BY BOCKARIE ALIEU
232NEWS, FREETOWN —
The ICC U-19 Men’s World Cup qualifier in Tanzania came to an end with Namibia emerging as champions. In all six countries battle for one space to represent Africa in the ICC World Cup Tournament in Sri Lanka in 2024. The six countries were the host country Tanzania, Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. At the end of the qualifier tournament, Namibia won the championship unbeaten with 10 points in 5 matches played. They will represent Africa in the ICC U-19 World Cup final in Sri Lanka.
In the tournament format, the first three countries in the point table should stay in the Division1 league while the three bottom will be relegated to Division2 to compete in the preliminary stage to qualify to Division1. According to the point table Sierra Leone attained 4th position, Tanzania in 5th and Nigeria at the bottom. These three will start the next World Cup qualification in the Division2 league for the next ICC U-19 World Cup division1 qualifier. Sierra Leone started well by defeating their West Africa counterpart Nigeria in the first match by 9 wickets. In their second match they lost to Kenya by 4 wickets and also lost their third match to the Champions Namibia. Sierra Leone returned to winning way in their fourth match when they defeated the defending champions Uganda in a very tight match by 1 wicket. Sierra Leone failed to maintain their winning spirit in their last match against the host country Tanzania as they lost by 142 runs. The team returned to Sierra Leone yesterday. Some of the players will later join the senior team to train for the Africa Senior Men’s T20 Tournament in South Africa next month.
Meanwhile in Tanzania, the Sierra Leone U-19 met with President Bio who addressed the Boys and motivated them to do their best and make Sierra Leoneans proud of them.
