Kenya’s Under-19 men’s cricket team will be out to restore the country’s pride in the sport when the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Division One Qualifiers kick-off on Sunday in Dar-es-Salaam.
Hosts Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Namibia will compete in the one-week qualifiers (One Day International format), whose winner will clinch the sole ticket to the Under-19 World Cup that will be held in Sri Lanka.
The ICC is yet to release dates for the World Cup.
Two matches have been lined up for Sunday in the qualifiers, which will be played in a single round robin format.
Kenya will face hosts Tanzania at the University of Dar-es-Salaam (UDSM) Cricket Playground from 9:30am East African Time (EAT).
At the same time at Dar-es-Salaam Gymkhana Club Ground, Namibia will square it out with Uganda.
Kenya coach Josphat Irungu hopes to make a return to the global championship for the first time since 2018 in New Zealand.
After arriving in Dar-es-Salaam Friday morning, the Kenyan contingent had a rest, before having a feel of the UDSM Cricket Playground Saturday morning.
With Tanzania being coached by former Kenya international Jimmy Kamande, an explosive contest is expected between the two neighbours, since apart from looking to make a winning start to the competition, the two compatriots will also be out to get the better of each other.
In their last meeting on March 20, 2019 in the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Division One Qualifiers at Wanderers Ground in Windhoek Namibia, Kenya defeated Tanzania by eight wickets.
“So far the weather is good for cricket. It is a big game as they are the host nation, we want to play all the overs and have a good score,” said Irungu.
Kamande said: “The encounter will be like any other cricket match, where two top nations are fighting for the flag. We have prepared the best way possible.”
By virtue of winning the 2024 ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Division Two Qualifiers in Abuja, Nigeria in October last year, Kenya progressed to the Division One Qualifiers of the global competition, where Tanzania, Uganda and Namibia were waiting.
For Nigeria and Sierra Leone, they progressed to the final round of the World Cup qualifiers by finishing behind Kenya in that order.
Irungu had last week told Nation Sport that he is satisfied with the preparations they had for the competition.
The team started preparing for the competition on May 9, with Irungu naming a provisional squad of 38 players from Nairobi, Nakuru and Mombasa.
While he coached the Nairobi-based players, those in Nakuru and Mombasa were trained by former Kenya internationals Peter Ongondo and Maurice Odumbe respectively. They trained mostly in the evening after school.
On July 6, the team jetted out for a 10-day training camp at Omtex ICWC Cricket Institute in Saphale-Palghar District, India which the coach said was beneficial.
They returned home last Monday and proceeded straight to residential training at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
Kenya’s captain Vishil Patel also had a glorious opportunity to better his skills by being part of the national senior men’s cricket team that competed in the inaugural Continent Cup Twenty20 International (T20I) Africa at Nairobi Gymkhana from June 9 to 21.
Uganda, Rwanda and Botswana are the other teams that took part in the competition.
Uganda defeated Kenya by one run in the competition’s final.
Sunday’s matches (all start at (9:30am EAT)
Namibia v Uganda (DAR Gymkhana Club Ground)
Tanzania v Kenya (UDSM Cricket Playground)
