Kenya under-19s advance in qualifiers

Kenya’s under-19 cricket squad qualified for the global World Cup qualifiers after they beat Botswana by eight wickets in their last game of the regional qualifiers in Windhoek, Namibia, on Sunday.

The victorious youngsters are expected back home on Monday evening. The win put Kenya in second place in the pool table with 10 points behind hosts Namibia who were unbeaten in all their outings.

Namibia top the table with 14 points. Batting first, Botswana were routed for a paltry 138 runs with 10 overs in hand.

Varun Vijayakumar top scored for Botswana with 44 runs while Raj Savala was their main destroyer with five wickets for 19 runs conceded.

He was supported by Harrison Angila (2/19), Bhavya Thaker (1/25), Vinit Shikotra (1/28) and Duncan Allan (1/34).

Unbeaten 47

In reply, Kenya were 139 for two and home and dry in just 27 overs. Irfan Karim spearheaded Kenya’s batting attack with unbeaten 47 which came off 50 balls with two boundaries and same number of sixes.

He was supported by Duncan Allan (33 not out) who played a supporting role. Other batsmen who got runs were Harshvandha Patel (27) and Rahul Vishram (11).

It was the best performance for Kenya ever since they started taking part in the qualifiers. No other team has gone so far.

However, they still have one more hurdle to clear, the global World Cup qualifiers where 10 teams, two each from Africa, Americas, Europe, Asia and East Asia Pacific, will fight it out for the six slots reserved for non-Test playing countries in the 2012 age group World Cup in Argentina.

The last time Kenya took part in the under-19 World Cup was 2002 where they left a record when Australia beat them by 430 runs.

However, then Kenya did not have to play in the qualifiers as the country enjoyed the one day international status that exempted the from the qualifiers.