BY BOCKARIE ALIEU
232NEWS, FREETOWN —
The delegation of the Sierra Leone U-19 national team while in Tanzania for the ICC World Cup Division 1 qualifier met with President Bio who was also in Tanzania to attend an AU meeting. According to the Chairman of Cricket Sierra Leone Francis Trevor Samura, they were informed from home that President Bio was also in Tanzania. He went on that one of the stakeholders gave them the contact number for the new Chief Minister who was also with the president in Tanzania. Francis said he sent a text message to the Chief Minister informing him that they were in Tanzania taking part in the U-19 World Cup qualifier. The Chief immediately replied and directed them to the Hotel they were staying and invited them to meet with the president. Francis went on that they took advantage of the invitation since the president is also the Chief Patron of Cricket in Sierra Leone. While in the meeting, Francis said he outlined the constraints they were facing as a cricket body. He thanked the president for the land allocated to them a few years back which he said they now needed money to construct an ultra-modern Cricket Oval. He told the president that Sierra Leone was banned from hosting international tournaments over 20 years ago for lack of having ICC-certified Ovals. He went on that while in Tanzania the ICC Tournament coordinators have mandated them to prepare and host the 2026 Senior Men’s T20 World Cup qualifier in Sierra Leone. This time around he said they would not want to miss this opportunity again. Hosting such competitions, Francis told President Bio that it will also sell Sierra Leone’s tourist facilities such as the beaches, the hotels and will show how peaceful and accommodative Sierra Leoneans are. The ICC Members also buttressed that by saying they wanted Sierra Leone to host a similar competition that they are taking part in Tanzania. But they said what Sierra Leone need now is a grass turf Cricket Ovals as they already have nice hotels in the country.
President Bio responded that Cricket has always been one of the sports close to his heart as his late big brother played and coached Cricket. The President said he was aware of the laurels Cricket has won for Sierra Leone. In the end, President Bio gave them an envelope that contains $20,000 which he said they will now open in Sierra Leone. He told the U-19 to win the tournament and back home he will make a special party for them where they will dance together and celebrate. But unfortunately, the boys did not win the tournament. Notwithstanding Francis said Sierra Leone will be taking part in two tournaments next month. Among the two tournaments, the Senior Women will be taking part in the ICC Women’s T20 World qualifier in Botswana while the senior men will take part in the Africa T20 tournament in South Africa. In these two tournaments, Francis said they will fight all out to return home with laurels and qualify for the next stage. In also updating the members about their meeting with President Bio he said apart from the parcel which the president gave to them they receive a reimbursement of funds that they spent in two of their international competitions. He went on that Cricket members will remain to talk about President Bio’s goodwill to the development of Cricket. In return, he told the coaches and the players to always do their level best to put Sierra Leone on the map. He went on that the preparation for 2026 will start now with the construction of Ovals to meet the target date for the tournament.
Meanwhile, the board and the executive members with the female team will today pay a courtesy call on the new Sports Minister Augusta James Teima at her Bishop House office, Brookfields in Freetown. The Cricket members will on their visit congratulate the Minister for her appointment and will update her about their upcoming activities this year and in the upcoming years. They will in their presentation inform her about the two tournaments and they will later do an official presentation of the two teams to the Sports Ministry before their departure.
