After six long years, St Helena has been invited to participate in their second ever international cricket competition. Plans are well underway to send a team to Gaborone in Botswana to participate in the ICC world Twenty20 Africa Qualifier in October of this year. Team St Helena was invited to the event earlier this year and in recent weeks much impetus has been given to registration of players, training and selection.

Team St Helena will comprise of a squad of 16 players, a Manager, a Coach and a Physio.

A selection panel will at the end of June select the team and standby players for the trip. Plans are also in hand for Mo Mather, who has been appointed the head coach for Team St Helena to visit the Island for a week to train the participants and be a part of the selection process.

Much work still needs to be done in the short term and one of the main elements of this is fundraising. The Association will be seeking sponsorship from businesses and individuals and a fundraising team will concentrate their efforts locally.

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About Botswana:

Botswana is one of Africa’s most popular and exclusive safari destinations, Botswana is a fascinating world, home to well-known landmarks such as the Okavango Delta, the Kalahari Desert and the Chobe National Park. To help you prepare for your holiday here are some interesting, lesser known facts about the country.Cricket was started in the country by expatriates from South Africa and the Indian subcontinent.Botswana was elected to the ICC as an affiliate member in 2001 and played in the Africa Cup in Zambia the following year. After winning all their first-round matches against Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, they beat Kenya in the semi-final before losing by 270 runs to South Africa in the final.

The Botswana Cricket association ( BCA) was first convened in 1979, with a view to expanding the game so that a national league could be set up, and from that a national team selected to represent Botswana against neighbouring countries.