TANZANIA's senior national women's cricket team has maintained its winning ways in the 2025 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier, walloping Kenya by 30 runs at the High Performance Oval in Windhoek on Monday.

It was yet another confident batting showing by Tanzania's female cricketers, who saw to it that they made full use of their time at the crease, once they had won the toss and elected to bat.

They successfully countered efforts by Kenya's bowling unit, led by Melvin Khagoitsa, to garner the triple-digit figure, which proved to be too much for the latter when they embarked on the chase.

A quartet of batters, led by the in-form opener Saum Mtae, had Tanzania's cricketers taking control of their innings and amassed a convincing 125-8 in their scheduled 20 overs.

 Saum, who had a great game at the crease when Tanzania scraped through with a one-run win over Uganda in the opening tie on Sunday, delivered yet another ruthless showing in the clash against Kenya, having nailed 30 runs at a strike rate of 157.89.

The fellow opener, Neema Pius, looked to have summoned back her batting verve, given that the cricketer notched 24 runs while clearing the boundary on four occasions. There were further meaningful contributions from the rejuvenated Nasra Hamza, as the performer secured 26 runs at a strike rate of 89.66, and Hudaa Mrisho, who returned with 24 runs while garnering four fours.

 The top-order batters, once again, did all they could to ensure Tanzania set up a challenging target despite enduring an early wobble following a brief stay by Fatuma Omary. Melvin was the most impressive cricketer when Kenya fielded, finishing with 5-13, and was solidly backed up by Esther Wachira, who took 2-25.

 Chasing 126 runs to garner victory happened to be a challenging task for the Queentor Abel-led Kenya, given the cricketers were skittled for 95 runs in 19.5 overs. Even though there were encouraging batting efforts by a quartet of Lavendah Idambo (18 runs), Veronica Abuga (17 runs), Josephine Abwom (12 runs), and wicketkeeper-cum-batter Ruth Achando (11 runs), Tanzania turned out to be too strong for the former as the latter solidly defended their total.

 An impressive bowling showing by Agnes Qwele had Tanzania successfully silencing Kenya's batting unit, as the bowler ended up with 3-10.  Saumu Azizi piled misery for Kenya with her 2-17, which witnessed the cricketer end up with a 4.20 economy rate.

 The victory has seen Tanzania lead the rest of the pack in the showdown's Group B, boasting an impressive +0.775 Net Run Rate,  courtesy of the team's two consecutive wins. Zimbabwe, also boasting an unbeaten run, is enjoying the driver's seat in Group A with a +2.244 Net Run Rate from a victory in two encounters.

 Cricketers making Tanzania's senior national team are Agnes Qwele, Fatuma Omary, Hudaa Mrisho, Jenipher Gabriel, Mwanamvua Hamis, Nasra Hamza, and Nasra Nassoro. Neema Justine, Perice Zakayo, Saum Godfrey, Saumu Azizi, Sheila Shamte, Shufaa Hamza, and Sophia Frank Jerome also make the squad.

 The team's support staff is made up of head coach Imran Nackerdien, Rijali Fentu (assistant coach), and team manager Arsalaan Premji. The Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) had earlier pointed out that the team is ready to make Tanzania proud on the international stage, calling on cricket followers and the remainder to rally behind the players as they begin their campaign.

 The senior national women's cricket team, once again, seeks to prove it is a force to reckon with in cricket showpieces on the continent, despite losing out on qualification for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup on several attempts in the past.

The cricketers are participating in the 2025 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier with good memories of triumphing in the Kwibuka Women's T20I Tournament 2025, which took place in Rwanda from June 3-14, comprehensively trouncing Zimbabwe High Performance XI by 32 runs in the final.

The 2025 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier is a cricket tournament that forms part of the qualification process for the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup.

The first stage of the tournament was Division Two, played in Botswana in July 2025, during which eight teams participated.

Rwanda and Sierra Leone reached the final of Division Two and therefore progressed to Division One. Rwanda defeated Sierra Leone by 51 runs in the final.

Division One will be played in Namibia in September, with the top two sides advancing to the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier.

The 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier will be a women's international cricket tournament that will be held from January 12-February 2, 2026, in Nepal.

It will be the seventh edition of the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier and will serve as the final qualification tournament, in which the top four teams will qualify for the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup.

The 2026 Women's T20 World Cup will be the 10th edition of the Women's T20 World Cup, a biennial Twenty20 International (T20I) tournament played by women's national teams and organised by ICC. It is scheduled to be hosted by England in 2026.

The tournament will be contested by 12 teams for the first time. New Zealand is the defending champion.

The 12 qualifying teams are divided into two groups of six teams, with all teams in a group playing with all others   for a total of 15 matches, and the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout stage.

In July 2022, the ICC confirmed the qualification process for the tournament. The hosts, England, along with the top five teams from the 2024 edition, qualified automatically for the tournament.

The remaining automatic qualification spot was taken by the best-ranked team in the ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings, which had not already qualified, as of 20 October 2024.

The four remaining places will be filled via the global qualifier, in which teams will advance from the regional qualifiers.