Pearl of Africa Series | Uganda vs UAE
- Uganda 126/9
- UAE 120/9
- Uganda won by 6 runs
Uganda pulled off a heist in a low-scoring thriller to defeat favourites UAE by six runs at Entebbe Oval.
Uganda won the toss and elected to bat first. They unfortunately lost Ronald Lutaaya very early, but a second-wicket partnership between Raghav Dawani (44) and Shrideep Mangela (38) steadied the ship.
However, Uganda failed to find second and third gear and was restricted by some disciplined bowling from the UAE, which limited Uganda to only 126 in their 20 overs. Only Alpesh Ramjani (21) was able to offer some resistance in the lower order but he was running out of partners, which denied Uganda a chance of posting a bigger total.
In reply, UAE was in cruise mode, scoring 50 in seven overs without dropping a wicket, but the departure of their talisman and Captain, Mohammed Waseem (33) put the breaks on the chase.
The slow bowling options dragged the game out to the end, with Dinesh Nakrani and Alpesh Ramjani working in collaboration to good effect. It came down to 30 runs required off 18 balls and with the game evenly poised, the quick bowling options of Captain Juma Miyagi and Cosmas Kyewuta made sure of the result with some great death bowling that challenged the tail.
Uganda closed out a historic victory to win by six runs, to make it two out of two in the Pearl of Africa Series.
The teams take a break and the action returns on Monday with Uganda taking on Kenya.
