ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier 2023 Top run-getters and wicket-takers after Namibia vs Zimbabwe (Updated) ft. Nikolaas Davin and JJ Smit
The first day of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier 2023 witnessed three matches. The tournament is an opportunity for the seven participating African nations to book their place in the T20 World Cup 2024. Namibia and Zimbabwe qualified for the flagship tournament last time from the seven competing teams.
In the first game between Kenya and Rwanda, the latter team won the toss and elected to bowl. Kenya delivered an exceptional performance with the bat and posted 154 runs for the loss of two wickets in 20 overs.
Collins Obuya and Irfan Karim had a partnership of 61 runs for the second wicket. Karim remained unbeaten till the end and scored 63 runs off 43 deliveries. Clinton Rubagumya and Emile Rukiriza took one wicket each for the bowling team.
Rwanda had a slow start to their chase and could only score 59 runs in the first 10 overs. The required run rate came to haunt them in the second half and the batters perished while trying to accelerate.
Orchide Tuyisenge scored 56 runs off 44 deliveries, and no other batsman managed to score more than 30 runs. Rwanda could only make 137 runs and lost the match by 17 runs. Emmanuel Bundi, Pushkar Sharma, and Vraj Patel took one wicket each.
The second game between Uganda and Tanzania was a low-scoring affair. Uganda won the toss and elected to bowl. Tanzania could make only 99 runs in their 20 overs.
Only two batters managed to score 20 or more runs. Alpesh Ramjani was the pick of the bowlers as he took three wickets for 26 runs in four overs.
Uganda didn’t have much trouble reaching the 100-run target. They won the match in 15.2 overs with eight wickets in hand. Riazat Ali Shah played a crucial knock of 47 runs off 27 deliveries. Opener Simon Ssesazi also played a key role with his innings of 31 runs off 35 deliveries.
Namibia elected to bowl after winning the toss against Zimbabwe. The latter team lost their first three wickets for just 18 runs and struggled initially. Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza added 55 runs for the fourth wicket but the next few batters couldn’t do much.
Zimbabwe could post only 132 runs on the board for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs. JJ Smit played a crucial role with the ball for Namibia and dismissed three Zimbabwean batters while giving away just 24 runs in four overs.
Nikolaas Davin and Michael van Lingen collected 74 runs in the powerplay and made this a one-sided contest. Davin was dismissed after scoring 89 runs off just 45 deliveries. By then, Nambia required only six runs at the time of his dismissal. Namibia won the match by seven wickets in 14.4 overs.
ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier 2023 Most Runs List
Nikolaas Davin finished as the leading run-scorer at the end of the first day in the competition. He scored 89 runs off just 45 deliveries for Namibia.
Irfan Karim hit five boundaries and one six during his innings of 63 runs against Rwanda. He is in second place on this list of leading run-scorers.
Orchide Tuyisenge produced a one-man show against Kenya. He scored 56 runs off 44 deliveries, which has positioned him in third place.
Collins Obuya became the first batter to score a half-century in the tournament. He opened the innings for Kenya and scored 50 runs off 47 deliveries.
Riazat Ali Shah has the second-highest strike rate among the top five run-scorers. He made 47 runs off just 27 deliveries and is in fifth position.
ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier 2023 Most Wickets List
JJ Smit picked three wickets for just 24 runs against Zimbabwe. He has taken a three-wicket haul against Zimbabwe in his last two outings. Smit is in first place on this list of leading wicket-takers.
Alpesh Ramjani of Uganda also took three wickets on the opening day. He is in the second position currently.
Riazat Ali Shah displayed an all-round performance on the first day. Apart from scoring runs at a strike rate of 174.07, Shah picked two wickets for 14 runs.
Tangeni Lungameni also played a crucial role for Namibia with the ball alongside Smit. He got two wickets for 21 runs in three overs and is currently in fourth position on the list of bowlers with the most wickets.
Akhil Anil picked one wicket for 10 runs for Tanzania and was the most economical bowler for his team. He is in fifth position among the top wicket-takers.