Kenya closer to world qualifiers as match against Botswana rained off

Thursday’s ICC men’s Twenty20 World Cup Africa Region match between Kenya and Botswana at Kampala’s Lugogo Oval was abandoned without a single ball being bowled with the two teams awarded a point each.

Kenya’s assistant team coach, David Obuya, said that the outfield at Lugogo was waterlogged and, therefore, the game that had been scheduled to kick off at 9:30 am could not be played.

Kenya, coached by Maurice Odumbe, one of the true all-rounders Kenya has ever produced, is so far unbeaten in all its outings.

Kenya play their last game against Namibia on Friday at Kyambogo Oval from 1:50 pm.

Both Kenya and Namibia are the front runners to grab the two slots reserved for the continent in the global World Cup qualifiers slated for the United Arab Emirates from October 11 to November 3.

The Twenty20 World Cup is one event that has been evading Kenya, the only non-Test playing team to have reached the 50-overs World Cup semi-final in South Africa at the 2003 World Cup.

Kenya qualified for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup held in South Africa in 2007, but has not made another appearance in that format of the game.

Kenya has appeared in five successive World Cups since their debut at the 1996 tournament jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with their last appearance being at the 2011 tournament in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Odumbe’s charges are capable of bringing the trophy home which will be a morale booster for the team that has been demoted to the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.

Nigeria 135/8 Ghana 107/8 (Nigeria won by 28 runs)

Botswana 46/10 Namibia 50/0 (Namibia won by 10 wickets with 97 balls remaining)

Kenya 145/6 Uganda 144/9 (Kenya won by one run)