Africa-Press – Rwanda. Rwanda Cricket Association (RCA) president, Stephen Musaale, is positive that the Ghana test will help Rwanda’s national cricket team improve and become a stronger side ahead of the forthcoming ICC men’s T20 Cricket World cup sub regional Africa qualifier.
Ghana beat Rwanda in the fifth and final game of their bilateral T20 series by seven wickets on Saturday, August 21, at Gahanga Cricket Stadium to register three wins against the hosts’ two throughout the five-fixture series.
The national team played the bilateral T20 series against the Ghanaians in absence of head coach Martin Suji who lost his father-in-law last week. He left the team to his two assistant coaches Adelin Tuyizere (Assistant Coach), Jackson Nzayisenga (Team Manager) to lead it during the five fixtures of the series during which Rwanda won two games against Ghana’s three.
“I hope the coach was able to follow the games online because he hasn’t been with his boys and I am sure he took notes about how the team performed and where he will work on to improve their performance,” Musaale said.
Ghana and Rwanda are also in the same group ahead of the forthcoming ICC men’s T20 Cricket World cup sub regional Africa qualifier which takes place in Kigali in October and Musaale believes the series will help Rwanda find room to improve before the pair meet again in the qualifiers.
“We invited a team that is ranked well ahead of us so we can test ourselves against a good side so we can assess how good we are so far after a long period out of action.
Although we lost the series, these series showed us that, sooner or later, we can improve and surpass them,” he explained. “Next time we will play friendly games against opponents that are even better than Ghana so we can improve our rankings,” he added.
Ghana, ranked 35th on ICC rankings, thought 78th ranked Rwanda would be a simple side for them to beat but the results prove the opposite, especially when the pair went into Saturday’s decider sharing two wins apiece.
The Ghanaians may have beaten the hosts by seven wickets in the last game but Rwanda proved a surprise package for the visitors who returned home with a different picture of what they were expecting from the Rwandan side before the friendly games.
“Ghana didn’t expect that they were going to play against an improved side like this because they were a far better side the last time we met. We only lost the last game because their mentality was better than ours,” said national team assistant coach Adelin Tuyizere.
“Our teams are in the same group and, based on the performance that our boys put in during the bilateral series, we are confident of beating them when we meet in the qualifiers. We are going to work on our weaknesses during our preparations, then we can come back with a better side,” he added.
