Dates | 9 – 19 September 2021 |
---|---|
Administrator(s) | Africa Cricket Association |
Cricket format | Twenty20 International |
Tournament format(s) | Group round-robin and playoffs |
Host(s) | Botswana |
Champions | Zimbabwe |
Runners-up | Namibia |
Participants | 11 |
Matches | 29 |
Most runs | Fatuma Kibasu (280) |
Most wickets | Loryn Phiri (16) |
The 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was played in Botswana in September 2021.[1][2] The matches were played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), with the top team progressing to the 2022 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament.[1] Botswana, Cameroon and Eswatini made their debut at an ICC women's event.[3][4] Malawi were originally named as a participants in the tournament, but they were replaced by Eswatini.[5]
The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in October 2021, but was brought forward to ease fixture congestion.[6] In July 2021, the dates for the Africa Qualifier were confirmed.[7][8] The fixtures were reshuffled shortly before the tournament, following a member of the Cameroon squad recording a positive COVID-19 test. The entire squad was placed into isolation until they returned negative tests.[3]
During Cameroon's opening match against Uganda, Maeva Douma dismissed four batters by 'Mankading'.[9] Namibia progressed to the semi-finals by winning all of their games to finish as winners of group B.[10] Uganda joined them in the semi-finals as runners-up in the group.[11] Zimbabwe topped group A with a 100% record to secure a semi-final against Uganda.[12] Zimbabwe and Namibia won their respective semi-finals to advance to the final of the tournament.[13][14][15] In the final, Zimbabwe beat Namibia by 13 runs to advance to the World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament, with Tanzania beating Uganda by nine wickets in the third place play-off match.[16]