The senior national men’s Cricket Team are set to battle in the next stage of the 2019 ICC World T20 qualifiers, from May 19 through to 24, 2019 in Kampala, Uganda.
Ghana qualified to this stage after winning the North-West Africa Sub regional tournament last year April, with a 100% winning record over Sierra Leone, The Gambia and hosts, Nigeria. The team has been preparing for the past two months.
Ghana and Nigeria from the West Africa Sub region will be battling against host nation Uganda alongside Kenya from the Eastern Sub region, and Botswana & Namibia, from the Southern Sub region.
However, an 18-man squad, called up for a non-residential camping since March ended on 14th May, 2019 with training sessions on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at the Achimota Cricket Oval The squad include Captain Isaac Kofi Otuafo Aboagye and Vice, Julius Horlali Mensah, who led the team to victory in Nigeria.
The likes of James Vifah, Simon Ateak, Rexford Bakum, Vincent Ateak, Michael Aboagye, David Nii Ashong Ankrah and Kofi Bagabena maintain their spots. Frank Baleri and Godfred Bakiweyem make a return to the team while Daniel Kawbena Anefie, Abdulai Majah Mohammed and Sriyan Perera make their debut call up to the senior national team.
The national team Head Coach, Kodam Kofi Anafi has continuously been supported by former national Head Coach RP Sharma to adequately prepare the team for the task ahead as lack of funds is hindering the team to go to Uganda ahead of time to acclimatize.
Meanwhile, Team Manager, and Board Member of the Ghana Cricket Association, Kofi Tandoh believes Ghana can achieve a top two place and qualify for the next stage although there are new players.
“I can’t tell whether the previous team is better or not but T20 is something else. We all know the previous team was very experienced and we have added a few new ones and they have to play themselves into it and they will rise up to the occasion. Top two is achievable because we have won against 3 of them before and it is a booster for us. We have lost to Kenya and Namibia but T20 is full of surprises and we are going to surprise them. The only thing is to get them focused and have a good mind set.”
The team, made up of the 14 players, the Manager and Coach, is expected to depart for Uganda on Thursday, May 16 2019.
The ICC Men’s T20 Africa Final in Uganda which has 2 teams from the three sub regional qualification will see 2 nations qualify to the final qualification stage at the United Arab Emirates in October and November for another qualification to the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.
Source: TalksenseSports
