Continent Cup T20-Africa
Sunday, June 18
Kenya 117/8
Nelson Odhiambo 50
Rushab Patel 17
Uganda 120/5
Simon Ssesazi 56
Dinesh Nakrani 34
*Uganda won by 5 wickets
Uganda made it two wins in three games against Kenya at the ongoing Continent Cup T20-Africa tourney thanks to their five wicket win over the side on Sunday at the Gymkhana Cricket Oval in Nairobi.
There were concerns from a few Ugandan fans that watched the game over the playing XI! Cricket Cranes coach, Laurence Mahatlane maintained the XI that played against Botswana yesterday as team captain Brian Masaba, arguably Uganda’s current best fielder and Frank Nsubuga who had been exceptional with his bowling at this tourney were left out.
The opposition being Kenya, the fans thought Mahatlane should’ve used his best players, but as it turned out, the chosen XI was just good enough to get the job done.
Aside from a couple of dropped catches with the most notable one being Kenneth Waiswa dropping Nelson Odhiambo who went on to hit a half century, the boys overcame their rivals.
It was a collective team effort especially with the ball as all Ugandan bowlers bar Siraje Nsubuga picked at least a wicket. Simon Ssesazi however, won the Player of the Match award owing to his 56 runs.
“If you look at the previous tournaments where we’ve missed out on qualifying for the ICC tournaments, we had some serious injuries to senior players. We lost experience going into such tournaments so it is important that we build that up,” Mahatlane explained his decision to stick with the youngsters.
“For this youngsters to have grown up watching Kenya, it was important to give them a taste of the pressure and the intensity. Kenya have a very experienced team; they have three or four guys that have played in the World Cup so it’s important that these youngsters understand the kind of pressure.” Mahatlane added in his post match interview.
Aside from Ssesazi, Dinesh Nakrani (34) was the other Ugandan player that hit double figures.
Roger Mukasa, usually an opening batter, came in to bat at number 7, this after he suffered a discomfort while fielding. Mukasa who is Uganda’s leading run scorer in all formats faced 10 balls and scored 9 not out.
Uganda will face Kenya again in the finals that will be played on Wednesday 21st, but they take on Rwanda tomorrow in their last group game.
