Ghana Wins Bronze

Ghana not only had sweet revenge, but won bronze in the World Cricket League (Africa Division 2) Tournament after beating tournamaent rivals Malawi by 265 runs for nine wickets in their innings.

In the second innings Ghana put up a more spirited fight and this yielded good results as top bowler, Peter Ananya bowled 7 wickets for 25 runs.

This not only prevented the Malawi batsmen from batting more than 41 runs but also induced loss of concentration on them. This brilliant performance in the second innings also won Ananya the man-of-the-match.

Rufus Ntiamoah emerged the best batsman after scoring 76 runs.

Before reaching the third place final Ghana lost to Mozambique in the semi-finals. Tigh and alert bowling from the Mozambiquans forced the Ghanaians to score 151 runs for 10 wickets in 32.5 overs.

The Mozambiquans who had paraded mostly Indian-born players came in strongly in their innings and scored 152 runs for 6 wickets in 42.1 overs.

In a post-match interview, the team captain, Francis Bakiweyem said "we did very well today and the fact that we corrected the few mistakes we made in our opening game with the same team ensured our convincing victory today.

Cricket is not a popular game in Ghana but with the support of corporate bodies and the goverment we can start a league and win even biger laurels for th nation."

The players, coach Philip Taylor, team mamanger Osmo Addo and Ghana Cricket Association Vice-Chairman Dr William Ampofo couldn't help but burst into celebrations after the well-deserved victory for Ghana.

"This achievement is an attestation to the amount of time and effort the association is putting into developing the game. If the sport gets the needed support from corporate Ghana and other stakeholders, cricket can fly Ghana's flag as high as some other disciplines have," Osmo Addo told the Daily Graphic.

The team was presented with their bronze medals at a closing ceremony and dinner held at the Willowmore Park Cricket Stadium.

At the time of press, however, the final match between Sierra Leone and Mozambique was in progress. The Ghanaian team will arrive in Accra on Monday morning.