TANZANIA's national U-19 men's cricket team has made its intention to become a serious contender for qualification for the 2026 ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup clear, hammering Nigeria U-19 by 122 runs in the Africa Qualifier in Lagos on Sunday.

It was a second successive victory for the Tanzania U-19 cricket team, which defeated Uganda U-19 by 73 runs in the opening clash last Saturday.

Batting first, captain’s knocks from Laksh Bakrania (44 off 79) steadied the East African nation's team's innings after dropping early wickets.

Bakrania's partnership with opener Darpan Jobanputra (32 off 83) was crucial to Tanzania U-19's rebuilding after the dismissals of Karim Kiseto and Dylan Tharkar.

Opener Tharkar (11 runs) and Kiseto, who scored two runs having come on at number three, were the cricketers who suffered the early exit.

A late cameo from Mohamed Simba (19 off 22) pushed Tanzania U-19's score to 154 runs all out, a score which looked competitive on a tricky surface.

Credit should go to the Nigeria U-19 bowlers Abdulganiyu Abdullahi (3/26), Ukasha Isiyaku (2/24) and Kenneth Boniface (2/28), who bowled with discipline and intensity to keep the pressure on throughout.

The Tanzania U-19 cricketers later delivered a stellar bowling performance to contain Nigeria's U-19 batting unit and seal the win.

Opening the bowling with pace and spin, Khalid Amiri (4/13 in six overs) and skipper Bakrania (3/11 in seven overs) tore through the Nigeria U-19 top order, leaving them reeling at eight wickets down inside the power play.

And just when it was seemingly done, the visitors' bowler, Agustino Mwamele (2/5 in 2.1 overs), dismissed the hosts' tail with class and control.

Nigeria U-19 were ultimately bowled out for just 32 runs in 16.1 overs to concede their second consecutive defeat.

Tanzania U-19, consequently, condemned Nigeria U-19 to a second loss in a row, thus putting the latter's chance of securing qualification for the 2026 ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup in jeopardy.

Nigeria U-19 had, in the opening tie, lost to one of the tournament favourites, Namibia U-19, by 10 runs.

It was, the TCA official added, a statement win for Tanzania U-19 cricketers but the job is far from done.

With a challenging clash against Namibia slated for today, the officer noted, the Tanzania U-19 cricketers know that Sunday's win will mean very little if they cannot bring the same focus and hunger again when taking on the Southern African country's team.

In Sunday's other clash, Neel Doshi put in a Man of the Match showing as Kenya U-19 garnered a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Uganda U-19.

Uganda-19 cricketers batted first and were skittled for 69 runs in 19.5 overs and, in response, Kenya U-19 successfully chased the total for the loss of three wickets in 34.5 overs.

Tanzania's U-19 cricketers, as is the case for Kenya U-19 and Namibia U-19, are the unbeaten contenders after two rounds of matches in the 2025 ICC U-19 Men's World Cup Africa Qualifier.

Tanzania U-19 men’s national cricket team beat the rest to the silverware in the ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup Africa Division 2 Qualifier in Dar es Salaam in August last year.

The success helped Tanzania's junior cricketers gallantly book a place in this year's ICC U-19 Men's World Cup Africa Qualifier.

Sierra Leone and Tanzania (who qualified after winning the ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup Africa Division 2 Qualifier semi-finals), and Nigeria (who qualified after defeating Rwanda for the third-place playoff) secured progression to the ICC U-19 World Cup Africa Qualifier- Division 1.

The three -Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria - have joined Kenya, Namibia and Uganda in the Division 1 tournament now hosted by Nigeria.

The ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier (formerly ICC Africa U-19 Championships) are a series of regular cricket tournaments organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for Under-19 teams from its African member nations.

It is the regional qualifier for the ICC Under-19 Men's World Cup.