The Africa Under 19 Championships concluded on Tuesday 10 January and Namibia were confirmed as winners.

In the final two fixtures of the tournament East and Central Africa defeated West Africa by 5 wickets, and in a thrilling finish at Lugogo SC, the hosts Uganda beat Kenya by 1 wicket.

West Africa set East and Central Africa a modest target of 134 for victory, having struggled to cope with the accurate spin bowling of Parmar who finished with figures of 4-18 from his ten overs. Only four West African batsmen made it into double figures, with opener Endurance Ofem making 22. Extras top-scored with 30, of which 26 were wides.

The East and Central African reply started shakily, and they lost 3 quick wickets, however captain Utpal Patel, A. Ramzanali and later J. Patel stabilised the innings and in the end the victory was comfortable. Extras were again the top score, as West Africa bowled 35 wides out of 40 extras conceeded.

A healthy crowd at Lugogo SC saw a nail-biting victory for Uganda over Kenya in a low-scoring match.

Kenya won the toss and batted first but got off to a disastrous start in the face of some hostile opening bowling from Okia and Engola. Only two batsmen made it into double figures, Bharat Halai made 24 and Alfred Luseno top-scored with 27.

Their final total of 109 should of presented no problem to the Ugandans, but in front of a vocal crowd they seemed to fall victim of nerves. The Kenyans bowled and fielded well, adding pressure on the Ugandan batsmen. Having lost their first 5 wickets cheaply, a sixth wicket partnership between Fred Isabirye and Richard Okia seemed to have swung the match decisively in Uganda's favour, but when Isabirye fell to Bhimji for 25 the scoring rate slowed and the pressure seemed to return on the batsmen. Two further wickets fell, but some intelligent strokes from Okia and a couple of wides moved Uganda past 100. With only 6 runs to win the ninth wicket fell as Allan Magambo was run out. Adam Jumba came out at number 11, and as the field closed in around him, hit the winning runs high over mid-wicket.

The Championships closed as Namibia were presented with the winning trophy in front of all the teams and a large crowd of spectators. Namibian captain, Stephan Swanepoel was named as Player of the Series.

© ICC