Chris Theko
Lesotho’s senior national men’s cricket team got-off to a poor start in the ongoing African Region qualifiers for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Rwanda.
Lesotho lost to eSwatini by 54 runs in their first game of the qualifier. In the match eSwatini won the toss and elected to bat first innings in which they recorded 194 runs for four wickets.
The team was tasked with chasing the 195 to secure a win but only managed to reach 140 before they were out.
In their second match, Lesotho faced Seychelles in their quest for a first win however; it was not to be as Seychelles won the match by 6 wickets after batting first and reaching 132/4 while Lesotho’s chase saw them reach 131/8. On the same day in the evening Ghana defeated Lesotho by 116 runs.
They lost again to Uganda on Tuesday after winning the toss and opting to bat first.
In this tournament Lesotho was aiming to secure their first ever world cup qualifier. The team’s last attempt was in Botswana 2018 where they did not perform well settling for position six out of eight countries.
After the first match the coach, Theko Mahloane commended his side for a good performance noting only a few mistakes that needed to be fixed.
“We played well but made a few mistakes like dropping what could have been some easy catches. Our bowlers did an incredible job; we just have to improve on our batting,†Mahloane said.
However, with the following matches the similar mistakes were noticeable and he said in the subsequent matches his players undermined the opponents and were therefore expecting a walkover.
In their last match the team faces Malawi today (Friday) which could be ultimately their last game of the qualifiers having failed to collect maximum points to secure a place in the knockouts.
The qualifiers will also see Botswana, Cameroon, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and St Helena facing off in Sub-Region B from 31 October to 8 November 2021.
The top teams from both groups will advance to the regional finals from 15 to 21 November in Rwanda. The top sides will clash with Nigeria and Kenya for a spot in the ICC World Cup qualifiers in 2022.
