Uganda’s Victoria Pearls faced Rwanda in their second game at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers in Namibia.
Unlike the previous game, Uganda came out on top with an 8-wicket win against their neighbours.
The game started slow for Uganda in both innings; however, the side managed to pick up momentum and when they did, they never looked back.
We can call it Uganda’s lucky day because a loss against Rwanda was not only going to keep Uganda away from the Global Qualifiers but also increase its chances of being relegated to the second division.
The two bottom-placed teams after the group stages will be relegated to the second division, so Uganda, by all means, needs to win its next game against Kenya to be safe.
Before we think about the next win, let’s first dissect the 8-wicket win against Rwanda at the High Performance Oval in Windhoek, Namibia.
Playing XI
Janet Mbabazi (C), Esther Iloku, Immaculate Nakisuuyi, Rita Musamali, Stephanie Nampiina, Proscovia Alako, Kevin Awino (Wk), Mallisa Ariokot, Irene Mutonyi, Consy Aweko and Sarah Akiteng
Toss
Uganda’s captain, Janet Mbabazi, lost the toss and her side was tasked to bowl first.
The target for Mbabazi was for her bowlers to limit the Rwandans to a chaseable score, as she said at the toss.
On the other hand, Rwandan Captain Diane Marie Bimenyimana was confident that any score above 100 would be defendable for them.
Bowling
Against Tanzania, Uganda gave away a massive 19 extras; against Rwanda, Uganda gave away zero extras, which was a major improvement in the bowling department. The team also changed its bowling strategy, especially in the power play, bringing in spin as early as the second over of the game, which paid off with early wickets and slowed down the run rate even against the aggressive and talented Rwandan batters in Gisele Ishimwe and Henriette Ishimwe
Irene Mutonyi
Bowled 3 overs, 2 wickets, 18 runs conceded, 6.00 Economy
Mutonyi opened the bowling and was decent every time she was on the crease with her straight lines and high-pitched balls to trap the batters. Even though in her second bowling over Gisele Ishimwe took her to school with back-to-back boundaries in her first three deliveries, Mutonyi recovered pretty well and she managed to close her bowling spells with 2 wickets of Rosette Shimwamana and Belise Murekatete.
The fact that she kept her lines and pace for every delivery is a plus from me, and apart from the Gisele over, the youngster did well. If she keeps growing, Uganda has a talent for the years to come.
Consy Aweko
Bowled 3.5 overs, 2 wickets, 21 runs conceded, 5.47 Economy
Also known as Miss Consistency in this tournament, Aweko delivered as expected, getting Uganda the first breakthrough in the second over with Marie Bimenyimana’s wicket. Though she swallowed runs from her cricket nemesis – talented batter Gisele Ishimwe, she managed to keep most of her bowling clean and neat to keep Uganda in the game. That last wicket of Geovanis Uwase was the icing on the cake for her.
Sarah Akiteng
Bowled 4 overs, 2 wickets, 23 runs conceded, 5.75 Economy
Akiteng, the team’s left-arm spinner, came in to replace Amogin, a pace bowler. It felt off, but after her performances, she is who the team needed to manage the Rwandan batters. She was decent and more confident in her bowling, taking on each batter with grit and intent; of course, she knew what was on the line for the team. She did okay and was only traumatised by the dynamic batting of the Ishimwe partnership, from whom she conceded the most runs.
That said, she had a couple of unignorable bad deliveries that she should work on.
Immaculate Nakisuuyi
Bowled 4 overs, 2 wickets, 20 runs conceded, 5.00 Economy
Nakisuuyi had a very good first bowling over, going for only 3 runs and wicket but in the preceding overs, she conceded a sizeable number of singles from the Ishimwe pair. Interestingly, she is the only bowler who didn’t concede a boundary or maximum from the pair, just singles. Her boundary tormentors were Alice Ikuzwe and Flora Irakoze, whom she also paid back by bowling one and catching out the other; talk about Karma.
