A 160-run defeat to Nepal on Tuesday morning was a clear indication that Team Uganda’s last efforts at the ICC World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand were those of a dying horse.
That sixth straight loss gave Uganda a tenth-place bottom finish at the event and further cast a huge shadow on coach Johan Rudolph’s troops. Nepal finished ninth.
Both outfits were already relegated back to ICC Division III and missed out on a lucrative ICC High Performance Program funding of $1m (Shs2.475b) which could have improved their sport’s standards until 2017.
Uganda captain Davis Karashani said his side needs to learn from the failed 2015 ODI World Cup dream.
“Our lack of exposure to top cricket showed up in our performance. We need far more matches of this sort of quality. That is the only we can make the step up.”
Tuesday’s awful bow out to last year’s ICC World Cricket Division III champions Nepal – aided by another peculiar display with the bat – left team manager Andrew Othieno a more disgruntled man.
“Batting, batting, batting… We batted only 34 of the 50 overs and that tells our story,” displeased Othieno told Kawowo Sports on phone from the team base at Tauranga.
“While we may have the skill, it counts nothing if it doesn’t come with the required temperament at this stage.”
In pursuit of Nepal’s 240-10 score at Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval 2, there was no partnership that exceeded 25 runs as Uganda were bowled out for a paltry 80 runs.
Opening pair of Brian Masaba (13 off 25) and Abram Mutyagaba (16 off 49) managed doubles but they could put up a strong platform to support Uganda’s chase.
Richard Okia top scored with 19 off 36 but credit to Nepal’s resilient bowling trio of Sagar Pun (3-18), Sompal Kami (2-10) and Shakti Gauchan (2-16) who not only shared seven wickets and four maidens but also condemned Uganda to the second lowest total of the campaign.
Earlier, spinner Karashani (2-23) and left-arm pace man Charles Waiswa had failed to cope with the genius of Nepal’s batting lynch-pins Prithu Baskota (59) and Sharad Vesawkar (41).
Team Uganda departs Tauranga tomorrow evening and will arrive home on Friday evening.
ICC WORLD CUP QUALIFIER FINISHES TOP SIX STILL IN CONTENTION
7th – Netherlands
8th – Canada
9th – Nepal
10th – Uganda
ICC WORLD CUP QUALIFIER TUESDAY’S RESULTS
Seventh-place play-off
Canada 210/10 Netherlands 212/2 (Netherlands won by eight wickets)
Ninth-place play-off
Nepal 240/10 Uganda 80/10 (Nepal won by 160 runs)