Wanderers Cricket Club is still searching for victory after four fixtures of the 2025 UCA Men’s 50-Over League.
The side that had a brilliant performance last season, finishing second in the 50 Over league and clinching the T20 championship, has had a terrible start this year, registering 3 losses from 4 fixtures with their only point coming from a washed-out game against Avengers.
The prestigious club, one of the oldest indigenous clubs in the country, has not had a start like this in all the years of its existence, making this season really peculiar for them.
Wanderers Cricket Club started their 2025 season campaign against Avengers Cricket Club at Lugogo Oval; however, this fixture was abandoned without a toss due to the heavy downpour that lasted almost the entire day. The fixture earned both Wanderers and Avengers a point.
Wanderers then made a trip to Kamengo – Serenity Oval to face Tornado Bee; still, the rain played a part in this fixture as the sides were focused to play a reduced over game of 36 overs aside. Wanderers won the toss and elected to bat first, setting a total of 122/10 in 29.3 overs; 6.3 overs shy of the allocated 36. Raheel Sarwal 27(32), Basit Habib 20 (38) and Jaffer Ochaya 19(25) were the only players scoring in double digits.
In the defence, the side’s bowling power failed to keep up with the batting firmness of the U-19 youngster Gerald Olipa 50(54) and Anas Baig 42(24), after they had dealt with Nicholas Kebba 17(21). In the end, Tornado Bee lived to laugh another day with a 123/1 total in 16.3 overs and a 9-wicket victory.
Wanderers quickly brushed off the loss and travelled to Jinja to play JACC the next weekend, and this time there was no rain interruption, so each side had the chance to play out their 50 overs. As luck would have it, Wanderers won the toss and chose to bowl first this time, bowling out JACC in 45.5 overs with a score of 143/10. Suleman Sharif 3/25, Jaffer Ochaya 2/26, Davis Karashani 2/36, Capt Kakande Ivan 1/16 and Basit Habib 1/32 and all picking wickets for their side.
The chase was an uphill task for the club, the batters struggling to put runs on the board from the top order all the way to the tail end. Raheel Sarwal 13(16), Basist Habib 13(20), Perry Wazombe 11(11) and Suleman Sharif 11(20) made double digit runs but they were not enough to get the team to victory as they were bowled out for 74 in 22.3 overs; Wanderers suffering another loss as JACC registered a 69 runs victory.
With two losses in a row, Wanderers were looking for a resounding win when they travelled to Entebbe at the Lake side oval to play their fourth fixture against last season’s 50–over champions Kutchi Tigers. Though the previous night had had heavy showers, it did not affect the ground to affect the game; so both teams were able to get their 50 overs in.
Wanderers yet again won the toss, third time in a row; the captain chose to bat first and Wanderers were cruising from the word go as their openers faced medium pacers most of the power play. The opening pair of Perry Wazombe 44(52) and Suleman Sharif 39 (72) put on 80 runs before it was broken in the 17th over. Mandeep Singh 14(28) joined Perry Wazombe on the crease and they momentarily held the fort before Wazombe fell in the 25th over; opening a can of worms for wanderers who lost 4 wickets between then and the 37th overs. In the end, Wanderers by bowled out in the 47th over for 173 runs. Jaffer Ochaya 20(28) and Ivan Kakande 15(28) were the other players to get double scores.
With 173 runs on the board, Wanderers’ defence looked cut out for them, but like in their game against Tornado Bee, the bowlers were on an uphill task as the Kutchi Tigers’ batters proved more resolute in their batting; they made the Wanderers’ bowlers work twice as hard to stop them.
Wanderers got a breakthrough in the 6th over with Nitin Jeshani’s wicket 12(19) and in the 14th with Avnish Vekariya’s wicket 32(37) but batter Hasin Ashani 90(85) was unmovable and he pushed Kutchi’s total the most, though he fell in the 30th over, he had already done the heavy lifting for Kutchi, that Nandikishor Patel 23(47) not out and Mitul Pindoriya 14(17) not out were just finishing the job. Kutchi Tigers made 179 runs for 3 in 34 overs, winning by 7 wickets and handing Wanderers their third defeat this season. Davis Karashini 2/24 and Suleman Sharif 1/40 were the only wicket takers of the day for the Wanderers.
Commenting about their performance so far, Wanderers captain, Ivan Kakande, said; “As a club, of course, we’ve had challenges depending on the games that we’ve been playing. We’ve been trying to reflect as a team on the different departments in bowling, batting and then fielding.”
He adds that the team’s challenge has been batting, saying that the batters at the top and in the middle have struggled in different games. He, however, credited the openers’ performances in the Kutchi Tigers game and noting that if the middle order and tail end had supported as required, Wanderers would have made it to 200+ runs.
Though they the team has struggle in bowling the captain still believes, his bowlers can do the job especially the opening bowlers; who he commends for their effort and says they one need to tweak a few things to strike early wickets “in order to see that they make it easy for the spinners and the slow medium bowlers in order to strike for more wickets.”
He also comments about the mental strength of the team saying; “In terms of mental strength, we are working on that. We’re trying to reflect on our work on the mistake areas, depending on the previous games and it’s working. Players are putting in more time in training in order to see that they get better results.
“We’re just going to continue fighting. It’s not easy because every team is strong, but we believe we are a strong team; we’ve worked so hard. We played so well last season, so we look forward to getting off the mark, and once we get back to our winning ways, we promise we’re not going to let down the fans of the club and the whole cricket fraternity. So going forward, we’re going to continue working hard.
“To the fans, please don’t get tired. We know you’ve been putting in a lot in terms of your time and all that. So, we won’t let you down, we’re promising we’ll get back to our winning ways.”
Wanderers Cricket Club, with 1 point from 4 fixtures, is currently sitting bottom of the 8-team table; the club will need to register at least 8 wins from the remaining fixtures to avoid relegation.
The club will return to the 2025 UCA Men’s 50-Over League premiership action on 18th May 2025 against Ceylon Lions in Kamengo before they face Rounders on 24th May 2025 at the Entebbe Cricket Oval.