UAE outclass Victoria Pearls at Emerging Nations Cup

Emerging Nations Cup | Uganda W vs UAE W

• Uganda 75/8
• UAE 76/0
• UAE won by 10 wickets

Uganda’s Victoria Pearls were no match for a well-drilled UAE ladies’ side in a one-sided encounter that saw the latter win by a commanding 10 wickets.

The Ugandans failed to follow up their first win against PNG to gain some momentum in the tournament and catch up with the table leaders.

Uganda named an unchanged team for their fourth game, UAE won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Janet Mbabazi and Esther Iloku managed to put on 25 for the opening stand inside six overs, but the game turned on its head when Vaishnave Mahesh was introduced into the attack. She ripped through the Ugandan batting line-up, getting rid of Immaculate Nakisuyi, Rita Musamali and Stephanie Nampiina in quick succession.

Uganda was railing at 38/4 when Janet Mbabazi skipped down the track to sink them further to 38/5. Proscovia Alako, Kevin Awino and Consy Aweko hang around but they lacked the skill to trouble the UAE slow bowlers.

The final over of the 20 was a maiden over, which tells the story of the batting innings for Uganda.

In the run chase, UAE needed only 8.2 overs to knock off the deficit with Esha Oza leading from the front with an unbeaten 48 off 30 balls. UAE chasing down the score without losing and wicket to bring up a dominant 10-wicket win.

The Victoria Pearls were out of depth in a loss that will give them an indication of how far the team in 15th is ahead of the team in 17th. The win over PNG is already a distant memory, and the loss, a reality check of the things they need to work on like how to survive against quality bowling.

The depth of the batting is very limited; there is more work needed to work on the lower order to make sure they can also make a contribution in case the top order can’t hold.

The Victoria Pearls will be back in action against Thailand in their fifth game of the tournament and they will be hoping that they can get their winning ways back.