Sierra Leone national U-19 cricket team will start their ICC U19 Cricket Word Cup Africa Division 1 Qualifier campaign against Kenya on Friday, March 28, 2025.
The Junior Patriot and their East African rivals will battle in the second match of the day at the University of Lagos.
Six nations; host Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda and Tanzania all battling for a place at next year’s World Cup to be hosted in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
With the fixtures already announced, after the Kenya assignment, Sierra Leone will then take on Namibia on the 29th of March 2025 before their next fixture on 1 April against Uganda.
The all-West African tie will come up on the 3 April with Sierra Leone facing the host nation, Nigeria.
Sierra Leone’s final clash in the tournament will come against Tanzania on the 5th April 2025.
The stakes are high as only one team will secure a spot in this round-robin event and for Sierra Leone, this tournament holds a special significance after the nation few years ago qualified for the tournament in Canada but was unable to make it.
Since then, several attempts have been made and has come close to qualifying. In 2009, Sierra Leone nearly secured a spot in the prestigious tournament but narrowly missed out.
Sierra Leone has graduated to the ICC Under-19 Division 1 tier four times: in Maputo (2009), South Africa (2018), Abuja (2022), and Tanzania (2024), a testament to the nation’s growing cricketing prowess.
