Sierra Leone’s womens cricket team has withdrawn their participation from the much anticipated Botswana International ladies T20 tournament scheduled for August 24-27 this year at the BCA Oval grounds in Gaborone.
Asserting the reason for their withdrawal, the Chairman of Sierra Leone Cricket Association (SLCA) Board of Directors, Beresford Bournes-Coker, said it was a tough decision to withdraw from the tournament.
They cancelled their participation to join the entire country to mourn the death of their fellow citizens considering the number of lives and property lost in the unprecedented disastrous mudslide and flooding.
Bournes-Coker furthered that some of the players were directly affected; therefore competing in a major tourney at this particular period, will disturb their playing abilities and technically, it will lead to a disappointing performance, since the players are aggrieved.
“We are very sorry to have withdrawn the team from the event; it was not our initial plan as a lot of resources have been invested to prepare the squad. But what happened in our country is beyond our wish, and some of our players are greatly affected. Thus, we will stay home to mourn our fallen countrymen,” the SLCA Board Chairman lamented.
Responding to Sierra Leone’s withdrawal, the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) expressed their heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and sincerely prays for a speedy recovery and normality in the nation.
In the correspondence sent to SLCA, BCA stated: “The 2017 edition of what was supposed to be the eight nations Ladies T20 tournament will be known as the BCA Ladies International T20 Tournament, owing to a few fortunate withdrawals at the last minutes; Lesotho and Malawi could not conclude all the their internal formalities and are thereby unable to participate this year”.
“The most tragic withdrawal was Sierra Leone, a couple of days ago, owing to the natural disaster that befell their country leaving many deceased, missing and injured”.
Due to the situation, this year’s tournament will feature Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Gauteng XI alongside the host Botswana.
In addition to that, the ladies will also have the privilege to interact with the BCA invited Mentor Umpire, Shaun George from South Africa, who is on the ICC Elite Panel of umpire and who officiated in the finals between England & India in the recently concluded Women’s World Cup in England.
Meanwhile, the SLCA, Director of Women’s Cricket, Elizabeth French has confirmed that they’ve now turned their attention to prepare the ladies for the Women’s North West Africa Cricket Council (NWACC) tournament which has been scheduled to be held in Ghana, early or late October this year.
By Magdalene S. Konneh
Friday August 25, 2017.