Kenya beats Namibia to win record fourth Kwibuka Twenty20 trophy – KBC

The national women’s cricket team beat Namibia by 7 wickets to win a record fourth title of the annual Kwibuka Women’s Cricket Twenty20 tournament at Gahanga Cricket Stadium, Kigali, Rwanda.

Namibia who had beaten Kenya  in round robin,  were routed for 69 all out with Sarah Wetoto proving a constant menace with six wickets for 16 runs off 3.5 overs. Kenya then cruised to victory, with captain Margaret Ngoche hitting an unbeaten 37 runs from 30 deliveries.

Capricorn Eagles won the toss and elected to bat, but were soon in trouble as Adri van de Merwe was run out early, and fellow opening batter was dismissed by Lavender Idambo to leave the score at thirteen for two after three overs.

Yasmeen Khan and Kayleen Green attempted to rebuild the Namibia innings, but when Khan was dismissed for 11, with the score on 39, it began a collapse which left Namibia 47 for seven, halfway through their allocated overs.

Sarah Wetoto was the chief architect of this collapse, dismissing Namibia captain Irene van Zyl, Dietlind Foerster and Wilka Mwatile for single digit scores. She then swept through the tail, picking up the last three wickets to fall, and leaving Kenya with a modest victory target of 70 runs.

Kenya lost opener Veronica Abuga early in the run chase, for nought, and fellow opener Queentor Abel was also dismissed,to give the Namibians a small glimpse of hope. Yet with Margaret Ngoche and Sharon Juma scoring at quicker than a-run-a-ball (Margaret hit six four and a six in her innings),the run chase was concluded in just 11 overs, to give Kenya the victory and the trophy.

Hosts Rwanda beat Nigeria by 8 runs in a third place play off  of the championship that also attracted Botswana .Kenya has won 4 of the 7 editions of the  tournament organized in remembrance of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi.