Rwandan National Cricket squad - ICC Africa Division 3 T20 winners

The following players are the winning members of the Rwandan National Cricket team that competed in the ICC Africa Regional T20 Division Three tournament that was held in Accra, Ghana.

Andre Kayitera

Audifax Byiringiro

Christian Mwijanda

Dennis Mukama

Derrick Bayingana

Desire Manirambona

Don Mugisha

Eric Dusingizimana (Captain)

Eric Hirwa Dusabemungu

Eugene Havugirimana

Evode Mutuyimana

Sairam Gopalan

Srinath Vardhineni (Vice Captain)

Subhasis Samal

Rwanda wins the ICC Africa Division 3 tournament.

Rwanda 4/125 defeated Seychelles 7/117. The team will now be promoted to Division 2 and will compete in South Africa in two months time.

 More details and photos to come...

Uganda Cricket trip - Mbarara

Last Saturday, February 12, 2011 the Rwanda Cricket Association hired a bus and took the National cricket team squad to Mbarara in Uganda for two days of Twenty20 practice matches against a Ugandan representative team.  We boarded the bus in Kigali around 5am and arrived just in time for our cricket game at 2pm.

In the first game, Rwanda won the toss and batted.  The Ugandan team bowled tightly to restrict Rwanda to a score of 85 from 20 overs.  The Ugandan side were set the task (by their coach) to chase this score down in less than 10 overs.  This looked like it would be easily achieved as Rwanda leaked 30 runs in the first three overs (including 11 wides).  Rwanda soon picked up their game and began to take some wickets and slow the scoring rate.  Uganda finally passed the Rwandan score in the 16^th over.

Captain and Vice Captain in discussion

Support from the boys

Eric H bowling

Sairam departs

The second game was played on Sunday morning and I was expecting a better showing from the Rwandan team after a good night’s sleep.  The team was altered slightly to ensure all 14 members of the squad played in a game during this trip.  After a discussion with the Ugandan Captain and Coach, it was agreed that Rwanda would bowl first in this game.

While Rwanda’s bowling was a lot tighter on Sunday, the Ugandan batting was more aggressive.  Their batsmen came out playing their shots and immediately sent the ball flying to (and over) the boundary.  It was a powerful display of batting and took the Rwandan team by surprise.  Luckily we held onto some sharp catches and continued to take wickets.  Uganda finished their 20 overs with a score of 150.

Once again Rwanda was restricted by Uganda’s tight opening bowlers, which ensured the team was off to a slow start.  Wickets fell at regular intervals, yet the middle and lower order batter well and Rwanda finished with 100 runs from their 20 overs.

While we did not win a game, the boys have learned many valuable lessons and now know what it takes to perform at a higher level.  I hope we can take the lessons learned and apply them to our own games to ensure Rwanda become a stronger team. 

The practice matches provided the Rwandan team with a perfect hit out before the upcoming Twenty20 tournament that begins in Accra, Ghana in late February, 2011.

Serengeti trip

In late January, 2011, Shell, Catherine and I travelled to Arusha in Tanzania to begin our Serengeti game park adventure.  The trip was planned to run for five days, which included visits to Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater.  We met up with our driver, Duncan, and cook, Aaron, (also known as the ‘Food Doctor’) in Arusha, stocked the car and then began our journey.

The first day included a visit to the Lake Manyara National Park and an overnight stop at Twiga campsite.  Inside the national park we were able to see a large number of animals including baboons, monkeys, elephants, giraffes, hippos and zebras.  Unfortunately we didn’t spot any of the famous tree climbing lions that are known to inhabit this park.

 

The second day started with a long drive to the Serengeti National Park.  En route we visited the Olduvai Gorge Pre historic site before entering the park.  The Serengeti National Park was massive and allowed us to spend two days driving around looking at the animals in their natural environment.  In the park we were able to see some more of the wildlife, including, lions, cheetahs, wildebeest, gazelles and buffalos.  For two nights we camped under the stars inside the park at the Seronera Campsite.

On day 4 we had an early morning drive through the Serengeti National Park before another long drive to the Ngorongoro Crater.  We set up our tents at the Simba campsite in the late afternoon before being treated to a visit to a local bar by our Driver, Duncan.  The evening was freezing cold so we rugged up and headed off to bed after dinner.

On day 5 we got up early and drove down into the canyon to see the animals.  The canyon was like a natural amphitheatre and allowed us to see so many animals in close proximity.  We finally saw our first rhinoceros in the canyon, which completed the viewing of the ‘Big Five’ (the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot - Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard and Rhinoceros).  Although we never saw a kill, we did see a few vultures and a hyena making a meal of some poor creature.  After leaving the crater, our driver took us on a side trip to show us more flamingos.  This was followed by a drive back to Arusha, which ended our adventure.

The whole trip was an amazing experience and I would recommend the Serengeti game park adventure to everyone.  Given the chance to go again, I would be there tomorrow.