Wednesday, May 22
*Kenya 145/6 beat Uganda 144/9 by 1 run
*Nigeria 135/8 beat Ghana 107/8 by 28 runs
*Namibia 50/0 (3.5/20) beat Botswana 46 by ten wickets with 10 balls to spare
Table
- Namibia – 6 (4.547)
- Kenya – 6 (1.363)
- Nigeria – 4 (0.394)
- Uganda – 2 (0.15)
- Ghana – 0 (-2.473)
- Botswana – 0 (-3.028)
Always close has been the story of Uganda’s sports and cricket in particular recently.
The Cricket Cranes once again broke the hearts of a mammoth crowd that flocked Lugogo on a working day as they succumbed narrowly to a superior old rival – The Kenyan Simbas.
Kenya beat Uganda by one run in a T20 World Cup Africa final tournament game to lighten their chances of getting one of the two available spots for the upcoming 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier which is scheduled to be held in October and November 2019 in the United Arab Emirates.
The loss is a second in row for Uganda who fell to Namibia on Tuesday at Kyambogo despite getting off the mark with a sweet win over Botswana.
“It was an important game for us to win,” said a delighted Kenyan captain Shem Ngoche. “They (Uganda) gave us a hard time but we managed to hold the nerves. However we don’t need to get over ourselves as there are still two games to go.”
The Neighbours who won the toss and elected to bat first, propelled to a 145 for six, with Rakep Patel hitting a half ton (51) off 22 balls not out.
Uganda’s woes once again manifested themselves with the bat as the side failed to ace the score, despite Hamu Kayondo and Riazat Ali Shah contributing 31 and 44 runs respectively.
There were nerves as Uganda posted 97/6 with five overs remaining but even a six by Riazat on the last ball couldn’t knot the score.
“Am disappointed,” Cranes Coach Tikolo told the press. “Its always paining especially when you lose by just one run. Both teams played good cricket today but we had two overs when we gave it away and the time Dinesh (Nakrani) got off was not right. Hats off to Kenya.”
Fixtures
Thursday 23 May
Kyambogo
9:30am Botswana vs Kenya
1:50pm Uganda vs Ghana
Lugogo
1:50am Nigeria vs Namibia
Friday 24 May
Kyambogo
9:30am Ghana vs Botswana
1:50pm Namibia vs Kenya
Lugogo
1:50pm Nigeria vs Uganda
