IT was not a happy ending for Leonard Nhamburo as his new team Rwanda lost to his old side Namibia by 43 runs in the fourth game of the seventh edition of the Kwibuka Twenty20 Women’s International Tournament at the Gahanga Stadium in Kigali on Monday.
Nhamburo, who took Namibia to the ICC Women’s T20 Global Qualifiers held in Scotland in 2019, was facing his former paymasters for the first time since his unceremonious departure after having done so well with the Eagles.
Rwanda captain Sarah Uwera won the toss and elected to bowl first before a partisan home crowd.
The Namibia opening pair of Adri van der Merwe scored 29 runs off 23 balls, and Arrasta Diergaardt, who played anchor, scoring 20 runs off 39 balls, shared a 36-run stand inside the first five overs.
Just like most Nhamburo-coached sides, bowling always finds a way to make inroads into any batting line-up.
18-year-old Sifa Ingabire put screws into the Capricorn Eagles’ batting by bowling a devastating three-over spell that yielded three wickets for 10 runs.
An unbeaten seventh-wicket partnership of 27 runs off 33 balls helped the pre-tournament favourites Namibia to record the first team score over 100 as they closed on 101 for six in their allotted overs.
Rwanda’s reply never really got going as Namibia bowlers took wickets at regular intervals.
23-year-old spinner Kayleen-Ann Green took two wickets for eight runs in her four overs to leave Rwanda reeling.
The Eastern Africans could not muster a victory after they were restricted to a paltry 58 runs.
It was a battle of two teams at different stages of development, with Namibia having the upper hand.
Rwanda has been coming through in leaps and bounds. Now they need to work on their batting if they entertain any hope of causing upsets.
In Nhamburo, they have a talented coach who can turn them into a formidable force built on a solid bowling unit.
The seventh edition of the Kwibuka T20 tournament features five teams, including Kenya, Nigeria and Botswana. The Lady Cranes of Uganda pulled out at the last minute after recording some positive Covid-19 cases.
