Rwandas women cricket team on Thursday, September 9, secured their first victory at the ICC Africa Womens T20 World Cup Africa qualifiers in Gaborone, Botswana, after beating Mozambique by 10 wickets in their opening game. Immaculate Muhawenimana was named player of the match after taking 4 wickets for 3 runs to top the bowling ranking table, ahead of teammate Belyse Murekatete and Namibian Suné Wittmann who recorded two wickets apiece. Muhawenimana also sits second in points with 190 points, 41 points behind Namibia’s Kayleen-Ann Green who tops the table. Leonard Nhamburo’s Rwandan side won the toss and opted to bowl first. While Rwanda bowled for 87 minutes, it took only two minutes for the Mozambicans to concede the defeat in what is anticipated to be the quickest bowling innings over the course of the two-week qualifiers tournament. Mozambique had an uphill task to maximize their 20 overs after Rwanda scored 18 runs off 20 overs, but the Mozambicans were already 17/10 all out after just two minutes to lose their first match. It is Rwanda women’s second appearance in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifiers, which runs until September 20. Botswana, Cameroon and Malawi are making their debuts. The victory earned Rwanda its first two points to get off to an impressive start and an important boost of morale ahead of the next fixture, a game against Eswatini next on September 12, before facing East African rivals Tanzania the following day and hosts Botswana on September 14. Rwanda will be up against Zimbabwe in the two sides’ last match in Group A on September 16.
