Men’s national cricket team head coach Martin Suji is confident Rwanda will impress at the 2022 ICC Men T20 World Cup Group A Africa Qualifier slated for November 17-26 in Kigali despite poor performance during their recent friendly series in Tanzania.
Rwanda lost all six buildup matches against Tanzania during a series of buildup games played between October 30 and November 6 as part of their preparations for the Kigali qualifier, a performance that left cricket worried about how much the team can deliver during the qualifier in Kigali.
But national team head coach Martin Suji explained that his men’s performance against the Tanzanians was not about results before assuring Rwandans that the team’s performance in the qualifiers will be totally different.
“We went to Tanzania for friendlies and we learnt some lessons. It’s always to learn from the best and I think my men learned a lot from the tour,” Suji said.
“Whichever results that we had in Tanzania have nothing to do with the tournament because we were playing friendlies. The team is ready for the qualifier and I trust they are going to impress,” he added.
Rwanda needs to finish in the top 2 to progress to the final qualifying round of the 2024 T20 World Cup in USA and the West Indies.
National team captain Clinton Rubagumya said that the qualifier in Kigali will be an ‘all or nothing’ affair.
“Las year, we finished fourth in the qualifiers but we hope to come in the top two during this qualifier. There are two spots up for grabs to earn a qualification to the next stages and I am confident that one of those spots is ours to lose,” Rubagumya told journalists during a press briefing on Wednesday, November 16.
Rwanda is in the same group alongside Malawi, Seychelles, Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana, Mali and St Helena.
TSji’s men play their opening game against Botswana on Thursday, November 17(9.30am) at Gahanga Cricket Stadium.
The first stage of the qualification pathway in the Africa region consists of two sub-regional qualifiers, with the top two teams from each event progressing to the Regional Final.
The top two sides in the regional final event will qualify for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.