POA T20 Series: Namibia A hold nerve to edge Uganda A in opener

• Namibia A 145/6 in 20 Overs (Jan Balt 48, Jansen Van Vuuren 43)
• Uganda A 143/5 in 20 Overs (Simon Ssesazi 66, Pascal Murungi 38)
• Namibia A won by 2 runs

Uganda A started the Pearl of Africa T20 Series on the wrong footing, falling to Namibia A by two runs at Entebbe Oval.

Namibia A won the toss and elected to bat, putting on a competitive 145/6 in their 20 Overs with Jan Balt 48(41), Jansen Van Vuuren 43(32) and Dylan Leicher 29(22) contributing to the total.

Ivan Baidu led Uganda’s attack with figures of 3/23 and got support from Bilal Hussan who bowled a mean 3 overs. Pius Oloka 1/20 and Brighton Muganzi 1/36 also picked sculps.

In response, the Ugandans were on track through eight overs anchored by Simon Ssesaza (66) before falling behind on the asking rate.

Anas Baig (21), who opened with Ssesazi, was caught at mid on and was shortly followed to the hut by Kenneth Waiswa.

Pascal Murungi joined Ssesazi and the pair pushed the game to the wire with some good running and sparse boundaries. However, Ssesazi was caught at third slip on the last ball of the 19th over with 7 required for the win.

Murungi couldn’t know off the required runs if the final over for victory with Uganda A falling short by 2.

Uganda A returns to action to face Nigeria on Friday, July 18 at 9:30 AM.