Kelis leaves trail of destruction in Rwanda

Sport
Each team that participated in these games have had a fair share of whipping from the 18-year-old all-rounder.

Red-hot Kelis Ndhlovu managed to cause significant damage every time she stepped onto the field to bat or bowl for Zimbabwe A Women in the just-ended Kwibuka Women's T20I tournament in Rwanda.

Each team that participated in these games have had a fair share of whipping from the 18-year-old all-rounder.

Her trail of destruction saw her garner 382 runs in seven outings before yesterday's final against Uganda including a century and three half tons.

Ndhlovu scored 108 from 73 balls against Kenya, three half centuries; 89 (63), 79 (61) and 71 (34) runs against Kenya, Cameroon and Malawi respectively.

When she does not want to score she leaves the crease without bothering the scorers as evidenced by her duck against finalists Uganda and hosts Rwanda.

On Friday, Zimbabwe A faced hosts Rwanda with a place in the final at stake and the locals went down by six wickets against the Leonard Nhamburo coached defending champions.

Zimbabwe sneaked into the final on a superior net run rate of 2.062 against Rwanda's 1.946.

Rwanda had already lost two matches in the tournament prior to their clash against Zimbabwe A, who had only lost once and after Zimbabwe posted 127/3 in their 20 overs, the hosts needed to cross the line inside 18 overs to better their net run rate, but only managed to do so with five balls remaining.

Loryn Phiri was the star of the show getting the player of the match award for her unbeaten 58 runs from 39 balls with the bat and two wickets with the ball.

Zimbabwe A captain Chiedza Dhururu chipped in with an unbeaten 54-ball 42 runs contributing 100 runs in an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership with Phiri.

Dhururu was happy to contribute in a winning cause for the team.

"I just kept telling myself that I'm able and capable of taking my team through the situation that we were in at that moment. "When Loryn got in we told ourselves to stick to the team's game plan, being positive and having that aggression that we had from the beginning of the tournament, which set the tone for all these achievements we have recorded in this tournament," Dhururu said.

Zim A head coach Trevor Garwe, who was being assisted by former Lady Chevron, Nonhlahla Nyathi had not foreseen the defeat ahead of the crucial encounter.

"I think playing Rwanda, the defending champions at home, is something that we are not worried about. We are just focusing on our team processes. I think if we can manage to do that the outcome will be a positive one," Garwe said.

The former Zimbabwe international said he was super chaffed with the way the girls are going about their business when batting where they are playing with freedom.

"The way we have been batting has been the major positive, the intent is there from the first ball. We have been controlling all the power plays with the bat and dominating. I think we will keep doing that until the last game," he added.

"The biggest find for me has been the way the U19s are performing with both bat and ball. That's a huge positive for us and the way we are enjoying every game that we are playing. I think it's something that we did well and will keep encouraging them to do so because that is the only way to go out there and win games."

Ndlovu has found an able partner in her 15-year-old counterpart Beloved Biza, the two hail from Chitungwiza's St Aidans Cricket Club.

Another teenager, Christina Mutasa announced her arrival in Rwanda with a five-wicket haul for Zimbabwe A against Nigeria. She picked five wickets for 11 runs and scored 32 from 24 balls to be named player of the match.

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