Malawi Women’s National Cricket Team on Saturday claimed the 2026 Kalahari Women’s T20 Cup bronze in Botswana following a hard-fought one-wicket victory over Mozambique in a third-place match.
Mozambique made 91 runs in 20 overs in the first innings before Malawi replied with 92 in 18 overs.
Sungeni Kananji was the main architect of Malawi’s victory with an all-round contribution, including three wickets and was named player-of-the match. She helped in restricting Mozambique before playing an important role in the chase.
| Courtesy of Cricket Malawi
“I enjoyed every moment of this game as we pushed hard to finish the tournament with our heads held high,” said Kananji.
According to cricbuzz.com, Malawi made it into the six-team tournament’s third place playoff after winning the plate category on Friday while Mozambique slipped from the top division as the losing side.
On the other hand, Brazil won the tournament after beating hosts Botswana by three wickets. Botswana were restricted to 37 runs in 11.1 overs before Brazil carried the day with 38 runs in just 9.5 overs.
The tournament threw off on April 6 with top-three teams from round-robin games making the grade for main division play-offs and the bottom-three sides dropping to the plate division.
Malawi made it into plate section on inferior net run rate after tying on six points with Mozambique, who qualified for the top grade.
In their five round robin games, Malawi women’s team won three against Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia. They also lost to Botswana by 23 runs and Brazil by 136 runs.
In plate division matches, Malawi dominated with two straight wins against Lesotho and Zambia. They beat Lesotho by nine wickets and Zambia by 53 runs.