Again, I will say this, for a part-time bowler, Nakisuuyi really delivered. Also being a batting all-rounder, you notice her bowling is different, a bit unscripted – it worries you from the stands but it works and that’s all that matters.
Nakisuyi also made a career milestone, reaching 50 T20i wickets.
Janet Mbabazi
Bowled 4 overs, 2 wickets, 22 runs conceded, 5.50 Economy
She had a good spell, also faced the batting wrath of the Ishimwe girls but on the bright side, she got wickets, the most important being Gisele Ishimwe. Plus, being a batting all-rounder, our expectations for her are more on the batting side than the bowling.
Stephani Nampiina
Bowled 1 over, 10 runs conceded, 10.00 Economy
An expensive over from the batting all-rounder but to be fair, she bowled to the Ishimwe girls.
Fielding
Concy Aweko, Prosscovia Alako, Stephanie Nampiina, and Immaculate Nakisuuyi stood up with the catches they took.
Generally, the fielders were more active compared to the Rwandans but still there were ulgy moments where players could have been more alert to stop runs from leaking through the field.
On some occasions, Musamali, Akiteng, Mutonyi were caught unaware, which affected the game. That said, the field setting versus the bowler is still an issue for the side, and I feel like that’s how most runs are leaked.
I hope that the technical bench has noticed this and is working on that going forward, not just for the next game but also for more competitions ahead.
Wicket Keeping
Kevin Awino was neat as always in this game. She was always alert and quick to react, thinking on her feet and supported the team to the best of her ability. The catch she took was the icing on the cake.
Batting
It is safe to say that Uganda’s batting against Rwanda was Nakisuuyi and Musamali because without their partnership, Uganda could have easily lost that game to Rwanda.
Like the bowling, the batting started really slow with Uganda struggling to get off the mark in the powerplay; even losing the early wicket of Iloku was also a huge blow to Pearls. But the recovery by the Nakisuuyi and Musamali partnership erases all that.
Janet Mbabazi 17(17), 2 boundaries, 100 strike rate
Got more runs than in the previous game. The skipper played with more intent against Rwanda, not afraid to take risks with the edge and big shots, which was a good way to open the batting. Though she was not the game winner, Mbabazi led her batting troops from the front.
Esther Iloku 4(3), 1 boundary, 133.33 strike rate
Unlike the game against Tanzania where Iloku was the running anchor, against Rwanda, she wanted to express herself by taking those big shots; unfortunately for her, she was caught on her second try.
I think it’s a good thing that she is trying to score the boundaries and maximums, and I encourage her to keep trying but also she should not be under pressure to take the power hits. If she can still run the singles, let her do that too.
Immaculate Nakisuuyi (not out) 43(42), 5 boundaries, 102.38strike rate
Started off quite slow, at one point she was at 1 run from 13 balls, but I think her friend Musamali joining her on the crease gave her a boost and confidence and when she found her mojo, she never looked back, taking on each ball and bowler now with power and skill like the experienced batter she is.
Both she and Musamali forged the much-needed partnership to get Uganda a win and keep it in the competition for the two coveted slots to the global qualifiers.
Nakisuyi was named Player of the Match for her contribution both with the ball and the bat, which was exceptional.
Rita Musamali (not out) 47(37), 6 boundaries, 127.02 Strike rate
Just like in the Tanzania game, from the word go, Musamali showed her intent and hunger to score runs, whether she was hitting for boundaries or running between the wickets, she was on it.
Also, she came on the crease as the 4th batter joining her good friend Nakisuuyi with whom she bats easily. I think that helped her get off the mark and keep going. They both made the partnership work, complementing and supporting each other.
The time she came in to bat, Rwanda had switched to medium pacers whom she took on easily. I liked her creativity in shot selection and the places she hit the ball; you could see she was really putting in some thought to her strikes, which was good and paid off.
Generally, though the team took a while to get off the mark, the ladies’ performance against Rwanda was far better and a much-improved display. That said, if the side is to defeat Kenya, they may have to put in double the shift they had against Rwanda.