Saturday Ghana 54/10 (16.1 overs) vs Rwanda 57/7 (13.4 overs) Rwanda win by 3 wickets
Friday Gambia 57/10 (25.5 overs) vs Rwanda 61/6 (11.5) Rwanda win by 4 wickets
Rwanda men's cricket national team made it through to the 2023 ACA T20 Africa Cup Finals after beating Ghana by three (3) wickets in the East/West Africa Qualifiers at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, Johannesburg, South Africa.
It was Rwanda's second win in as many days following a six-wicket victory against the Gambia on Friday. Rwanda qualified to the Finals tournament as group leaders from three-team Group A.
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Rwanda went into Saturday's game knowing victory would see them through to the Finals tournament scheduled to run from December 11-19. Ghana won the toss and chose to bat first.
The west African side were bowled out for a lowly 54 runs in 16.1 overs. Alex Osei and Kevin Awala top scored for Ghana with 21 and 15 runs respectively while none of their fellow batters managed more than five runs, with three of then being removed for duck (0 runs).
Nadir Muhammed was the pick of Rwandan bowlers, finishing with figures of 2 wickets from four overs for just five runs.
Rwanda's captain Clinton Rubagumya picked 2 wickets from four overs including 1 maiden. He gave away 16 runs, while Kevin Irakoze took 2 wickets for five runs in 2.1 overs.
In reply, Lee Booth's men, set a modest target of 55 runs, reached the target in 11.5 overs with three wickets to spare. Irakoze, batting at number 8, contributed with the bat as he did with the ball, top-scoring with a quick 13 runs not out from 10 balls including 3 fours.
Earlier on Friday, Rwanda, fresh from competing in the 2024 T20 World Cup qualifier in Namibia where they didn't win a single game, got their Group A campaign off with a four-wickets win over Gambia.
Rwanda captain Rubagumya won the toss and elected to bowl. He then went on to lead his team's bowling attack, finishing with figures of 3 wickets from four overs for just five runs. He was named man of the match.
Kevin Irakoze also took three wickets from four overs for 15 runs while Zappy Bimenyimana and Emmanuel Sebareme both picked 2 wickets apiece from 2 and 2.5 overs respectively.
Frank Campbell top-scored for Gambia with 23 runs including 2 four off 30 balls but it was not enough for his team to beat Lee Booth’s side.
Ghana and Gambia face-off on Sunday in the final game of Group A at 9 O'clock, while Cameroon take on Sierra Leone (both with a win each) at 1:30PM in Group B to decide the last two teams to qualify.
Rwanda and Kenya (who top Group B after three straight wins), join defending champions Uganda, plus the three sides from the Southern Africa Cup, (Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique) in the ACA Africa T20 Cup Finals tournament.