THE Tz Green cricketers have bounced back in the TCA 50 Overs Trials Tournament after defeating Tz Yellow by 60 runs at the Leaders Club venue in Dar es Salaam recently.

The Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA)-organized event has competent U-19 cricketers and their senior counterparts battling it out in it.

The national cricket governing body uses the tournament to gauge the selected cricketers' skills, as they form a provisional squad for the senior men's cricket squad.

It was the first victory for the Tz Green team, which narrowly went down to Tz Blue by four runs in the past encounter.

Tz Green raced to 212/10 in 49.2 overs, mostly thanks to solid batting by Alishihab Bukhari, skipper Kassim Nassor, and Acrey Pascal.

They were 44-1 within the first 10 overs following the dismissal of the youthful opener Darpan Jobanputra- the cricketer left the crease with 17 runs.

The fellow opener Bukhari was rather quite ruthless at the crease, notching runs with good knocks and making his way back with 35 runs.

Tz Green had registered 68-2 once the other opener made his way back after 91 balls, allowing the squad to amass many runs.

Athuman Siwa - assigned as a top-order batsman - garnered 22 runs for Tz Green as the squad was intent on piling more runs.

Pascal's 32 runs and Nassor's 34 runs had pushed Tz Green to 160-5 following Nassor's dismissal in the 33rd over.

The Tz Green captain was stumped by Tz Yellow's wicketkeeper Mohamed Omary off Umar Shaikh's bowling, and the former's outfit was nevertheless still in a good position to end with a better total.

Omary Ramadhan (16 runs not out), Issa Safari (16 runs), and Justin Thomas (17 runs) also made their way back with two digits, handing Tz Green a respectable total once the innings ended.

They were somehow buoyed by 11 extras conceded by the Tz Yellow bowlers.

The extras included one bye and 10 wides.

Shaikh ended up as the only Tz Yellow bowling unit member with the best bowling figures, posting 4-33.

Chasing 213 runs to garner victory happened to be a tall order for Tz Yellow who ended up garnering 152/10 in 35.3 overs.

A brief stay by the opener Baraka Robert was, early on, not quite a worry given his fellow top-order cricketers stepped up.

Robert exited the crease with seven runs to his name- leaving Tz Yellow with 15-1 in the third over.

The other opener, Jumanne Mohamed, fought to prove his worth and chipped in with 18 runs.

Omary completed Tz Yellow's innings with the most noticeable contribution- scoring 28 runs.

There were also two digits posted by Maker Mukesh (26 runs), Seif Athuman (20 runs), and Shaikh (15 runs) for the Tz Yellow team.

Tz Yellow was, to some extent, boosted by 21 extras given away by the Tz Green bowling unit.

The extras consisted of 16 wides, two no-balls, two leg byes, and a bye.

Spinner Siwa's 3-36 was the most noticeable contribution to Tz Green's bowling time.

Youthful cricketer Yalinde Maurice made his presence count for Tz Green following his 3-37 and Nassor dashed Tz Yellow's hopes, finishing with 2-13.

The senior men's squad is shaping up for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League B scheduled for February in Hong Kong.

The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League is a cricket competition contested in the List A format, and the bottom level of the three-league Cricket World Cup qualification system, which was introduced in 2019. 

Twelve teams participate in two groups, with the top team of each group advancing to the World Cup Qualifier Play-off, which is a pathway to qualification for the next Cricket World Cup.

The Challenge League replaced Divisions Three, Four and Five from the World Cricket League in determining World Cup qualification. The first edition was in 2019–2022.

The 2024–2026 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League is the second edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League and a cricket tournament which forms part of the 2027 Cricket World Cup qualification process.

The league features 12 teams- those finishing second –fourth in their respective league in the 2019–2022 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League, the top four finishers from the 2024 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off, and two teams from the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off.

That tournament saw Canada, winner of League A in the previous Challenge League being promoted to League 2 status, while Papua New Guinea was relegated.

The other Challenge League winner, Jersey, was not successful in obtaining promotion. 

The top two teams from both groups, A and B, will secure a spot at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff.

Each group in the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League is scheduled to play three times in a single round-robin tournament format, once each year from 2024 to 2026.

This amounts to 15 matches per team and a total of 90 matches.