Only one four hit in Rwanda’s low-scoring win over Eagles

Cricket
Instead of potentially finishing first, the Capricorn Eagles dropped down to third in the standings, and will now contest the bronze final on Saturday.
Andrew Poolman
  • 1 Hour Ago

Namibia’s Capricorn Eagles unexpectedly lost to Rwanda on Thursday in the Victoria T20 quadrangular series in Entebbe, Uganda, and will thus miss out on a spot in the cup final on Saturday.

Instead, they will have to settle for the bronze final against USA on Saturday morning, before hosts Uganda will play neighbours Rwanda for the honour of lifting the trophy.

Namibia won the toss and elected to bat first, but posted only 58 all out after 17 overs. Curiously, not a single boundary was hit during the entire innings, with Kayleen Green (12 off 23 balls) and captain Sunè Kotze-Wittmann (10 off 22 balls), the only batters to reach double figures.

Despite a fightback to take six Rwandan wickets, their opponents comfortably reached the target after 15.5 overs (59 for six), to win by four wickets.

The Rwandan innings’ top scorer was Merveille Uwase (13 off 13 balls), but the only four of the match was hit by Shakila Niyomuhoza, who was caught for 6 off 12 balls.

Player of the match was awarded to Alice Ikuzwe (Rwanda) who took 3/10 in 4 overs, before contributing 9 not out (14 balls).

After Namibia’s last two low-scoring defeats against USA and Rwanda, they dropped down from second spot to finish third on the log and will thus contest the bronze final on Saturday morning.

The Eagles could have taken the top spot in the tournament on Wednesday when Uganda suffered a shock loss to Rwanda, but then USA narrowly reached the target of 97 to beat Namibia by one wicket, with one ball remaining.

Veteran US cricket reporter Peter Della Penna reported (https://q.my.na/XVB0) that at least two questionable umpiring decisions went in USA’s favour – specifically the stumping of Mekelaye Mwatile on 20 off 20 balls, as well as the later run-out of USA’s Sainavi Kambalapalli that was given not out

Responding to these reports, Namibia coach Gerhard Lotter says the umpiring affected all four teams in the tournament.

“Batting conditions are not easy. The pitches are slower, with lots of turn. We are struggling to adapt quick enough in our batting innings, which is the biggest reason we are not reaching big enough totals.

“Our bowlers are doing a good job keeping us in contention in every game, but unfortunately we will need to adapt better in the batting department.”

Before the start of the tournament, hosts Uganda were the highest-placed women’s T20 team on the ICC rankings (17th in the world), followed by Namibia (18th), USA (19th) and Rwanda (24th).