RwandaCricket Association (RCA) will unveil a Youth Cricket League (YCL), the first-of-its-kind on Monday, marking the beginning of a new chapter for youth cricket in the country. The youth league, which gets underway today until December 3 at Kicukiro cricket ground, has attracted four teams namely; Lions, Tigers, Eagles and Zebras. The teams will be play against each other on a round robin with each game lasting a maximum 25 overs, and the top two teams at the end of the preliminaries, will contest in finals on Thursday. This program is one of the players’ pathways to play on the national team. After having a successful schools development programme across Rwanda, RCA selected the most outstanding boys to play in this tournament. The RCA general manager Joshua Mwanja, said: “We want to give the youth the opportunity to showcase their talent on the big stage. The YCL will only help strengthen cricket in the Rwanda.” Meanwhile, Emmanuel Byiringiro, RCA general secretary, said: “It’s a positive step forward for cricket in the Rwanda, particularly in preparation for next year’s ICC Africa U19 Boys tournament to be held in Johannesburg South Africa.” “It gives us a fantastic platform at the international level to make a case to have strong development programme, and this will enable us to do that successfully,” noted the former Rwanda international.
