Cricket Cranes put up outstanding performances in the ODI Qatar Series as they bounced back from a day one loss to take a commanding 2-1 lead before losing their last outing on day four to level the series to a 2-2 after that Qatar win.
The Cricket Cranes fall short in their first ODI match as they lost by 10 runs despite Riazat Ali Shah brilliant work rate which saw him put up 84 runs in their chase of 250 runs by Qatar, the Cranes fall short by 10 runs as they only managed 240 runs all out by the 43rd over.
An early wicket fall of Rodger Mukasa, Simon Ssesazi and Ronald Lutaaya within the 8th over was a huge hindrance to the cranes short comings despite a brilliant pairing of Riazat (84runs) and Alepsh Ramjan (65runs) in the chase couldn’t rescue the Cranes.
In the second ODI, the cranes looked a more of a masterpiece as they opted to bat first having won the toss, they registered a 250/8 a score which needed to defend and they did it better as they only contained Qatar to 98 all out in the 31st over as Uganda won by 138runs.
Cyrus Kakuru took the day to his own as he registered 60runs not out to keep the Cricket Cranes in the driving seat before Kenneth Waiswa and Henry Ssenyondo contributing much in the defending work.
The third ODI Match was for Uganda to take as Kenneth Waiswa stood up to the day registering a century to help Uganda to a 292/6 as they limited Qatar to 154 all our in the 39th over hence Uganda winning by 138 runs.
Uganda defended better with Henry Ssenyondo and Frank Nsubuga taking the lead defence as they manage to contribute to a 5 wicket fall for Qatar as Uganda won to lead the series 2-1.
In the fourth ODI match, It wasn’t the best for the Cricket Cranes as they put up a poor run having opted to bat first and being limited to only 155 runs all out with in the 38th over with Kenneth Waiswa and Simon Ssesazi the better performers with just 31 and 29 runs respectively.
It was not easy to defend a low score run as Qatar won by four wickets in the 47th over as Ssenyondo and Alepsh contributing much to Uganda’s defence in a 4 wickets fall as Qatar managed to level the series to a 2-2.
Captain Brian Masaba looked abit disappointed as they failed to walk away with the series win but they return home with positives having taken a while without playing the 50overs cricket.
“We are obviously disappointed not to walk away with the series win as we felt we got our selves into good positions but unfortunately we didn’t get over the line and this is an area we need to look into. It has happened in the past and we need to be abit more ruthless.” Said Brian Masaba
“There is lots of positives we have picked as it has been a while eversince we played the 50 Overs cricket. It was good to get back into the groove of things of things we need to do and get our selves into the process to be ready when the next cycle comes around.” added Brian Masaba.
Here is the Qatar Series results
1st ODI Match: RESULT
Qatar 250-9 50 overs
Alpesh Ramjani 4/38
Henry Ssenyondo 2/13
Uganda 240 all out 43 overs
Riazat Ali Shah 84
Alpesh Ramjani 65
Ronak Patel 33
Uganda lost by 10 runs
Qatar 1-0 Uganda
2nd ODI Match: Result
Uganda 236/8 50 overs
Cyrus Kakuru 60 not out
Kenneth Waiswa 39
Brian Masaba 39
Qatar 98 all out 31.5/50 overs
Kamran Khan 26
Zaharudeen Ibrahim 25
Kenneth Waiswa 3/8
Henry Ssenyondo 2/9
Uganda won by 138 runs
Uganda 1-1 Qatar
3rd ODI Match: Result
Uganda 292/6 50 overs
Kenneth Waiswa 101 not out
Roger Mukasa 57
Qatar 154 all out 39/50 overs
Kamran Khan 31
Dharmang Patel 33
Henry Ssenyondo 3/37
Frank Nsubuga 2/23
Uganda won by 138 runs
Uganda 2-1 Qatar
4th ODI Match: Results
Uganda 155 all out 38.2/50 over
Kenneth Waiswa 31
Simon Ssesazi 29
Qatar 156/6 47.4/50 overs
Kuram Shazad 45 not out
Ikramullah Muhamed 39 not out
Henry Ssenyondo 2/18
Alpesh Ramjani 2/34
Qatar won by 4 wickets
Qatar 2-2 Uganda