MNCS vows to support Cricket sport- hails the U-19 national team’s triumph in Rwanda

The country’s sports mother body, Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) has vowed that it is committed to provide the  necessary support that will see the Cricket sport grow in both urban and rural areas.

 MNCS Board Member and Chairperson of the Sport Development Committee, Helen Mpinganjira made the remarks at Chileka International Airport on Thursday where the Council and Cricket Malawi officials were welcoming back the Malawi U-19 Women’s Cricket National team from Kigali in Rwanda where it made a remarkable record  after becoming the champions of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Qualifiers.

Speaking in an interview, Mpinganjira said what the junior Cricket team did by breaking the first ever record since the introduction of the sport in the country is a great strides which every Malawian deserves to be proud of and requires enough support in order to continue shining in international competitions.

“These young girls have proven wrong to many Malawians who always think that they can not produce any positive achievement in competitions and the Cricket body has shown its total dedication of taking the sport to a higher stage because even the performance that the team displayed at the just ended tournament was very phenomenal.

“As Council we want to assure the Cricket body that we will do everything possible to support the sport and see it grow and as they prepare to go to the next stage of the Division 1 Africa Qualifiers in September this year we promise to motivate them with resources so that they go there to compete and bring the cup to Malawi,” said Mpinganjira.

 President of the Cricket Malawi, Vivek Ganesan said it feels good to become champions and qualify to another biggest continental stage   which they have been failing to manage in the previous years.

“This championship  really shows  that we are moving to the right direction because for example in 2022 we only won one match and finished on fifth position but now two years later we have won all the six games in the same competition which is a great progress.

“When we were starting the sport in 2014 it was tough because very few people would understand it but currently it is no longer the same because we managed to put on our structures in place and here we are today, so to us we are growing almost each and every day and with this success we believe we’ll attract more athletes in rural and urban places although resources are the major setback but to be honest the future looks good and promising for Cricket in the country,” said Ganesan.

Cricket Malawi U-19 National team Captain, Ketrina Chingaipe said qualifying to the Division 1 was every players dream and they all worked hard to become the champions.

Chingaipe described concentration during trainings, communication among players as well as applying of coaches instructions as the major secrets behind the team’s success.

She further pleaded for adequate support from well-wishers in order for them to do well in the upcoming competition.