17 Jun 2024

India men defeated host nation, Botswana to emerge champions of the Monyglob sponsored T20 Mini World Cup 2024 held Saturday at Gaborone Cricket Club.

India defeated Botswana by nine wickets. Overall, India registered 138 wickets in 20 overs, while Botswana managed 129 runs in 20 overs.

Despite an impressive performance throughout the tournament which saw them making it to the final, the home team met an equally determined opponent in India.

Botswana’s captain, Karabo Motlhanka was named player of the series and best Batsman of the tournament, while India’s Vinoo Balakrishnan won Man of the Moment. 

The tournament also included South Africa, Sri Lanka, World XI, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) vice chairperson, Sumod Damodar said the event was one of the activities that would prepare the U-19 national team for upcoming events.

He said the association held a camp over the weekend, to select the U-19 boys, whose final list of 14 players was forwarded to ICC on Monday.

Damodar said the team would represent the country at a T20 U-19 tournament, end of July in Tanzania. He said the team was selected from a group of 27 players who came from among others places Maun, Selebi Phikwe, Molepolole and Gaborone.

The three day rigorous and taxing selection camp which commenced on Thursday, Damodar said saw players taking part in three consecutive 50 over games from which the final 14 and four reserves were selected.He said the association had a hectic schedule ahead as the national teams were preparing for international engagements during the remaining half of the year. 

“The rest of the year is going to be hectic as we have a number of activities ahead of us,” he said.

Despite efforts put in place to develop the sport from grassroots level, Damodar said lack of sporting activities in schools was not helping.

However, Damodar said the association developed some mechanisms to find new talent on their own. 

He said recently, cricket association went around the country conducting initiation camps, a process that encountered many challenges despite producing some positives.

He said the initial camp that was held some months ago qualified 38 boys and 20 girls. Damodar said the U-19 girls were scheduled to play in August and preparations were ongoing to ready the team by organising friendly matches with formidable sides such as Zimbabwe and even have visiting teams to play with them.

He added that the senior men would also play ICC World T20 qualifiers at the end of October.

Meanwhile, Damodar said the Botswana women cricket national team recently took part in the annual Kwibuka Women’s T20 International Tournament in Kigali, Rwanda from May 30 to June 8.

Out of the seven games played, Botswana managed to win two games, against Cameroon by 44 runs and by six wickets against Malawi. Damodar said the results were not impressive as the team finished sixth out of eight teams that participated in the tournament.

Despite the below par performance, he said the association was consoled by the development in the team since it featured a number of new players who were less experienced but competitive enough to play for a national team. “They deserve credit for making an effort,” he said.

  Damodar said the association currently did not have a long term private sponsorship and was working with funding from ICC and BNSC. He also said support from well-wishers was also handy in pushing their efforts.

“It is important to note that cricket is growing hence the need to applaud parents and guardians for allowing their children to play cricket. 

We are proud that the children who have chosen to play cricket, love the sport and are willing to stay with the sport,” he said.  Ends