The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier has come to an end with the conclusion of the league stages and the semi-finals. The two teams that have qualified for the main qualifying event in 2024 have been determined. Botswana defeated Sierra Leone by 17 runs after scoring 131, while Kenya dominated Cameroon, scoring 156 and taking all 10 wickets with just 38 runs on the board. Kenya and Botswana have secured their places in the main event and will play for the title on the 8th of September from 5:20 p.m. IST onwards, while Sierra Leone and Cameroon will play for the third spot at 1:00 p.m. IST.
The tournament began with a match between Kenya and Botswana that saw Kenya emerge victorious with a massive 111-run win after setting a mammoth target of 165. Botswana crumbled in response, getting all out for just 53. Queentor Abel’s all-round performance was the standout feature of the match, with a top score of 71 runs and four wickets. It was followed by an even bigger win by Malawi against Lesotho. Malawi posted a huge score on board. Courtesy of a fluent innings of 74(49) by Lidia Dimba, they posted 189. Vanessa Phiri, the 22-year-old speedster picked four scalps and handed Malawi a 136-run win.
A string of one-sided matches followed with Mozambique defeating Eswatini by 102 runs, Sierra Leone chasing an under-par target of 41 within powerplay, and so on. After so many lopsided matches, came a close contested battle. In the 11th match, Botswana posted an average target of 124 from their 20 overs and Malawi was in a “so near yet so far” situation as they fell short by just 5 runs. In the last league match, the table toppers Kenya registered the biggest win by runs when they posted the highest innings score when they posted 234 onboard against Lesotho. Queentor Abel was once again in the limelight, this time due to her century. She scored a humongous 109(52). In reply, Lesotho could only manage 26 and the one-sided affair ended with a 208-run win for Kenya.
It is no surprise that Queentor Abel scored the most runs till now. She sits handsomely at the top with her 225 runs coming at a strike rate of 160.71 which was the most in the tournament. Apart from this, the Kenyan superstar is also the joint-highest wicket-taker with 10 wickets from 3 matches at an astonishing average of 2.7.
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