LINARE Cricket Club was on Sunday crowned the Women Nation’s Tournament champions after prevailing over Maseru Legends by three wickets in the final of the inaugural tournament at the Mabathoana High School Grounds.
The Lesotho Cricket Association (LCA) Media Liaison Officer, Clifford Molefe, hailed the tournament as a success with a high turnout by the participating teams.
“The turnout from our teams was good and we are impressed because this was the inaugural tournament,” Molefe said.
Molefe said the tournament is in response to the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) mandate for national federations to work towards the growth of the sport in their respective countries.
“The ICC mandated us to work hard to increase the number of players in the sport, the number of administrators and at the same time, we should ensure that the support base grows. We have just started that and looking at this tournament, I am confident that we can achieve all that,” Molefe said.
He said the tournament started early this month where teams were playing in their different districts to qualify last weekend’s top four spots.
“Initially we had nine teams which were playing in their different regions (Maseru, Leribe, Mohale’s Hoek and Berea), so the winners in those districts were the ones who qualified for the finals at the weekend.”
“We are not there yet. There is still a lot of work to be done but what we saw over the weekend gave us hope. Of course, some were still struggling because this is new to them but others showed a lot of potential and we are impressed.
“Now the teams have to go back and prepare because we have other tournaments lined up for them from August.
“Most of our teams still have equipment challenges but the LCA has tried to meet them half way,” Molefe said.
On Saturday, Linare beat Ajax 43 runs to book a spot in the final while Legends beat Mohale’s Hoke Cannibals 88 runs to book a date with Linare.
Ajax won the losers final while Cannibals finished fourth.