GABORONE, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Botswana men's team was confident of victory when they departed for Uganda for the International Cricket Council (ICC) 2019 T20 World Cup Africa qualifier tournament.

The team left Botswana on Thursday evening for the six-team tournament set to start on Sunday.

Coach Joseph Angara told Xinhua before the departure that they have been working very hard in the preparations.

He said they started the preparations immediately after winning the southern sub region tournament that they hosted in November 2018.

Angara said he expects Captain Karabo Motlhanka who was the leading run scorer in the previous tournament with 196 runs in six matches to continue with his scintillating form and inspire the team to victory.

Botswana then outclassed six other opponents, Namibia, Saint Helena, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho and ESwatini to be crowned champions and progress to the Africa qualifier tournament with second placed Namibia.

Angara said they are expecting competition to be very tough at the Africa qualifiers as all teams are eyeing the two spots that would go on to represent Africa at the final qualifier tournament to be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) later this year.

Botswana will play the first match of the tournament against Namibia on Sunday and play the host Uganda the following day.

The top two in the round robin tournament will progress to the final qualifiers. The 2020 ICC T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played in Australia from the 18th of October to 15 November 2020.