The men's cricket tournament at the ongoing African Games in Accra, Ghana, got underway today with all eight teams in action.

South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia are not fielding full strength teams for the event, something that may cost the latter two in particular as they are both hovering around the cut-off point for rankings based qualification to the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup and their matches in the tournament still count as full T20Is.

A Zimbabwean team featuring six debutants won the toss against a Namibian team featuring three and chose to bat first in one of two Group B matches to take place in the morning. A knock of 65 from 39 balls by Brian Bennett helped them post 197-6 from their 20 overs.

Namibia started their reply with a 73 run partnership between Malan Kruger and Niko Davin which ended when Kruger was dismissed for 46 at the end of the seventh over. They couldn't keep up with that rate though and were kept to 162-8, losing by 35 runs. Owen Muzondo and Tashinga Musekiwa both took three wickets.

In the other Group B match in the morning, Tanzania - fresh from their CWC Challenge League play-off promotion - batted first after winning the toss against Nigeria. Openers Ivan Selemani and Jumanne Masquater gave them a platform with a partnership of 68. They scored 33 and 32 respectively in Tanzania's total of 131-6.

Nigeria lost two wickets in their opening over and never really recovered from there. Salum Jumbe bowled superbly to finish off the Nigerian batting line up, reducing them from 80-6 to 84 all out to finish with figures of 5-10 and secure a 47 run win for his team.

In Group A action in the afternoon, every single South African player was making their T20I debut in their match against the hosts, the first time that has happened for a team not playing their first T20I. Captain George van Heerden made the second highest score by a player making their T20I debut, finishing the innings unbeaten on 107 from 57 balls. He had two century partnerships - 106 with Heinrigh Pieterse (62) and 120 with Lehan Botha (47) - to help his team post 237-2.

James Vifah's 41 was the only score of note in the Ghana reply as they were restricted to 103-7 from their 20 overs, losing by 134 runs.

In the other Group A match of the afternoon, Uganda won the toss and chose to bat first against arch-rivals Kenya. Knocks of 59 from Roger Mukasa and 43 from Dinesh Nakrani helped the Ugandans post 169-7 from their 20 overs. Lucas Oluoch took 5-20 for Kenya.

Only two Kenyan batters reached double figures in their reply, with Rakep Patel's 42 their top score. Alpesh Ramjani was the pick of Uganda's bowlers, taking 4-17 as his team bowled Kenya out for 97 to secure a 72 run win.

Play continues tomorrow, with Group B action in the morning seeing Tanzania play Zimbabwe and Namibia take on Nigeria. In Group A play in the afternoon, Kenya will come up against South Africa whilst hosts Ghana will face off against Uganda.