Photo Credit: Cricket Namibia
The ICC Women’s T20 Africa Qualifier is scheduled to be hosted in Botswana from the 7th – 20th September and the Capricorn Eagles will be competing in an 11-nation tournament. The African regional qualifiers is a pathway towards the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
At the Capricorn Eagles Send-off on the 4th of September at Windhoek Country Club; Cricket Namibia CEO Johan Muller expressed his excitement of how women’s cricket has grown over the past months and has now become more competitive. The Capricorn Eagles will compete in a seven-day long tournament against the host Botswana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Eswatini (Swaziland), Nigeria, and Mozambique.
The Send-off was attended by Marlize Horn of Capricorn Group as she wished the ladies luck for the tournament. “It is an honor to be part of the Capricorn Eagles Send-off and we are happy to be part of an initiative promoting women and girls cricket in Namibia.” Horn further added that the Capricorn branch in Botswana will be happy to host and support the girls.
Capricorn Eagles Headcoach Francois van der Merwe thanked Capricorn Group for supporting the team. “Thank you for believing in us as a team. Progress of the team has been immense in the last 12 months and we are excited to put up a good competition in Botswana”.
Capricorn Eagles have a positive mindset getting into the tournament and are looking into qualifying for the global qualifiers. Captain Irene van Zyl, “Our objective for the Qualifiers is to win and to further participate at the global qualifiers. As a team, we are up for the task and there is immense talent each player brings into the team. As a captain, you would always want to get the best out of each player getting onto the field representing Namibia.”
TOURNAMENT FORMAT AND SCHEDULE
The tournament will be played under 20 over format with two groups of 6 and 5, round-robin. The top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier to be held in 2022. Group A – Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe Group B – Cameroon, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda Botswana Cricket Association Ovals 1 & 2 will host double headers. The schedule is as follows:
FIXTURES
9th September 2021
9:15am BCA 1 Rwanda vs Mozambique
9:30 am BCA 2 Uganda vs Namibia
2:15 pm BCA 1 Swaziland vs Botswana
2:30 pm BCA 2 Sierra Leone vs Nigeria
10th September 2021
9:15am BCA 1 Zimbabwe vs Tanzania
9:30am BCA 2 Cameroon vs Uganda
2:15 pm BCA 1 Botswana vs Mozambique
2:30 pm BCA 2 Namibia vs Nigeria
11th September 2021
9:15am BCA 1 Zimbabwe vs Swaziland
9:30 am BCA 2 Sierra Leone vs Cameroon
2:15 pm BCA 1 Mozambique vs Tanzania
2:30 pm BCA 2 Nigeria vs Uganda
12th September 2021
9:15am BCA 1 Swaziland vs Rwanda
9:30 am BCA 2 Botswana vs Zimbabwe
13th September 2021
9:15 am BCA 1 Tanzania vs Rwanda
9:30 am BCA 2 Nigeria vs Cameroon
2:15 pm BCA 1 Zimbabwe vs Mozambique
2:30 pm BCA 2 Namibia vs Sierra Leone
14th September 2021
9:15am BCA 1 Swaziland vs Tanzania
9:30 am BCA 2 Cameroon vs Namibia
2:15 pm BCA 1 Botswana vs Rwanda
2:30pm BCA 2 Uganda vs Sierra Leone
15th September 2021
9:15 am BCA 1 Mozambique vs Swaziland
9:30 am BCA 2 Rwanda vs Zimbabwe
2:15 pm BCA 1 Tanzania vs Botswana
