My name is Bayingana Derrik. I am 19 years old. I was born in Uganda and lived in Kampala for 5 years before moving to Kigali. I am Rwandan, but my favourite food is Irish potatoes.
The first time I saw cricket was at the former Ecole Technique Officielle in Kicukiro in Kigali. I was in the 12th Grade. The E.T.O. is now called Kicukiro College of Technology and that is where the only proper ground in the country is.
My cricketing hero is Brian Lara, whom I met when he came to Rwanda in 2009. In Rwandan cricket I most admire Kayitera Andre, one of the best batsmen in the national team and the man who introduced me to cricket. Now I am an all-rounder for the Rwandan national cricket team. My club team is The Dugout. I am the captain. We are named after a bar in Kigali run by Dennis, an all-rounder in the national team.
I like cricket because it is a gentleman’s game. It makes you think – 90% is played in the mind. Sometimes I find the longer formats of the game boring, but I love Twenty20 and 50 over cricket. I love hitting lofted drives over mid-on and mid-off.
I find Rwanda’s female cricketers very inspiring – Veronica, especially, has such a passion for the game and spends much time coaching young girls. My great hope for Rwandan cricket is that more and more schools will begin to play the game. The children are the future of cricket in Rwanda. To encourage children to play we need better development of the game that reaches beyond Kigali to the provinces, and of course we need better facilities.
Derrik plays for the national team and Under 19 team. He is a big-hitting middle-order batsman and strong seam bowler. He recently travelled with the national team to South Africa to compete in the ICC Africa Division 3 Championships in which Rwanda came third, having won it in 2011. He is hoping to be selected for the Under 19 in an up-coming ICC tournament.
Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation 