Result Summary
- Busoga College Mwiri 126/9 in 15 overs
- Nyakasura 17/0 1/15 overs
- Mwiri won by Forfeiture (Nyakaura refused Coin toss)
Busoga College Mwiri were handed their 19th crown by Nyakasura in rather an unfortunate manner.
The highly anticipated final couldn’t be completed due to a heavy afternoon downpour. Busoga College Mwiri had been able to complete its 15 overs but Nyakasura had batted for just one over and the skies set loose.
The tournament rules then stipulated that the winner could be decided either by bowling to stumps which couldn’t be achieved due to wet ground and the only option available was to toss a coin to decide the winner.
Nyakasura School chose to opt out of the toss, a decision they felt was unfair with tournament organizers left with no option apart from awarding the trophy to Mwiri.
The tournament had 12 schools that took part and was hosted in Jinja for the first time. Jinja SSS, Busoga College Mwiri, Lord’s Meade, Victoria High School (Iganga) represented the East, Teso College represented the Soroti Region, Dehli Public School, Makerere College, Ndejje SSS, Kololo SSS represented the Central region, Ntare School from the South West with Nyakasura School and Kilembe SSS representing the Western Region.
In the morning semifinals, Busoga College Mwiri defeated Jinja SSS by 7 wickets after chasing a big total of 169 while Nyakasura overcame Kololo SSS by 37 runs. That set up the highly anticipated final between record winners Busoga College Mwiri and Nyakasura School who were looking for their first-ever title.
Unfortunately, the weather couldn’t allow the exciting encounter to continue as both schools had run themselves close from the little action provided. Nyakasura was on the wrong side of the result but most definitely a side that was ready to challenge for its first crown.
Individual Awards
Pius Oloka (Jinja SSS) from the U-19 World Cup team won the Player of the Series that came with Shs 500,000 cash reward from Tengi Styles, Joseph Baguma (Nyakasura School) took the Best Fielder award, Fahad Mutagana (Busoga College Mwiri) took the Best Batter award, Joel Kakaire (Victoria High School) took the Best Bowler award and Ahura Amos (Nyakasura) took the Best Wicketkeeper award. Vincent Muhindo from Kilembe SSS was voted the Best Young Player of the Tournament.
Each of the individual winners received cricket gear from Bat Ball.
A squad of the best 40 players was also selected to be closely monitored by professional coaches as Bat Ball and Uganda Cricket Association work together to help them develop.