ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier 2023 Points Table: Updated standings after Nigeria vs Uganda, Match 14
A total of three matches were played today in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier 2023. Namibia and Kenya faced each other in the 12th match of the tournament at the United Cricket Club Ground in Windhoek.
Rwanda and Zimbabwe locked horns in the 13th match at the Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek, while Nigeria took on Uganda in the 14th match of the tournament at the United Cricket Club Ground.
After today's results, Namibia continue to remain in first place of the standings with with eight points and a Net Run Rate of +2.746. Uganda have moved to second place from third and are on six points and a Net Run Rate of +0.503. Kenya have slipped to third place from second and have a Net Run Rate of +0.481. They are also on six points.
Zimbabwe have moved from fifth to fourth position with four points and a Net Run Rate of +2.276. Nigeria are in fifth place with one win and a Net Run Rate of -0.237. Rwanda and Tanzania are still looking for their first victory and continue to occupy the last two places. They have a Net Run Rate of -5.700 and -2.294, respectively.
Let's take a look at what transpired in the qualifiers today.
Zimbabwe's Power-packed Performance Crushes Rwanda
Namibia won the toss and elected to bowl against Kenya. Kenya could make only 104 runs for the loss of six wickets largely due to Irfan Karim’s knock of 43 runs off 47 deliveries. Tangeni Lungameni took two wickets for 19 runs in three overs.
Jan Frylinck’s innings of 57 runs off 41 deliveries helped Namibia win the match by six wickets in 15.2 overs. He was named the player of the match for his excellent effort with the bat.
In the other game, Rwanda elected to bowl after winning the toss against Zimbabwe. Skipper Sikandar Raza opened the innings for Zimbabwe for the first time since 2015. He scored a quickfire 58 runs off 36 deliveries. His partner Tadiwanashe Marumani also scored a half-century.
Ryan Burl finished the innings in style for Zimbabwe scoring an unbeaten 44 off 21 deliveries. The Chevrons posted a total of 215 runs for the loss of four wickets, their second-highest total in T20Is.
Only two of Rwanda’s batters managed to reach a double-digit score and were bundled out for 71 runs. Zimbabwe won the match by a massive margin of 144 runs. Raza won the Player of the Match award, his 10th such award in the shortest format of the game.
In the third and final game of the day, Nigeria elected to bat against Uganda only to get bundled out for 99 runs in 19.1 overs, with only one batter scoring more than 20 runs. Dinesh Nakrani was the pick of the bowlers for Uganda as he took three wickets for 21 runs in four overs. Ronak Patel led Uganda to victory by nine wickets with a knock of 60 runs off 52 deliveries.