- 3rd/4th Play Off: ICC U-19 Women’s World Cup Qualifier
- Result: Uganda 73/3 beat Rwanda 72/9 by 7 wickets
The Baby Victoria Pearls finished third at the U-19 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in Tanzania after defeating Rwanda by seven wickets.
In the 3rd/4th playoff match, Uganda won the toss and elected to bowl first. Rwanda rallied on the willow of Captain Fanny Utagushimaninde (21), but once she departed, the rest of the team couldn’t deal with Uganda’s slow bowling.
Sheila Namagoba (3/5) and Blessing Apio (2/11) were the pick of the bowlers for Uganda.
In the run chase, despite no contributions from the top, Mary Namiro (38) and Sarah Tino (20) rallied to deliver the win for the Baby Victoria Pearls.
It was a fine performance from the youngsters in their final game of the tournament, finishing in 3rd place, an improvement in performance from fourth place two years ago in Rwanda.
The Baby Victoria Pearls will need to wait another two years before they make a big run again for the World Cup. However, there is a lot of youth in the team that the technical team can build on, while players such as Jimia, Namiro and Mutonyi will be moving on; there is still a lot of talent learning to take the step up.
Meanwhile, Nigeria defeated Zimbabwe in a pulsating final to return to the World Cup; the West Africans defeated favorites Zimbabwe by 4 runs to make a return to the World Cup.
