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The Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS), the parent body of sports in Malawi, has pledged its commitment to provide the necessary support for cricket to flourish in both urban and rural areas.
MNCS Board Member and Chairperson of the Sports Development Committee, Helen Mpinganjira, stated this on Thursday at the Chileka International Airport as the Board and Malawi Cricket officials welcomed the Malawi U-19 Women’s National Cricket Team back from Kigali, Rwanda, where the team had a remarkable run after becoming the champions of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup sub-regional qualifiers.
In an interview, Mpingangira said the fact that the junior cricket team had broken the first record since the sport was introduced to the country was a huge step forward and something every Malawian should be proud of and that adequate support was needed to continue to shine in international competitions.
“These young girls have proved many Malawians wrong who always believed that they could not achieve anything positive in the game and the cricket establishment has shown total dedication to take the sport to a higher stage because even the performance displayed by the team in the just concluded tournament was phenomenal.
“As a council, we have assured the cricket body that we will do everything in our power to support the sport and see it grow. As they prepare to qualify for the next stage of the Africa A qualifiers this September, we have pledged to provide them with the resources to encourage them to travel there and bring the trophy back to Malawi,” said Mpinganjira.
Malawi Cricket Association president Vivek Ganesan said it felt good to be champions and qualify for another biggest continental tournament, something they had not been able to do in previous years.
“This championship really shows that we are heading in the right direction because, for example, in 2022 we only won one race and finished fifth, but now, two years later, we have won all six races in the same competition, which is a huge improvement.
“When we started the sport in 2014, it was very tough as few people understood it. But things are different now as we have successfully built our system to be where we are today. For us, we are growing almost every day. With this success, we believe we will attract more rural and urban players and although resources are the major hurdle, to be honest, the future of cricket in the country is bright,” Ganesan said.
Malawi U-19 national cricket team captain Ketrina Chingaipe said promotion to the A-League is every player’s dream and they all work hard to become champions.
Chingapé believes that concentration during training, communication between players and execution of the coach’s instructions are the main secrets to the team’s success.
She further pleaded with everyone to extend adequate support so that they can do well in the upcoming competitions.
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