U19 WC Qualifiers: Kenya's start halted as Tanzania match-up is rained off

Kenya’s quest towards claiming a spot at next year’s ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup took an unexpected start on Sunday, as they had to settle a point with their opponents on the day - Tanzania - after their game at the USDM Grounds in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania was washed out.

The decision was reached by the game’s umpires to halt the game after the rain became unbearable just inside the fourteenth over of the game that Kenya had initially won the toss and opted to bowl.

The Tanzanian batters then were Pascal Acrey - with eight runs from 34 balls - and Karim Rashidi, who had just entered the crease after mid pace bowler Vaibhav Naresh had taken out Robert Baraka - who was on nine runs from 17 balls faced.

The scores were 2-40.

Kenya’s team of 14 players left the country on Friday 21 July after holding a brief Thursday session with Cricket Kenya President Manoj Patel.

The team - which was also privileged earlier in the month to train in India - is being led by head coach Josephat Irungu and ex-Kenya international Peter Ongondo.

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With game one down in the books, Kenya is now expected to have a day off before returning to the grounds on Tuesday, where they will take on Sierra Leone at the Dar Gymkhana Grounds from 0930 EAT.

Kenya is among five other nations; Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Uganda and hosts Tanzania, who are gunning for the sole ticket to the World Cup finals in Sri Lanka next year.

Uganda and Namibia got their place after topping Africa Division One qualifiers in Rwanda last September, while Kenya got their place following their win in the Africa Division Two qualifiers in Nigeria.

The games go on till Sunday 30 July - all played across the two Tanzanian venues.