The national U-19 cricket team has moved to the second and final phase of their preparation for the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup Qualifier scheduled for Benoni in South Africa September 10-18, 2016.

The team left Accra for the tournament in South Africa last week to acclimatise, hold a series of high-performance conditioning and training to put the boys in good shape and also train their drive shots as well as improve concentration for the Africa division two tournament.

Ghana will play against six other countries namely; Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana and Rwanda in a round robin 50-over league format with the aim of advancing to the Africa division one zone and subsequently qualify to play in the World Cup to be staged in New Zealand 2018.

The team, since arrival has been working under the tutelage of established South African cricket coach Kenneth Masinga who is working on the conditioning of the team as well as helping them polish their strokes and deliveries of the players together with the team’s regular coach, Francis Kofi Bakiweyem, assisting.

Cricket Operations Officer of the GCA and Team Manager for the U-19 side, Mr. Henry Benjamin Ackom in a chat with the Times Sports expressed delight at the level of preparations so far especially since arriving in South Africa.

According to him, the side has one of the best preparations for a tournament in recent times and the boys are in great shape.

Ghana, opens her account against Botswana on September 10 before coming up against Sierra Leone and Zambia on September 11 and 12, Rwanda and Tanzania will be their next opposition on September 14 and 15 with their last match against arch rivals Nigeria coming off on the September 17.