West Indies v Rwanda
The low-scoring games are the tensest. The climax of this Sunday contest at Potchefstroom proved the point once again.
After skittling the West Indies for a mere 70, the Rwandans crept towards their target. Nerves played a central part; two run-outs didn’t help. 32-2 descended to 34-4 at the halfway break, then 40-6. Bats prodded towards deliveries; non-strikers backed up unwisely.
Such was the tension, you expected to see lightning flash out of a cloudless sky.
It was time for some experience, to be provided by the eighteen-year-old captain Gisele Ishimwe, who came in at No 4. Through all the drama she stayed resolute, to finish 31 not out off 53 balls.
Such were the nerves that at least one of her team-mates had to keep her hands over her eyes and be comforted by a compassionate friend.
The Windies really didn’t help themselves. Even though their total fell far short of expectations, they still had plenty of chances to tie the game up.
Errors of every sort were made. Spinners didn’t join the action till it was too late. Inexperienced batters always find it harder deciding and timing the correct stroke against the slows than the quicks. They tend to be less comfortable coming on to the front foot.
Then the fields the bowlers were given allowed too many easy singles – ‘easy’ here does not mean nervelessly completed!
The closing stages came close to panic-stricken. Two catches were dropped; 16-year-old Jahzara Claxton had to be retired from the firing line after bowling a number of no-balls. This required the 15-year-old Barbadian Naijanni Cumberbatch to come on to bowl one single ball, and it was a free-hit. Almost inevitably it was struck for a resounding four.
Rwanda celebrate (Photo: ICC)
The dancing which had been in full swing on the boundary now increased in fervour.
The very last ball summed up a madcap match: Abini St Jean’s second delivery was aimed high and wide of the leg stump; Lena Scott, the keeper, couldn’t take it cleanly. The Rwandan pair galloped a chancy single. As Scott recovered the ball on the floor, she flung it towards the stumps – but not the batter’s stumps five yards away; the bowler’s stumps, at the other end of the moon.
The precious run was completed and Gisele sank to her knees in relief.
By now even our timorous friend on the player’s bench had dared to reopen her eyes. Figures came flooding on to the pitch to congratulate the two batters. The dancing around the perimeter reached a frenzy. Rwanda had won their second match of the tournament!
Andrew Nixon writing in CricketEurope believes Rwanda’s first victory, over Zimbabwe, was the nation’s first in any form of international sport. This was a tumultuous second.
The reaction of the winning team in Potchefstroom alone was worth the staging of the entire competition.
Scores:
West Indies 70
Rwanda 71-6
Rwanda win by four wickets
