BY ALLIEU BOCKARIE (232news.com)
The Sierra Leone Senior National Cricket team and national U-19 team are preparing to take part in the senior men’s North-West Africa regional qualifier in Nigeria for the Africa T20 Tournament in South Africa.
The U-19 national team will be taking part in the ACA U-19 Division1 World Cup qualifier in Tanzania. According to the fixtures the senior men’s tournament will kick-start in Abuja on the 24th -29 June 2023 while the U-19 tournament in Tanzania will kick-start on the 21st -30th July this year. In lieu of the above tournaments both teams have been engaged in rigorous trainings with series of trial matches. In their last trial match on Sunday, the U-19 team engaged the senior team in an ODI match at the POW Ovals, Kingtom in Freetown. The U-19 Boys won the toss and opted to bat first. The young Patriots scored 255 runs all out in 44.2 overs with a target of 256 runs for the senior team to win. The senior team replied with 100 runs all out in 19-2 overs less than half of the 50 overs. As per plans after the match, the technical team headed by Kenneth Masinga handed over the final list for the two teams to the board members to announce the names of who made it to the final list. Among the list were 14 players for each team with three stand-by players each in case of injury or sickness. In the 14-man list of the senior team were also 4 U-19 players. George Edward Ngegba an all- rounder and a spinner was named as the captain for the senior team. The captain for the U-19 team John Bangura, a wicketkeeper and a batsman was also name as the vice-captain of the senior national. The team comprise of spinners, medium pace and fast bowlers. Majority of the 14 players can also bat well according to the head coach. Among the U-19 players they also have spinners, fast and medium pace bowlers. John Bangura was named as the captain for the national U-19 team with George Sesay as the Vice-captain. Below are the names of players for the two teams.
