- Game 3: Uganda v South Africa
- South Africa 95/9
- Uganda 99/8
- Uganda won by 2 wickets
- Semifinal: Uganda V Namibia
- Date: Thursday, March 21
- Time: 12:00pm
Cometh the moment, cometh the man! Cricket Cranes needed the heroics of Captain Brian Mark Masaba to win a last-ball thriller against South Africa in their last group match at the African Games.
Uganda needed 11 off the final 6 balls with Masaba on strike and he backed himself clobbering the first ball for six to bring the equation down to 5 off 5. A swing and miss on the next ball made it 5 off 4, two singles and a dot ball in between left 3 required off the final ball.
The variations of Aphiwe Yeko had dragged South Africa into the game with the Ugandans failing to pick up his balls but his choice of a pace one delivery for the final delivery to Masaba was a bad decision with Cricket Cranes skipper picking up the length ball and depositing it over mid-wicket for half a dozen.
Uganda got over the line in a low-scoring thriller to clinch the top spot in Group A and set up a semifinal clash with Namibia.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. Alpesh Ramjani (3/9) and Bilal Hassun (4/10) stood out with ball in hand and got back up from Juma Miyagi (1/25) and Dinesh Nakrani (1/20) to limit the youthful South African side to 95/9 in their 20 overs.
The run chase for Uganda was anchored by Roger Mukasa (41) with wickets falling around him and his departure with the win in sight threw a spanner in the works as the final wickets struggled to clear the ropes.
Masaba then took on the responsibility to close out the game for Uganda.
Uganda progresses with Kenya from Group A as winners and runners-up respectively while Zimbabwe and Namibia advance from Group B.
Zimbabwe will take on Kenya in the other semifinal tomorrow afternoon.
