BY BOCKARIE ALIEU
232NEWS, FREETOWN —
Eight countries will battle in the ICC Women’s T20 WC Africa Division 2 qualifier in Botswana early September 2023. The eight countries are divided into two groups of four countries each. Sierra Leone falls in group B with their North –West Africa region counterpart Cameroon, Mozambique and Eswatini. In group A are the host Botswana, Kenya, Malawi and Lesotho. The teams will arrive in Botswana on the 31st August 2023. They will train in the tournament ovals on the 1st September 2023 with the tournament set to kick-off on the other day 2nd September 2023. Among the eight countries, 3 countries will qualify to take part in the division 1 ICC Africa WC Qualifier in Uganda. On the first day of the qualifier Sierra Leone will face Cameroon at the BCA 2 Ovals in the afternoon. In the morning from group A, Malawi will battle with Lesotho at BCA 2 at 9:30 am. Also on the same day in the afternoon at 2:00 pm from group B, Mozambique will lock horns with Lesotho at BCA1. On the second day 3rd September 2023 Kenya will face Malawi at BCA1 in the morning while on the same day Lesotho will engage the host country Botswana at BCA 2 at 9:30 am. In the afternoon Sierra Leone will play their second match against Mozambique at BCA 1 while at BCA 2 Cameroon will battle with Eswatini. The teams will rest on the 4th September 2023 and resume play on the 5th September. On Tuesday 5th September 2023 the 8 countries will play their last group stage matches as Sierra Leone face Eswatini at BCA 2 while Mozambique will take on Cameroon in the morning hours. In the afternoon Botswana will battle with Malawi at BCA 1 while from the same group Kenya will engage Lesotho. Two countries will qualify from each group for the semi-final stage of the qualifier. The Semi-final will be played on Wednesday 6th September 2023 with group B runner-up hosting the group leader in group A at BCA 1 in the morning. In the second semi-final match group B leader will engage group A runner-up. The teams will rest on Thursday 7th September 2023 after the semi-final matches. On the 8th September the two semi-final losers will play in the 3rd place play-off match in the morning at BCA 1. On the same day the two semi-final winner’s matches will play in the ground final at BCA 1 Ovals at 2:00pm. The teams will depart on the 9th September 2023.