Beyond the Test World

In the only fixture played on a rain-affected second day of the ICC Africa World Cricket League Division 2 event, Ghana defeated Mozambique by a comfortable margin at Sahara Park on Sunday.

Ghana's batsmen felt the pressure early on, at one stage struggling at 49 for 4 after 12 overs. A fine middle-order batting display by Lawrence Ateak (37) and Isaac Kofi (23), followed by an unbeaten 48 by Peter Ananya, rescued the innings and got the total to 183 in 47.2 overs. Muhammad Zulfiqar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 43.

Mozambique saw themselves in early trouble, losing quick wickets in the second and third overs. Syed Kaleem Shah fought back with a valiant 69 but it was not enough as the batsmen choked to tight bowling and were bowled out for 151 in 47.3 overs. Kofi Bagabena returned figures of 3 for 37.

The other two matches between Zambia-Malawi and Sierra Leone-Swaziland were abandoned due to a wet outfield the day before.

Umpires have called off day one of the World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Benoni, South Africa after continuous rainfall made play unlikely.

The games slated to be played on day one were Zambia against Sierra Leone, Malawi playing Mozambique and Swaziland meeting Ghana.

These matches are now scheduled to be held on April 27 which was initially to be the tournament rest day.

Given favourable weather, tomorrow's games will see Mozambique oppose Ghana; Zambia take on Malawi and Sierra Leone play Swaziland.

Jinja Senior Secondary School seized the day and ran out winners by the slenderest of margins in this year's Ugandan girls' schools cricket week.

In front of a crowd of some 400 and dozens of marabou storks, the holders, making hard work of defending their title - last played for in 2008 - faced defeat at 43 for 9 in a bid to reach their 54 target. But panic with a string of wides from Sharon Athoula and makeshift last-over bowler Rachael Timbalian set in amongst their opponents, Kampala-based Kalolo Senior Secondary School, and the champions crept to victory by one wicket.

Kololo were themselves fortunate to be the opponents after winning a thrilling semi-final tie against far-flung Soroti Light Secondary School. The doughty north-easterners, having already disposed of former champions King's College Budo, Kampala's City High School and Ndejje Senior Secondary School, raised their game again to post 69 for 9 (20 overs). Kololo, in a rain-affected reply, lost two fewer wickets in reaching the same total.

A six off the last ball of the match by rookie Asif Dassu has handed Dadabhai a one wicket win over Ahir 'A' in the final of the Panamanian cricket league on Sunday.

Played before a crowd of around 9,000 of Panama City's Indian community, the match started with Ahir A winning the toss and electing to bat on a very hot afternoon. Ahir captain Jagdish Ahir smashed a very quick half century and was dismissed by a brilliant stumping by Salim Jasat. Despite this, Ahir A managed to post a very good target of 159 runs in their 25 overs.

Dadabhai's reply began with a very aggressive batting by Imran Bulbulia and Harum Bhiku. That was until Bulbulia was hit in the face, via the top-edge of his bat retiring, which forced him to retire hurt and go hospital for seven stitches. Dadabhai's batting after the injury slowed down the and wickets began to fall.

Peter Kirsten, the former South African batsman and ex-Jersey coach, will coach Zambia at the World Cricket League (WCL) Africa Division Two tournament from April 24 to 29 in Benoni, South Africa.

Kirsten coached Jersey in 2008, experiencing first-up success in guiding them to promotion from WCL Division Five on home soil in Jersey. The Division Four campaign in Tanzania was an unhappy one as Jersey won one match out of six to be relegated straight back to Division Five.

The former Derbyshire and Sussex batsman has been in Lusaka since early March, coaching the Zambian squad. He told the Zambia Post newspaper his goal was to see Zambia qualify for Division Eight of the global level of the WCL, which is to be held in Kuwait in December. Zambia was part of the old East African Cricket Conference, also comprising Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Beach cricket is not something many associate with a landlocked country, but at the Riverside Springs Resort, Nepal this weekend that is just what happened.

It is the second competition of its kind this year, following on from the inaugural event in 2009. In that first edition there were eight teams competing, while this year 34 teams played over the two weekends.

Sierra Leone have stuck to their successful youth policy in naming the squad to take part in the World Cricket League Africa Division Two tournament in Benoni, South Africa from April 23 to 30.

The promotion of 24-year-old all-rounder Lansana Lamin to the captaincy and the inclusion of nine members of the country's Under-19 squad further illustrate the Sierra Leone Cricket Association's (SLCA) emphasis on junior development. SLCA feel the policy has been vindicated after receiving an ICC award for 'Most Improved Cricketing Standards in Africa'.

The eight-team Sierra Leone 50-over and Twenty/20 domestic competitions have just finished and the players have been enjoying a break before the six-team Division Three tournament starts on Friday.

Malaysia captain Suhan Kumar Alagaratnam has credited his team's youthful exhuberance for its sem-final placing at the ACC Trophy in Kuwait last week. It was Malaysia's first semi-final appearance since 2002.

"With an average age of 23 we were clearly the underdogs from the start and just allowed us to play with more freedom," said skipper Suhan Kumar Alagaratnam, himself aged 23.

Coming off just knocking United Arab Emirates out of the tournament, his team were completely unfazed when Nepal set a stiff target to get into the final. "We did not for once thought that we had lost after giving 271 runs and was 2-6 when I walked in and the camp was always chirpy till the last over and everyone of us believed that we can do it."

Afghanistan has vindicated its raging favouritism for the ACC Trophy Elite title with an emphatic 95-run win over Nepal in the final in Kuwait City on Friday.

A mainly pro-Afghanistan crowd of about 5,000 cheered, banged drums and looked on as the two most passionately supported non-Test countries in Asia contested a final where the ball was dominant over the bat.

All-rounder Binod Das in for Mahaboob Alam was the only change for Nepal, while Afghanistan fielded the same team which beat Hong Kong in the semi-final.

The pain of missing the semi-finals of the ACC Trophy Elite for the first time has been compounded for United Arab Emirates following their 34-run loss in the fifth-sixth place play-off against Oman in Kuwait on Thursday.

Sent in by Oman, the Emiratis put in a spirited batting display, hitting 265 runs in 48.3 overs, thanks chiefly due to captain Khurram Khan's 90 from 71 balls, including 11 fours and two sixes. Khan combined with another veteran, Arshad Ali, (35) in a run-a-ball third-wicket partnership of 98, after UAE were 21 for 2. Further contributions from Saqib Ali (32), Fayyaz Ahmed (21 off 19 balls) and a late flurry from Shoaib Sarwar (30 from 16 including three sixes) lifted UAE to a useful total. Slow left-arm bowler, Tariq Hussain was Oman's main wicket-taker, returning 3 for 50.

Omani openers, Hemin Desai and Deep Trivedi, possibly mindful of the threat of a reduction in overs, gave their team a positive start. Although both openers were dismissed, Oman were 52 after just 6.5 overs. Man-of-the-match, Vaibhav Wategaonkar (65 not out in 76 balls) combined with Adnan Ilyas (49) and Sultan Ahmed (19 not out) to continue the attack to reach 193 for 3 when rain intervened. With a resumption not being impossible, Oman won the match by 34 runs thanks to Duckworth/Lewis calculations.