Cricket: Ex-Kenyan international Angara set for reunion in T20 Cup
Former national team cricket bowler and current Botswana men's national cricket team coach Joseph Angara during an interview on December 16, 2018 at Nation Centre in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- He said they expect a tough outing in Nairobi since "all the teams are strong and only that, which will get basics right on the match day will emerge victorious".
- Against Kenya, Angara said his side needs to improve on their batting, since it was their weakest department when two two sides met in November last year during the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Africa “A” qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda.
Former Kenya international and Botswana coach Joseph Angara cannot wait for the inaugural Continent Cup T20 Africa to bowl off on Friday at Nairobi Gymkhana.
He said hat he finds great fulfillment in returning to his home country to chase glory with the Southern Africa nation after a disappointing outing during the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup Africa qualifiers in July 2017.
“There is nothing good as bringing a team to play in your home country. I am really excited about it,” Angara told Nation Sport in a phone call from Botswana.
Botswana, Rwanda, Uganda and the hosts will compete in the tournament that will end on June 21. At stake in the tournament is ICC T20 status and prize money which will be made public by the organisers in the coming days.
Nigeria and Tanzania were also supposed to take part in the tournament but they have since pulled out. Botswana is expected to arrive in the country Wednesday night.
With the Continent Cup Twenty20-Africa happening just a few day after Botswana won the 2023 Southern Africa Cup at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, South Africa, Angara is confident of a good show than he did with the Botswana U-19 side six years ago at Nairobi Gymkhana.
During the 2017 ICC U19 World Cup Africa qualifiers, Botswana lost all their matches in the competition won by Kenya.
Botswana lifted the 2023 Southern Africa Cup unbeaten after flooring Mozambique, Malawi, Eswatini and Mauritius by seven wickets, 100 runs, 107 runs and seven wickets respectively.
“It (winning the Southern Africa Cup 2023) has really boosted our morale coming to compete in Kenya. We are looking forward to playing good cricket,” said Angara, who donned the national team colours between 1997 and 2005.
He was part of the legendary Kenyan squad that competed in the 1999 and 2003 editions of the ICC Cricket World Cups, with the latter being the most memorable outing as Kenya reached the semifinals.
The 1999 World Cup was held in England, while the 2003 competition was co-hosted by Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Angara quit the national team in 2005 and moved to South Africa where he played for Gugulethu Cricket Club for three seasons before returning home to develop coaching programmes for schools.
In 2009, he was appointed coach of the Kenya U-19 team, a position he held until he took over as coach of Botswana in July 2015.
He said they expect a tough outing in Nairobi since "all the teams are strong and only that, which will get basics right on the match day will emerge victorious".
Against Kenya, Angara said his side needs to improve on their batting, since it was their weakest department when two two sides met in November last year during the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Africa “A” qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda.
Kenya won the match by eight wickets.
