Brief History of Sierra Leone Women’s National Cricket Team
The Sierra Leone women’s national cricket team represents the country of Sierra Leone in international women’s cricket.
Historical Highlights – Sierra Leone Women’s National Cricket Team
In 2011, Sierra Leone was invited to the Africa Twenty20 (T20) Women’s Tournament held in Uganda. The team participated in the inaugural 2015 North West Africa Cricket Council (NWACC) women’s tournament held in The Gambia, finishing undefeated ahead of Gambia, Ghana, and Mali.
In April 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) granted full Women’s Twenty20 International (WT20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Sierra Leone women and other international sides since 1 July 2018 have WT20I status. They debuted against Mozambique at Botswana Cricket Association Oval, Gaborone, on 20 August 2018.
Sierra Leone’s first WT20I matches were contested as part of the Botswana 7s tournament in August 2018 against Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia. Sierra Leone finished second on the table, with four wins and one loss, but lost the final against Namibia by nine wickets.
Tournament Highlights – Sierra Leone Women’s National Cricket Team
2019 ICC Women’s Qualifier Africa:
Placed in Group B alongside Namibia, Uganda, and Kenya; Sierra Leone faced defeat in all three encounters.
2021 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier:
Placed in Group B alongside Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, and Cameroon; Sierra Leone could only manage to win against Cameroon, hence couldn’t qualify further.
2022 Nigeria Invitational Women’s T20I Tournament:
Originally, Sierra Leone was in Group B, but after Cameroon’s withdrawal from the tournament, the format changed to round-robin. Sierra Leone finished third in the table, winning against Ghana by 10 wickets.
2023 Nigeria Invitational Women’s T20I Tournament:
With the same format as 2022, Sierra Leone played in a round-robin where they won two matches and faced Cameroon for the third place, winning by 9 wickets and finishing third in the tournament.
2024 Nigeria Invitational Women’s T20I Tournament:
With only four teams participating this time, alongside Tanzania, Nigeria, and Rwanda; Sierra Leone faced harsh defeats and didn’t win any of their matches.
2023 ACA Africa T20 Cup:
Placed in group B alongside Kenya, Botswana, and Ghana, they managed to win one match against Botswana, finishing third in the group stage and couldn’t qualify further.
2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier:
The first stage of the tournament was Division Two, which featured eight teams. Sierra Leone was placed in group B alongside Cameroon, Mozambique, and Eswatini. They won all their matches and advanced to the playoffs, where they lost the semifinal against Botswana and faced Cameroon for third place, winning by 7 wickets.