Harare is set to host the Africa Cricket Association T20 World Cup Qualifiers, where eight teams will battle for just two remaining spots at the 2026 World Cup. The tournament features heavyweights like Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, and Namibia, alongside ambitious challengers hoping to create history.
Cricket is the second biggest sport in the world, where 108 countries play this sport from all continents of the world. From the rising sun land of Japan to the ice-freezing region of Canada. Across the globe, an estimated 2.5–3 billion fans are entertained with this sport. Fans are always excited for major cricketing events.
But many of us are still unaware of a massive cricket event happening at the same time as the Asia Cup. This is the Africa Cricket Association Qualifiers for the T20 World Cup scheduled in Feb–Mar 2026, where India and Sri Lanka will host the 20 best teams globally.
We all know South Africa is going to play the T20 WC without qualifiers, as they are ranked in the top 10 cricketing nations and were runners-up last time. So the region had only two spots left for its 18 teams, divided into three sub-regions. Respectively, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Tanzania made it into the regional final.
Now these teams will be divided into two groups, where Kenya, Namibia, Malawi, and Nigeria are in Group A, while Botswana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Tanzania are in Group B. These qualifiers will take place from September 26th to October 4th at the Harare Sports Complex in Zimbabwe, which can obviously give the home side, Zimbabwe, the upper hand of home advantage.
This year, we already got a new entry in the mega stage of cricket, where for the first time, Italy qualified for the very first time. Cricket fans are expecting a similar thing from Africa as well, where any nation from Nigeria, Malawi, Botswana, and Tanzania can make it to the major event. But things are not going to be that simple, as the other four nations have already played major-level cricket.
Additionally, Zimbabwe, the home side, is already in good form. They recently had a close face-off with Sri Lanka, and before that, they beat Ireland and Pakistan in the T20 format. Here in Harare, it will be an upper hand for the hosts.
We also cannot underestimate Nigeria and Tanzania for their outstanding performances so far. Nigeria went unbeaten in the sub-regional group, where Isaac Danladi impressed with both bat and ball. Tanzania also had an impressive run where they beat Mali by 10 wickets with 115 balls left, and Lesotho got humiliated by 122 runs. Obed Harvey was the name that came out on top with his lethal bowling spells.
Malawi and Botswana both had some decent results so far. Malawi showcased strong resilience in batting, while they lacked in bowling, which they need to improve if this nation wants to step up to the mega event. Botswana also had a similar issue where they had a decent bowling attack backed by the best fielding, but lacked in chasing. Their batting does not have depth, which will be exposed in a big run chase.
No doubt Zimbabwe has professional and international exposure that no other team has, but the best form of Nigeria and Tanzania will be tough for the other big teams. It will not be an easy knock to reach the top. It will be interesting to see who will be in the top two to reach the T20 WC 2026.
