Continent T20 Cup Final: Uganda v Kenya
- Uganda 125
- Kenya 124/7
- Uganda won by 1 run
The Kenyan security will be looking for the Cricket Cranes after they pulled off a heist against the hosts to win the Continent Cup T20 final by one run.
Kenya looked so comfortable in the chase until the 15.3 over when Rakep Patel was trapped LBW by Kenneth Waiswa. The wicket meant the set Collins Obuya (44) had to take charge but decided to take the game deep and that approach kept the hope alive for Uganda.
Obuya fell with nine runs still required for the win with Siraje Nsubuga taking a blinder that injured him but he had done his part and the rest was left to Riazat Ali Shah to defend nine runs.
The first ball of the over was holed out to Brian Masaba who took a low catch under pressure to get rid of Shem Ngoche which meant nine runs were still required off five balls. Vice Captain Lucas Oluoch and youngster Sukhdeep Singh hustled but they could only get eight runs with the Cricket Cranes clinching the nail bitter by one run.
The Cricket Cranes won the toss and elected to bat but they were quickly reduced to 4/5 inside 3.2 overs. Brian Masaba (16) put some respect to the total alongside highest run scorer Dinesh Nakrani (42) with some notable contributions from Cyrus Kakuru (17) and a late dash from Pascal Murungi (31) that pushed the score to 125 all out.
In the chase, Kenya was so comfortable with Alex Obanda (21), Nelson Odhiambo (17) and Rakep Patel (22) all putting in shifts with Collins Obuya (44) providing the anchor role.
Uganda was there for the killing early enough but the hosts kept playing with their prey until the wisdom of taking the game deep failed them with the pressure of the situation working against them.
The Cricket Cranes thus won nine of their ten games at the Continent T20 Cup. Their only failure came against Kenya in the round-robin games.
The boys will return to Kampala and rest for a few days before going to Namibia for the Castle Lite Series.