By Sahr Morris Jnr
The Ladies Patriots of Sierra Leone will now face host Botswana in the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Division 2 Qualifier on Wednesday 6 September at 09:30 Local ( 07:30 GMT ) in Gaborone, Botswana.
The Sierra Leonean ladies sealed their place in the semi-finals of the tournament after registering their third straight win against Eswatini by 147 runs last Tuesday at BCA Oval 2.
Facing an Eswatini side for the first time, the Ladies Patriot opted to bat after they won the toss, and went on to score 173 for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs to set a crushing target of 174.
Emma Kamara scored 24 runs off 32 balls as she picked two 4s before teammate Celina Bull got run out for 10 off 9 by Mabila.
Ramatu Turay joined the fighting rank and hit 30 runs admirably picking up four 4s for 111.11 strike rate.
Sierra Leone’s top-scorer, Ann Marie Kamara dashed for 51 runs and recorded ten 4s before being caught out by Ntombizonke.
Eswatini’s reply was however not encouraging as Mbali Dlamini, Nothando Mabila, Ntombizonke, and Nokulunga Mabuza were all ducked for wasted a combined 29 balls, but could only be limited to 26 runs in 14.4 overs.
Sierra Leone’s bowling saw Alice Fillie, Hassanatu Sawaneh and Fatu Pessima all secure two wickets apiece while Janet Kowa picked up a wicket before right-hand batter and right-arm medium bowler Ann Marie Kamara finished off things with the remaining wickets a feast that secured her the Woman of the Match Award.
