Under-19 ICC World Cup qualifiers selection pending

Kenya’s Under-19 team coach, Jimmy Kamande, has less than three months to assemble a formidable side that will compete in the International Cricket Council (ICC) U19 World Cup Africa Division One qualifiers set for Windhoek, Namibia from March 15-24.

Kamande said that it took him two years to prepare the side that qualified for last year’s World Cup. But this time round, he had not selected his provisional side.

He said that development programmes were severely affected and consequently stopped last June due to the leadership wrangles that engulfed Cricket Kenya for the better part of last year.

“I am going to pick a good number of under-16 players so that if we do not qualify for the 2020 World Cup, they can gain experience that should come handy during the qualifiers for the 2022 event in West Indies,” he said.

In Namibia, six teams: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the hosts will fight it out for the sole slot reserved for the continent in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup set for South Africa.

Kenya represented Africa last February in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand while Namibia got direct entry to the event as a result of being the best associate side in the 2016 World Cup in Bangladesh.

Namibia, Kenya and Uganda were ranked as Africa’s A sides and exempted from going through a qualifying event that was reserved for teams in the Africa Division Two group.

During the last August ICC Under-19 Division Two qualifiers in Potchefstroom, South Africa, Nigeria and topped the table followed closely behind by Sierra Leone while Tanzania beat Mozambique in the play-off match for third spot.