and elected to bat first, posted 153 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their 20 innings. Botswana scored 89 runs for the loss of nine wickets in their 20 innings.

Uganda’s Alpesh Ramjani was named man of the match with three goals in three games.

Botswana lost by 27 runs to Rwanda on Tuesday after going down to Kenya by eight wickets last Sunday. Botswana have registered just one win from five matches – a 33-run blowout over Rwanda last Saturday.

We just need to be tighter in our power play when bowling. When we bat, if we get some runs in the powerplay, which we haven’t really done well in this tournament, that’s a good performance,” Angara added.

Kenya coach David Obuya said they are expecting a good match against Botswana.

Botswana are on the right track, they’ve improved since we played them last year and the year before that, so we’re looking to play the game normally. We try to give it 100 percent, stick to our fundamentals and game plan so we can succeed without pressure,” Obuya said.

In their second meeting with Rwanda on Wednesday, Kenya won by seven points.
It was a low-scoring match where Rwanda, who won the toss and elected to bat first, scored 92 runs all out in their 20 innings. Kenya scored 98 runs and lost three wickets in their innings in 14 overs.

Wicketkeeper Sukhdeep Sigh, who top scored with 37 runs off 37 balls with two fours and one six, was adjudged man of the match.

Emmanuel Bundi and Vraj Patel were also instrumental in Kenya’s three-wicket victory. Kenya beat Rwanda by three points in the opening match of the tournament last Friday.

After five matches, Kenya and Uganda are joint top with eight points, but the hosts are ahead thanks to their better run rate.