Cricketer team still confident despite suffering two defeats

The national cricket team captain, Hamis Abdallah, is confident that they will have something to celebrate despite making a wobbly start at the ICC Africa Twenty20 Division 1 in Benoni, South Africa.

Tanzania slumped to two consecutive defeats; beginning with Friday’s loss to Uganda before throwing away the second match against Ghana on Saturday. In Saturday’s match, Tanzania elected to bat first and registered 100 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.

The team’s attempt to set up a convincing total suffered a serious setback when opening batsmen, Issa Kikasi and Abhik Patwa, were dismissed after managing two runs apiece off 10 and four balls respectively.

Abdallah had the team’s highest score in the match after posting 23 runs off 35 balls before he was caught by Ghana’s P. Ananya off Isaac Aboagye bowling. “Losing is always a cause for concern, but we are still in it. We have all it takes to overturn the trend in the coming games,” said the skipper. “We have worked on the minor errors that cost victories in the first two matches, so I am optimistic that we will bounce back.” This year’s edition looks in contrast with last year’s when Tanzania finished third with Abhik Patwa being selected as the most promising player, having scored a century in one of the matches.

The Saturday’s match held at Sahara Willowmoore Park, one of the biggest stadia in South Africa that ever hosted World Cup finals, saw Tanzania suffering a five-wicket loss to Ghana.

The tournament involves top Associate outfits in the continent, with the top two teams securing qualification for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup qualifiers that will take place in Ireland and Scotland later this year. Other participating teams are Namibia, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria.

Before travelling to South Africa for the qualifiers, the local cricketers competed in the Azam Premier League (APL) that featured 12 foreign players from India, England, Pakistan and South Africa.

Kassim Nassoro, one of the promising batsmen, said echoed his captain, exuding confidence that they will perform well in their next games.

“It happens in every sport losing the first two games, but I am confident that we can bounce back and finish at the top,” he said.

Kenya and Uganda are among the title favourites as well as likeliest qualifiers for the next stage of the event organised and supervised by Africa Cricket Association (ACA).