The national U-19 cricket women team are one step away from qualifying for the 2023 ICC U19 World cup as they prepare to face Tanzania in the final of Africa qualifier final after beating Uganda by 56 runs during the semifinal held on Saturday, September 10 in Gaborone, Botswana.

Uganda won the toss and decided to bowl as Rwanda started with batting.

Rwandans had so much to be worried about when Leonard Nhamburo’s young women managed 97 runs, the least they had managed during the Africa qualifier campaign so far.

There were concerns that the Ugandan team were going to chase Rwanda’s runs in a comfortable way but the team was all out wickets after 14 overs by the time they had only made 41 runs while they were still short of 56 runs.

Henriette Ishimwe put in a player-of-the-match performance as she contributed 36 runs and four wickets.

Rwanda will face Tanzania in Monday’s crunch final that will decide who among the pair will book a ticket to the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup that will take place in South Africa next year.

The Rwandan team will be looking to revenge against a Tanzanian side that beat them by just one run during the group stages of the qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Uganda will play Namibia in a third place match slated on Sunday, September 11. Namibia were eliminated in the semi-final after Tanzania beat them by six wickets. - Eddie Nsabimana, The New Times