U19 WC Qualifiers: Kenya narrowly miss opportunity as Namibia reign supreme

Kenya men’s U19 cricket team narrowly missed an opportunity to represent the continent in next year’s ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup after finishing second in the regional qualifiers that concluded last Sunday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

With just a single loss in five games, Kenya finished second in the six-team tournament, whose winner was decided after a single round of robin matches.

Topping the table was Namibia - who were the only side to go unbeaten in the entire tournament with a 4-0 win record.

Kenya, who in their recent game beat Nigeria by six wickets on Saturday, needed two favors to stand a chance of heading to Sri Lanka next year.

One was for Uganda to suffer defeat later in the day, a prayer that was answered as Sierra Leone produced a brilliant 137 run-chase in 50 overs, one that ended up in a one wicket defeat for the East African rivals.

The other hope was for Namibia to suffer the same fate, but it was not going to be, as they produced a wonderful inning with the bat - hitting 148 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 50 overs, while restricting Nigeria to 95 runs all out in 37 overs.

The result meant that Namibia consolidated top spot and will be Africa’s representatives in the forthcoming World Cup.

Kenya began their tournament with a draw after their opening game against neighbors Tanzania was washed out, with them rebounding two days later to beat Sierra Leone by four wickets.

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Kenya’s only defeat came on 26 July - when they were bowled out in a seven wickets loss - while their penultimate game culminated in a 24 run victory over Uganda.

Aarnav Patel was the man with the most wickets for the Kenyan side with nine in four innings, while the duo of Hitendra Sanghavi and Vishil Patel racked in eight and seven wickets in four and five innings respectively.

Saturday’s hero - Darsh Panchani - was Kenya’s top run scorer with 127 runs in five matches with Stian Smith contributing 70 runs in as many matches.