Gambia Beat Lesotho by 3 Runs — Conteh's 4 for 24 and a Last-Over Run Out Give Gambia Their First Win

On the last morning of Qualifier C, with the title being settled elsewhere and nothing but pride and a place above the bottom of the table at stake, Gambia and Lesotho played the closest game of the week. Gambia chose to bat, were 27 for 4 inside eight overs and 76 for 8 inside sixteen, and still got to 112 for 9. Lesotho were 37 without loss in reply, lost eight wickets for 28 runs, and then Inshaf Farook took them to within four of the target. The final wicket, a run out on the fifth ball of the twentieth over, left Lesotho 109 all out. Gambia won by 3 runs.

It was a match played on a short rope: neither side could get more than a few runs' grip on it, and the side that let go last won. For Gambia it was their first and only win of the tournament, after heavy defeats to Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia. Both teams finish on two points with one win from five, eliminated, with Lesotho fifth and Gambia sixth.

Defending 112 against a side that had been bowled out for 62 the day before was never going to be about pace or mystery. It was about length, and about keeping a nervous batting side guessing. Aniru Conteh took 4 for 24: Lebona Leokaoke caught behind by Ousman Bah, Jabulani Matjatje lbw first ball, and Lefulere Monanthane and Tanki Alber Khetsi both bowled within two balls of each other in the 13th over. He also bowled five wides, which is the honest footnote to a four-wicket haul in a three-run game.

Andre Jarju was the quieter partner, 2 for 11 from his four overs, removing Chachole Tlali and Maaz Khan either side of the collapse's start, and David Demba bowled Bahlakoana Mejaro to end a stubborn ninth-wicket stand. Three Lesotho batters were run out, which tells you Gambia's fielders were switched on even as the match tightened. With the bat, Abubacarr Kuyateh's 29 off 33 held the innings together when four wickets had gone for nine runs, and Musa Jobarteh's 20 off 13, two fours and a six, in a 28-run ninth-wicket stand with Ousman Bah lifted the total from 76 for 8 to 104. Those 28 runs turned out to be the difference between a brave effort and a win.

Lesotho did most of the hard things well. Mohmed Duvesh Patel took 4 for 18 and all four of them came in a spell that reduced Gambia from 18 for 0 to 27 for 4: Andre Jarju and Muhammed Manga bowled, Frank Campbell lbw for a one-ball duck, Aniru Conteh caught by Leokaoke. Inshaf Farook's four overs went for 13 and Monanthane took two late wickets. A target of 113 was, on paper, the easiest Lesotho had faced all week.

The chase began sensibly. Leokaoke and Tlali put on 37 in 6.5 overs without looking fluent, and that was fine; the asking rate was low. What followed was not. Eight wickets fell for 28 runs, including two run outs, and captain Ts'episo Chaoana, who had made 26 of Lesotho's 62 against Nigeria, could manage only 7. It was left to Inshaf Farook, with two fours and two sixes in 35 not out off 27 balls, to carry the innings from 65 for 8. He and Mejaro added 25 for the ninth wicket over six overs, and he was still there at the end, unbeaten, three runs short. Twenty extras helped Lesotho's cause; the batting, for the second day running, did not.

Lesotho were 49 for 2 after 8.4 overs, needing 64 from 68 balls with eight wickets in hand. By 12.2 overs they were 65 for 8. Duvesh Patel, promoted to No. 3, was run out for 9 off 6; Matjatje was lbw to Conteh the next ball; Maaz Khan fell to Jarju at 51; Chaoana was run out at 60; Monanthane and Khetsi were bowled by Conteh at 65. Six wickets for 16 runs in 22 balls, and a straightforward chase became a rescue.

The rescue nearly worked. Lesotho reached the final over at 91 for 9, needing 22, and Gambia gave the ball to Ousman Bah, who had not bowled all day. Eighteen came off the first five balls. Then Malei Khauta, two off two, was run out by Malang Touray and Bah with the score on 109, and it was over. Farook had walked in at 65 for 8 and done everything except finish it.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

Neither side goes any further in this cycle, but both leave Abuja with something. Gambia found a bowling pair in Conteh and Jarju who can defend a small total, and in Kuyateh a batter prepared to absorb pressure. Lesotho have in Duvesh Patel a bowler who took four wickets in the one spell that mattered, and in Farook a lower-order batter who refused to be beaten. The lesson for both is the same one this tournament has taught every team outside the top two: partnerships, not cameos, win low-scoring T20s.