Margaret Ngoche or Margaret Banja (born 2 November 1981) is a Kenyan cricketer[1] and a former captain of the Kenya women's cricket team.[2] Several members of Ngoche's family have played for the Kenyan team, including her brothers Lameck Onyango, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Shem Ngoche and James Ngoche, and her sister Mary Bele.[3][4][5] Prior to playing cricket, Ngoche also played football for two years.[6]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1981-11-02) 2 November 1981 (age 40) Nairobi, Kenya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | Lameck Onyango (brother) Nehemiah Odhiambo (brother) Shem Ngoche (brother) James Ngoche (brother) Mary Bele (sister) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
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| T20I debut (cap 7) | 6 April 2019 v Zimbabwe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last T20I | 23 January 2022 v Malaysia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 24 January 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ngoche was part of the Africa squad for the women's edition of the 2007 Afro-Asia Cup in India,[7] and Kenya's team for the UAE International Women's T20 tournament, which took place in 2016.[8]
In April 2019, Ngoche was named in Kenya's squad for their first ever Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) matches, in the 2019 Victoria Tri-Series in Uganda.[9] Ngoche made her WT20I debut on 6 April 2019, for Kenya against Zimbabwe at the Lugogo Cricket Oval in Kampala, top-scoring for the team with 27 runs.[10] The following month, Ngoche was named as Kenya's captain for the 2019 ICC Women's Qualifier Africa tournament in Zimbabwe.[11][12] In Kenya's second match of the tournament, against Sierra Leone, Ngoche was again the top-scorer for the team, with 73 runs,[13] and she was named as the player of the match.[14] In May 2021, Ngoche was again named as the captain of the Kenyan team, this time for the 2021 Kwibuka Women's T20 Tournament in Rwanda.[15] Following the conclusion of the tournament, Ngoche was named as the captain of the team of the tournament,[16] selected by the Rwanda Cricket Association.[17]
In January 2022, Ngoche was named as the captain of Kenya's team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games Cricket Qualifier tournament in Malaysia.[18][19]