Match Summary: Uganda v Zimbabwe
- Zimbabwe 136/7 in 20 overs
- Uganda 138/5 in 19.1 overs
- Uganda won by 5 wickets
In the context of things, Uganda versus Zimbabwe was a David versus Goliath battle. Zimbabwe are ranked 11th in the World while Uganda is ranked 23rd. Zimbabwe is a test playing nation while Uganda is a lowly associate but maybe sometimes numbers lie. Zimbabwe has looked vulnerable, especially since losing the series against Namibia in the lead up to the qualifiers.
Cricket Cranes Captain Brian Masaba won the toss and stuck in the favourites and they lost Tadiwanashe Marumani for nothing to get the Uganda off to a good start.
Some discplined bowling from the Ugandans ensured that there were no scraps to feed off for the Chevrons. Dinesh Nakrani (3/14) was the most economical of the bowlers for the Cricket Cranes with the left arm chinaman of Henry Ssenyondo (2/25).
Sikandar Raza was running out of partners and decided to take the game to the Ugandan plundering 18 runs off the 17th over bowled by Bilal Hassun. However, he played one too many as he holed out to his opposite number Brian Masaba at deep extra cover to put brakes on things. The Chevrons only managed 136/7 in their 20 overs.
In the chase, Uganda was very slow out of the blocks. They could only manage 25/2 inside the power play, losing Simon Ssesazi and Ronak Patel. Roger Mukasa (23) played an unselfish knock to repair the innings with Alpesh Ramjani (40) and made the contest even with enough wickets in hand.
Riazat Ali Shah loves the limelight and he didn’t disappoint when Uganda still needed 75 runs for the win. He hang around with Roger Mukasa who started to find his range as both sides started to take on the bowling but once he got stuck into Tendai Chatara in the 17th over, he brought down the equation to just 10 off 12 balls from 28 off 18 balls.
Unfortunately, Riazat wasn’t there at the end but he had done the damage with 3 runs required off the final six balls. Dinesh Nakrani and Kenneth Waiswa ensured the historic win for Uganda.
The result has consequences for both sides ans Uganda remain in contention for a slot to the World Cup with fate in their own hands while Zimbabwe will be relying on other results to sneak into the World Cup.
The Cricket Cranes will be back in action tomorrow as they take on Nigeria.
