TANZANIA's national U-19 men's cricket team has closed in on making it to the 2026 ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup after cruising to a comprehensive 54-run win over Kenya U-19 in the Africa Qualifier tie in Lagos on Thursday.

It was yet another memorable victory for Tanzania U-19 cricketers, as they skilfully got the better of a competent challenger in Kenya U-19, also rated as the Africa Qualifier favourite alongside Namibia U-19.

A ruthless bowling showing by Tanzania U-19 was instrumental in the team's acquisition of the convincing win, considering the squad's bowling unit gave Kenya U-19's batsmen no chance and frustrated the latter's chase.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Tanzania U-19 were skittled for 114 runs in 41.1 overs.

Even though the team's pursuit of a convincing figure endured stiff opposition from Kenya U-19's bowling unit led by Neel Doshi, the top order stood firm to have the team amassing the triple-digit score.

The opening batting duo of Dylan Tharkar and Omary Ramadhan put on good knocks and had the squad reaching 56 runs after 11 overs when the batsmen exited the crease. 

Tharkar notched 20 runs and consequently made his way back as the batsman with the most runs.

Fellow opener Ramadhan chipped in with 16 runs at a strike rate of 47.06.

Skipper Laksh Bakrania and Karim Kiseto had Tanzania U-19 putting more effort into repelling Kenya U-19 bowling unit, having also chipped in with two digits. 

Kiseto registered 14 runs, whereas Bakrania posted 17 runs and helped Tanzania U-19 reach 102-8 once he was dismissed in the 34th over.

There was also an encouraging contribution by Mohamed Simba (14 runs at a strike rate of 43.75) for the batting team.

Stian Smith masterminded Kenya U-19's efforts to limit Tanzania U-19's score to a manageable figure, garnering 3-26 and a 3.18 economy rate.

There were further significant contributions from Akshith Sekar and Saijeeth Chidambaran, as the former took 2-12 and the latter finished with 2-13 for the bowling team.

Chasing a seemingly modest target of 115 runs happened to be a tall order for Kenya U-19, given they were unexpectedly skittled for a mere 60 runs in 42.5 overs.

As was the case in the tie versus Namibia U-19, Tanzania U-19 exhibited a bowling masterclass to silence the otherwise resolute Kenya U-19 and stretch their winning run.

The Kenya U-19 top-order and middle-order cricketers could not hold their own against the fiery Tanzania U-19 bowlers, crumbling with ease.

Except for Doshi, who registered 18 runs at a strike rate of 25.35, the remainder of the squad's batsmen suffered early exits to eventually concede their first loss.

Raymond Francis and Hamza Ally gave Tanzania U-19 an edge when the squad fielded, as Francis grabbed 3-15 and a 1.67 economy rate and Ally took 3-19 and a 1.93 economy rate.

Tanzania U-19, thus, is the only squad boasting an unbeaten spell in the ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier, having grabbed victory in all four fixtures to top the table with a 1.330 Net Run Rate.

The Bakrania-led Tanzania U-19 team would today be all out to seal qualification for the ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, facing Sierra Leone U-19 in the duo's last Africa Qualifier fixture at the UNILAG Oval.

Nigeria, Kenya, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda are battling it out in the 2025 ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) Cricket Oval and the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

The tournament takes place in a round-robin format of 15 matches over eight days in a winner-takes-all contest.