- Division 2 Fixture
- Sunday, 24 March
- Africa Vs SKLPS CC – Jinja Oval, 10:30 am
Division One was so close for Africa Cricket Club (ACC) last season but failure to show up by Jinja SSS on the final day of the season meant that ACC will have to spend another season in the second tier of Uganda cricket.
Strikers edged them to the final promotion place by run rate. It was a bitter pill for ACC given that they had been front runners for most of the season till the last 3 games of the season when they lost to Tornado and even if they won the other 2 games they failed to win them by maximum points and in the process falling short by the run rate.
In 2018, they have a chance of banishing the ghosts of 2017 and they will take on tricky SKLPS in Jinja. In the only Division 2, game on the opening weekend of the 2018 season both sides will have a chance of being the early pace setters for their other rivals.
SKLPS like all Asian sides are very clinical and once they smell blood they will take their chance. They are very disciplined as a bowling unit and hold onto their chances in the field. However, their weakness in batting is something that ACC can exploit with its superior bowling unit.
ACC will rely on 2017 Divsion 2 best bowler Emmanuel Odeng to lead their bowling line up. He has a lot of back up in new acquisition John Ilukor who joins ACC from Wanderers.
ACC Vice Captain Amos Kyazze contributed heavily last season with both bat and ball and he will be needed in this tricky opener. Team Captain Richard Lwamafa, Daniel Batuwa, Robert Okoth and wicketkeeper batsman Yusuf Nanga should all get runs on a ground that is familiar to them.
Both teams based in Kampala have to contend with the trip to Jinja in some of the new changes for the 2018 where Kampala teams will be required to play outside the comfort zone of Kampala.
The winner of this encounter will have set themselves up for promotion while the losing side will have to worry about the season ahead. These are the games that make the difference between promotion and staying in the same division since they are shoot outs between direct rivals.
It’s hard to predict which way the result will go but given its the 1st game for both teams since November last year, there will either be very many runs or very few runs.