After holding the Kwibuka Cricket tournament successfully, Rwanda Cricket has been awarded by International Cricket Council (ICC) the rights to host the Africa T20 world qualifiers and U19 World qualifiers.

The Kwibuka tournament had five teams taking part and throughout its spell, no COVID -19 positive cases were reported; a development that prompted the ICC through its regional office to handle Rwanda with the task to host the two forthcoming tournaments.

Besides holding a successful Kwibuka tournament, Rwanda Cricket also gave the ICC assurance that the government of Rwanda is ready to ensure the safety of all teams even in the toughest of conditions that where put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Rwanda Cricket additionally said that they will secure one area at Gahanga the host area (bubble) where the players’ safety will be guaranteed by ensuring the following of tight SOPs.

The Cricket Cranes will part of the teams that will be in down in Rwanda for the first round of the Africa T20 World Cup qualifiers in Kigali.

This event was supposed to be hosted from South Africa and in the event that the Cricket Cranes finish in the top two positions, they will stay in Kigali for the finals against Kenya, Namibia, and Nigeria from 15th -21st. November. 2021 and eventually to the World qualifier for the 2023 T20 World Cup.

In the meantime, the U19 World Cup qualifiers that were also slated to take place in Nigeria have also been moved to Kigali, Rwanda starting on 28th. September to 7th. October. 2021 where Uganda will compete with the likes of Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Namibia for the one slot at the World Cup.

However, with the on-going 42-days lockdown, the Uganda Cricket association will have to find means of how these two teams will handle their preparations ahead of the Africa T20 World Cup qualifiers and the U19 World Cup qualifiers respectively.

By Chris Onyait  www.sportznow.ug writer.