LESOTHO were three wickets down with 20 runs on the board inside two overs. Eighteen overs later they had 169/8, and Mozambique were set a target of 170.
Mohmed Duvesh Patel and Maaz Khan added 98 for the fourth wicket at NCF Oval 1 in Abuja on Tuesday. Mozambique were then bowled out for 95, and Lesotho won the second match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Africa Qualifier C by 74 runs.
Lesotho won the toss and chose to bat. Lourenço Simango had Lerotholi Gabriel and Lebona Leokaoke lbw in the second over, either side of Joao Hou’s dismissal of wicketkeeper Chachole Tlali, and Lesotho were 20/3 after 1.4 overs.
Patel scored 63 off 45 balls, with eight fours and a six. Khan made 52 off 32, with four fours and three sixes, before he was caught by Simango off Vieira Tembo with the score on 118. Patel fell at 141/5, caught by substitute fielder QA Uqueio off Jose Bulele.
Gladwin Thamae finished unbeaten on 20 off 16 balls with two sixes. Lesotho lost three more wickets in the last four overs, including captain Ts’episo Chaoana, run out for 3.
Tembo took 3/21 from four overs and Simango 2/25 from four. Bulele and Hou took a wicket each.
Hou top-scored for Mozambique with 49 off 45 balls, with three fours and three sixes. No other Mozambique batter reached double figures.
Mozambique were 58/2 in the ninth over. They then lost four wickets for eight runs in under four overs, including Bulele and Tembo run out, both with Tlali involved, and captain Agostinho Navicha bowled by Malei Khauta first ball.
Hou was the seventh man out, caught by Inshaf Farook off Patel at 81/7. The innings ended in the 19th over when Farook had Simango caught behind.
Five of Lesotho’s six bowlers took wickets. Patel took 2/12 from three overs, Khauta 2/14, and Thamae 2/14. Chaoana and Farook took one each.
All three matches on the opening day were won by the side batting first, each by a margin of more than 70 runs. Uganda beat Zambia by 87 runs. Lesotho beat Mozambique by 74 runs while Nigeria beat The Gambia by 160 runs.
On Wednesday, Lesotho play Uganda at 09:30 on NCF Oval 2. Mozambique face The Gambia at the same time on NCF Oval 1, with both sides looking for their first points.
