Sierra Leone Under-19 Men’s Cricket Team will take on Botswana on Wednesday, 7th August 2024, to end its group stage run at the ongoing ICC Men’s U-19 World Cup Africa Division 2 Qualifier in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The country qualified for the semifinal after securing a six-wicket win against Malawi on Monday. It is in a desperate move to grab one of the three slots available in this eight-nation tournament to proceed to the ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup Africa Qualifier in 2025, a pathway to Sri Lanka 2026.
Sierra Leone has met Botswana four times in thirteen years. Their first encounter was in 2009 in Lusaka, Zambia, which Sierra Leone won but lost the 2010 Namibia equivalent before reclaiming victory in 2016 in Benoni, South Africa. It retained its edge in the encounters that occurred in 2018 in Potchestroom and in 2022 in Abuja.
If Sierra Leone beats Botswana on Wednesday, it will face Nigeria in the semifinal, a West African derby. Both sides have met six times. The country’s U19 side won three against Nigeria in Lusaka, Zambia (2009), in Namibia (2010), and in Tanzania (2023).
The Nigerians replied in like manner, beating Sierra Leone in Potchestroom, South Africa (2018), in Namibia (2019), and in Abuja, Nigeria (2022).
