Coach content with cricketers progress

Khalil Rehemtullah and Issa Kikasi during a past training session. PHOTO|FILE

What you need to know:

  • Rehemtullah told The Citizen yesterday that have been making commendable improvement in training and build-up matches they have so far played. The teams has played three friendly matches and lost all of them, but the coach insists that they will be competitive enough by the time of the ICC qualifiers.

Dar es Salaam. The national Under-19 cricket team trainer Khalil Rehemtullah is pleased with his teams progress at the camp as the ICC World Cup qualifiers draw closer. The Tanzanian boys will depart for South Africa on September 9 and will kick off their qualifying campaign against Sierra Leone three days later.

Rehemtullah told The Citizen yesterday that have been making commendable improvement in training and build-up matches they have so far played. The teams has played three friendly matches and lost all of them, but the coach insists that they will be competitive enough by the time of the ICC qualifiers.

“We have played three matches and lost them, but the boys have made tremendous improvement and I am positive that they will be ready for the looming challenge by early next week,” said Rehemtullah who also plays for the senior team.

“We will play two more warm-up matches before flying to South Africa. We are working on some weaknesses including batting, so I am looking forward to seeing an improved performance when we the boys play their next friendly,” he said. The team, which has been training Muhimbili Cricket Academy for over a week now, lost their friendlies to Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club and St. Gobain.

The coach disclosed that they will clash with a combined team comprising the best players from different Dar es Salaam clubs.

“This will be a perfect test for my players ahead of the ICC qualifiers,” the coach said. He ruled out the possibility of playing an international friendly match owing to a limited time.

“It is a good idea to play against a topflight team from abroad, but unfortunately, we don’t have enough time before the tournament gets underway, so we will make sure that these friendlies benefit the team in the right way,” he said.

After the opening match in Benoni, Tanzania will take on Nigeria on September 11 before swinging back to action against Rwanda three days later.