Ghana 74/9 (20 Overs)
Uganda 69/10 (12.5 Overs)
Ghana won by 5 runs
Uganda’s Cricket Cranes had the worst batting day at the Pepsi ICC Africa T20 Championships that hit the climax this afternoon.
The buoyant mood they were in after yesterday’s win over tournament champions Namibia suddenly came to an end when they couldn’t chase down Ghana’s mere 74 for a chance to play at the Global T20 Qualifiers later this year.
In a game where Ghana chose to make the first inning, Uganda did a great job at limiting the runs for Ghana hoping it would be easy for them to catch up being the superior of the countries in the game. The Cranes limited Ghana to 74 runs knocking down 9 wickets in the process.
Simon Ateak top scored for Ghana with 31 off 41 before he was caught out with his team having 70 runs on the board.
When Uganda took over the bats, there was an early scare that probably wasn’t taken serious. Unlike yesterday when Uganda’s first wicket fell after 24 runs against Namibia, the first stamp was knocked down much earlier by Ghana as Arnold Otwan was bowled out with just 17 runs on the board for the Cricket Cranes.
Much as the first wicket had fallen early, Uganda had lost just four wickets with 60 runs on the board with 13.6 overs to spare and looked destined for a comfortable win to better their run rate.
However, the wickets started falling and so fast that after just 12.5 overs, Uganda’s batsmen were all out with just 69 runs on the board and Ghana ran away with a 5 runs victory – their second in the tourney – as the Cranes missed out a chance to play at the Global T20 Qualifiers.
In fact, Brian Masaba, Frank Nsubuga, Henry Ssenyondo and Derrick Bakunzu went out with ducks.
After the loss, Uganda hoped Kenya would beat Namibia and pull out the calculators but instead Namibia beat Kenya by 30 runs and they both qualified for the Global T20 Qualifiers with four wins each, with Uganda just behind them on 3 wins.
