The African Games are held every four years. They have been held since 1965. In 2023, the African Games saw the debut of cricket for the first time. The tournament featured both a men’s and a women’s event. All matches are played in the T20 format.
The tournament is organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa. A total of eight teams participated in the inaugural edition in both the men’s and women’s events. The teams are divided into two groups. Each team in the group faces the other once in a round-robin format. Teams earn two points for a win, one for a tie or no result, and zero for a loss. The top two sides from each group progress to the knockout rounds (semifinals and final). The losers of the semifinals contest a bronze medal match.
Uganda, Kenya, University Sports South Africa, Zimbabwe Emerging, Namibia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana (only men’s team), Rwanda (only women’s team) were the participating teams in the inaugural edition. Zimbabwe bagged the gold medals in both the men’s and women’s events. The silver medalists in the men’s and women’s events were Namibia and South Africa respectively. Uganda and Nigeria won the bronze medal in the men’s and women’s events each.
The highest score recorded in the men’s event was 237 which was made by University Sports South Africa. In the women’s event, Zimbabwe recorded the highest total of 142 runs. Owen Muzondo was the player of the series in the men’s category. In the same category, the highest run getter was Roger Mukasa and highest wicket taker was Alpesh Ramjani. The women’s category saw Kelis Ndhlova bag the player of the series award. The highest runs and most wickets were earned by Modester Mupachikwa and Lillian Udeh respectively.
